KEPCO Collaborated with VINATech on Developing a New Hybrid ESS Using Supercapacitors

On May 23, KEPCO (Korea Electric Power Corporation) announced an establishment of a new MW-class supercapacitor grid connection system at the Gochang Power Test Center in Jeollabuk-do and held an opening ceremony for demonstrating the new hybrid ESS (Energy Storage System) applications for frequency control. At this ceremony, KEPCO announced that it has been collaborating with VINATech for developing a new hybrid ESS that uses supercapacitors.

Using ESS for frequency adjustments is necessary due to the intermittent nature of renewable energy. Regular frequency fluctuations increase the number of charging and discharging cycles which leads to problems related to using batteries such as combustion and shortened lifespan.

In order to solve these problems, in 2021 KEPCO Research Institute and a world’s leading manufacturer of supercapacitors VINATech Co. started conducting a research project called “Development and Demonstration of MW-class High-Capacity Supercapacitor System” for the purpose of developing an innovative economical model of MW-class frequency adjustment supercapacitors applicable for hybrid ESS.

Supercapacitors can operate for more than 15 years and endure regular frequency fluctuations without any combustion and shortened lifespan.

Therefore, supercapacitor-based ESSs are more cost-effective and safe rather than other systems.