Reciprocating engines as a source of flexibility in a power system
Silniki tłokowe jako źródło elastyczności w układzie napędowym
Adam Rajewski, Grzegorz Niewiński
Streszczenie
In recent years, flexibility of power generation systems – understood as their ability to perform quick start-ups,
shut-downs and load changes in possibly broad range and with small loss of efficiency – has been seen as increasingly
important. This is due to increased popularisation of wind and solar power generation systems, which operate at variable and
not fully predictable output. This creates a demand for power sources able to quickly replace temporarily lost (reduced)
output of renewables, which would be characterised by low fixed cost (due to relatively low capacity utilisation factor).
The paper presents the newest technical achievements in the field of large reciprocating internal combustion engines used to
meet this kind of demand – including technical parameters of current and prospective solutions, as well as operating
experience from plants used to provide backup power, along with results of tests confirming ability of engine-based power
generation systems to provide ancillary services (primary and secondary frequency control). Also discussed are results of
selected techno-economic analyses which highlight system-level benefits resulting from building high-flexibility sources in
various power systems, and economic conditions necessary to adopt such technologies. Incentives and obstacles for
development of such technologies at the Polish and European energy markets are presented along with different commercial
concepts for plants ensuring power flexibility based on examples from different countries.
shut-downs and load changes in possibly broad range and with small loss of efficiency – has been seen as increasingly
important. This is due to increased popularisation of wind and solar power generation systems, which operate at variable and
not fully predictable output. This creates a demand for power sources able to quickly replace temporarily lost (reduced)
output of renewables, which would be characterised by low fixed cost (due to relatively low capacity utilisation factor).
The paper presents the newest technical achievements in the field of large reciprocating internal combustion engines used to
meet this kind of demand – including technical parameters of current and prospective solutions, as well as operating
experience from plants used to provide backup power, along with results of tests confirming ability of engine-based power
generation systems to provide ancillary services (primary and secondary frequency control). Also discussed are results of
selected techno-economic analyses which highlight system-level benefits resulting from building high-flexibility sources in
various power systems, and economic conditions necessary to adopt such technologies. Incentives and obstacles for
development of such technologies at the Polish and European energy markets are presented along with different commercial
concepts for plants ensuring power flexibility based on examples from different countries.