Present and Future of Supercapacitor Technology Applied to Powertrains, Renewable Generation and Grid Connection Applications

Gustavo Navarro, Jorge Torres, Marcos Blanco, Jorge Nájera, Miguel Santos-Herran and Marcos Lafoz
Additional contact information
Gustavo Navarro: CIEMAT, Spanish National Research Centre on Energy, Environment and Technology, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Jorge Torres: CIEMAT, Spanish National Research Centre on Energy, Environment and Technology, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Marcos Blanco: CIEMAT, Spanish National Research Centre on Energy, Environment and Technology, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Jorge Nájera: CIEMAT, Spanish National Research Centre on Energy, Environment and Technology, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Miguel Santos-Herran: CIEMAT, Spanish National Research Centre on Energy, Environment and Technology, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Marcos Lafoz: CIEMAT, Spanish National Research Centre on Energy, Environment and Technology, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-29

Abstract: Energy storage systems (ESS) are becoming essential as a solution for troublesome industrial systems. This study focuses on the application of a type of ESS, a high-power technology known in the literature as supercapacitors or electric double layer capacitors (EDLC). This technology has had a huge impact during the last decade on research related to the electric traction drives, renewable sources and powergrids. Related to this aspect, this paper summarizes the most relevant scientific publications in the last five years that study the use of supercapacitor technology (SCs) in electric traction applications (drives for rail vehicles and drives for road vehicles), generation systems for renewable energy (wind, solar and wave energy), and connection systems to the electric grid (voltage and frequency regulation and microgrids). The technology based on EDLC and the practical aspects that must be taken into account in the op-eration of these systems in industrial applications are briefly described. For each of the aforementioned applications, it is described how the problems are solved by using the energy storage technology, drawing the solutions proposed by different authors. Special attention is paid to the control strategies when combining SCs with other technologies, such as batteries. As a summary, some conclusions are collected drawn from the publications analyzed, evaluating the aspects in which it is necessary to conduct further research in order to facilitate the integration of EDLC technology.

Keywords: supercapacitors; electric traction drives; electrical vehicle; microgrid; renewable energy; energy storage system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/11/3060/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/11/3060/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:11:p:3060-:d:561642

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().