Minimization of energy storage requirements in wind farms by controlling the state of charge of a battery bank

This paper presents a methodology for reducing energy storage requirements through batteries (BESS) applied to smoothing the power variation of a wind farm (WF). This reduction is achieved by combining the operation of an energy management system (EMS) with an optimally sized BESS. The EMS deploys a state-of-charge feedback-based (SOC-FB) control system to reduce a WF's power variations by coordinating the BESS's charge and discharge cycles. At the same time, an evolutionary optimization algorithm determines the BESS's power capacity to keep the WF's power variation within specific limits defined in a cost function. This approach is tested using data from met towers used during the development phase of the WF. Simulation results show a significant reduction of the WF output power variation with an optimal-calculated capacity of the BESS in comparison with the operation of the WF without the approach proposed in this study.