The solution to deal with the current non-renewable energy crisis, global warming, pollution and green gas emission is to reduce fossil fuels... Show moreThe solution to deal with the current non-renewable energy crisis, global warming, pollution and green gas emission is to reduce fossil fuels usage and increase use of renewable sources of energy with minimal environmental impact. Solar energy and wind energy have gained significant popularity as natural resources across the world. However, these renewable energies bring new challenges to the control of power systems and distributed generation since they depend on natural elements that can be unpredictable and intermittent. One way to address the intermittency of these resources is to transfer energy in to an energy storage device. Historically, a battery has been viewed as one of the primary energy storage devices. Even though some battery can have high efficiency, they can be limited by the size and volume required to store a large amount of energy. In addition, they can also cause environmental pollution owing to the chemicals used and tend to have a high cost and short life. A novel hybrid energy storage system, which comprises of an integrated hydroelectric-compressed air solution have been proposed in this thesis. Three potential configurations have been outlined, where energy is provided by wind and solar energy. To extract maximum power from wind, solar and water, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques for both renewable sources have been proposed. For researching the interaction between charging and discharging elements, extensive simulations have been conducted using Matlab/ Simulink. M.S. in Electrical Engineering, May 2012 Show less
