WO2019030296A2

WO2019030296A2 - Energy generation and supply systems and methods of operation

Info

Publication number: WO2019030296A2
Application number: PCT/EP2018/071534
Authority: WO
Inventors: Andrew Howe
Original assignee: Level Energy Ltd
Priority date: 2017-08-08
Filing date: 2018-08-08
Publication date: 2019-02-14
Also published as: WO2019030296A3; GB201712717D0

Abstract

There is provided an energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) provides, when in operation, instantaneous frequency response, for example from a diesel standby plant and/or gas turbine engine plant. The supply system (50, 1000) beneficially includes a power generator (101, 102, 103, 1100, 1110) for generating power, an arrangement of energy storage devices (106, 107, 1120A, 1120B, 1130) for receiving power from the power generator (101, 103, 1100, 1110) and for buffering energy flows within the supply system (50, 1000), an energy management system (EMS) (114) for managing power flows within the supply system (50, 1000), and a power-flow metering arrangement (M) (109, 110, 111) for monitoring power flows occurring in respect of an electrical power grid (113) to which the supply system (50, 1000) is coupled, and an energy consuming arrangement (112, 1020) to which the supply system (50, 1000) is coupled. The energy management system (EMS) (114) is coupled to the power-flow metering arrangement (M) (109, 110, 111) for receiving information indicative of power flows occurring within the supply system (50, 1000), and the energy management system (EMS) (114) is coupled to control an inverter arrangement (105, 108) for interfacing electrical characteristics of the energy storage devices (106, 107, 1120A, 1120B, 1130) to the power generator (101, 102, 103, 1100, 1110), and for interfacing the energy storage devices (106, 107, 1120A, 1120B, 1130) to the electrical power grid (113) and the energy consuming arrangement (112, 1020). The supply system (50, 1000) is beneficially used to provide, when in operation, recharging of one or more electrical vehicles, for example for fast charging a plurality of electrical vehicles concurrently at a vehicle forecourt or service station.

Description

ENERGY GENERATION AND SUPPLY SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF OPERATION Technical field

The present disclosure relates to energy generation and supply systems (for example, to energy generation, supply and consumption systems), for example to vehicle forecourt energy supply systems that, when in operation, are capable of charging concurrently a plurality of electrical vehicles, for example in a fast-charge mode at a rate of 1C or greater, wherein 'C is battery storage charge/discharge rating (referenced to Amp- hour capacity of the cell/battery) of electrical vehicle batteries; moreover, the present disclosure relates to energy generation and supply systems including one or more energy consuming devices and one or more energy storage elements, [and optionally one or more controllable generation apparatus and one or more uncontrollable generation apparatus] wherein the one or more energy storage elements are interfaced via convertors (for example DC converters or AC converters) to suppliers of energy and customers of energy, wherein the customers and specific generation and consumption devices are provided with metering arrangements whose energy flow information is used by an energy management system (EMS) to control operation of elements of the energy generation and supply systems; finally, a 'dispatch' controller takes instructions from grid and distribution operators to provide paid-for-service often in defined calendar time slots to enable financial contracts for service to be accommodated. Moreover, the present disclosure relates to methods of (for) using aforesaid energy supply systems, for example to provide services to: (i) a national scale electrical power grid; (ii) distribution network operators; (iii) net energy to electrical vehicle operators and such like services or energy provision that can gain financial or carbon/emission benefits. Background

For an electrical power grid to function reliably, it is required that power supplied to the electrical power grid is matched in real-time to power being consumed from the electrical power grid. Usually, there is no nacent, or economically (fiscally) free, energy storage in the electricity grid and therefore, in such an arrangement, power consumed must equal power generated. In most known electrical power grids, there is economically 'free' available inertia in rotating generators and motors and this does offer a short term (maximum few seconds) of economically free energy storage. Electricity power grids, whether small or large, use such 'free ' stabilization inertia to provide a signal indicative of energy- imbalance-to-grid-operating-frequency; this signal is often used to drive closed loop control systems that stabalise electrical grid operating frequency by injecting positive or negative power (namely supplying energy or absorbing/storing energy) to maintain the aforesaid energy balance. Such injecting of energy is a service that is usually (in technical art) referred to as ^frequency response' or ^frequency regulation' that is purchased by a so-called 'System Operator'. Such 'greening' of electrical grid operation is displacing conventional generation with natural inertia and use of 'electronic' invertor apparatus that effectively in practice have no inertia, resulting in electrical power grids that have less energy storage 'inertia'. Such invertor apparatus can provide very fast acting inertia by employing careful control with at least one of: (i) internal loop controls present in the invertor apparatus; and (ii) by adjusting quickly a power set point of the invertor apparatus. Furthermore, it is possible to use a 'natural', so called 'droop characteristic', of a given invertor apparatus (namely, a frequency to power stability characteristic) as a very fast mechanism to provide electrical power grid scale service, but by modifying the characteristics of this control loop it is possible to provide ^any' potential response characteristic (such as described in a published PCT patent application WO2014/177264) by adjusting these characteristics, rather than simply adjusting a net power set point. Such an operating technique has an advantage that the internal droop control loops are very fast, often faster than adjustment being made to the aforesaid power set points, in operation.

