Power and automation technology group ABB is using its flywheel energy storage technology to add grid stability to the most remote parts of the planet.
The Swiss firm is already present in a number of African countries but is now adding South Africa, Kenya and Western Australia to its list.
The company is set to install a flywheel-based stabiliser to back up its integrated solar-diesel microgrid at its 96,000-sqm Johannesburg headquarters.
In northern Kenya it is due to design, supply and install a flywheel-based microgrid stabilisation solution for a wind farm at Marsabit.
Across the Indian Ocean the technology has been installed at two separate locations in Western Australia, namely Marble Bar and Nullagine.
Designed by ABB engineers in Darwin, ABB’s PowerStore is a compact flywheel-based grid-stabilising generator that uses inverters and virtual generator control software to stabilise power systems against fluctuations in frequency and voltage.
High-speed software controls the power flow into and out of the flywheel, essentially making it a high inertia electrical shock absorber that can instantly smooth out power fluctuations generated by wind turbines or solar arrays.
PowerStore acts like a STATCOM (advanced grid technology that quickly stabilises voltage and improves power quality), it can stabilise both voltage and frequency, hold 18 MWs of energy and shift from full absorption to full injection in 1 millisecond to stabilise the grid.
