Supercapacitor Modeling for Real-Time Simulation Applications

Supercapacitor-based energy storage systems have proved their performance in stabilizing the power system, particularly during disturbances, which require high power capability, but low energy density, such as during frequency support services. Several models have been proposed in literature to model the supercapacitors, aiming to maximize the model accuracy in the whole frequency spectrum. However, their real-time modeling has been not deeply studied, in particular, considering the real-time simulation constraints, that limit either the model details or the simulation size. This work introduces a modeling guideline for supercapacitors for real-time simulations, proposing a tradeoff between the model accuracy and the required computational time to simulate it. Compared to existing models, this work assesses their time- and frequency-domain accuracy, estimates required computational time, and recommends which model is suited for a specific power system analysis or application.