Contemporary electrical power grids are operated using an alternating current (AC) regime, utilizing a nominal grid frequency fnom of 50 Hz for Europe, and 60 Hz for the USA. However, an actual real-time operating frequency freai-ume of a given electrical power grid will vary above or below the nominal frequency fnom, depending upon whether there is excess or insufficient energy being supplied in operation to the given electrical power grid, respectively.

In view of concern with rapidly increasing Carbon Dioxide concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere (presently 430 p. p.m., but rising at circa 3 p. p.m. per year, as the World economy consumes 100 million barrels of oil equivalent per day to function), generated at least in part by combustion of fossil fuels, there are contemporarily governmental initiatives to adopt progressively forms of electrical power generation, for supplying power to electrical power grids, that result in less Carbon Dioxide gas being emitted into atmosphere. Moreover, conventional methods of providing energy balance to an electrical grid, such as aforementioned frequency regulation Qresponse'), spinning reserve and energy storage have carbon emission implications. Therefrom arises a technical problem of spatially localizing energy balancing functions within a given electrical power network to a greatest extent possible, and by reducing or eliminating a need for large centralised Carbon-inefficeint power plants in order to reduce a Carbon ^footprint' of so-called grid-scale ancillary services. Large electrical power generation plants, typically implemented as thermal types of plant, providing regulation/response and spinning reserve, emit significant Carbon Dioxide to atmosphere by operating below their peak thermal efficiency. Although conventional fission nuclear power generators, and also Tokamak fusion nuclear power generators, were thought in previous decades as being capable of providing a solution to electrical power generation for future human needs (quote: nuclear power, "... too cheap to meter' !), it has been found that the complexity and hazards associated with such nuclear power generators makes simpler, and progrssively deployable, renewable energy systems far commercially attractive. The cost of renewable energy systems is progressively reducing with time, whereas the cost of nuclear power generators is steadily increasing, amid requirements to improve operating safety standards. However, renewable energy systems encounter a problem that their power output can temporally vary, for example depending upon real-time weather conditions. Thus, integrating such renewable energy systems to supply power into electrical power grids is a major contemporary technical problem, wherein the technical problem is adressable to a degree by employing adative load shedding (namely adatively reducing energy consumed from a given electrical power grid in real-time) and/or incorporating energy storage apparatus into the given electrical power grid.

Thus, it is known to provide grid frequency response (namely to supply power to and/or to absorb power selectively from an electrical power grid in order to assist to try to maintain the electrical power grid operating at its nominal operating frequency) as a function of grid frequency. Such grid frequency response, for example, is very relevant when seeking to integrate sources of renewable energy to an electrical power grid, as aforementioned. In addition, the system described can "load shift" energy, especially free self-generated energy, that would otherwise be wasted in resistive water loads. Furthermore, load shifting can gain economic value at a national scale electricity market by avoiding high peak energy prices; at a local scle, such load shifting expensive network reinforcement, and represents a service that electrical power distribution operators are entering into long-term commercial contracts with electrical power grid operators.

A further technical issue is that parts of the given electrical power grid will have technical limitations defining a maximum power flow that can occur through those parts at any given time; the technical limitations arise, for example, on account of cable current-carrying capacity, sub-station transformer capacities, power cable resistance and so forth. At a local or distribution scale, or even at a national scale, a given local electrical power network increasingly will need :

(i) peak power services to limit, for example, overload on distribution cables;

(ii) reactive power services to correct for either generation or load power factors and control grid voltage magnitude; and

(iii) ^{^}black start' services to allow an islanded electrical power grid to be reconnected to a corresponding main electrical power grid after major disruptions. Additionally, at a local scale, there is also required to be provided phase-to-phase balancing, fault detection and other features that will become increasingly more improtant and devolved to the lowest echelon of electricity supply systems, for example as renewable energy generation becomes increasingly deployed in future. In order to adapt human society to a post-fossil-fuel era, governments are encouraging adoption of electrical vehicles and heat pump technologies. Furthermore, some countries operate with so called ^{^}Cogen', where heat, usually as hot water provided from burning fossil fuels to heat water, is generated and distributed locally, with ^{^}waste' electricity being an associated bi-product. This Cogen method further enhances a total thermal efficiency of using fossil fuel to create electricity (or heat), by way of synergy. Furthermore, those expereinced in the art will appreciate that: (a) heat pumps can be used for air conditioning ; and

(b) absorption refrigeration can take 'waste' heat from generation and create cold. Additionally, many centralised distributed 'heat' systems using Cogen have associated therewith a large capacity to storage energy in a form of hot water, and similarly it is well known that so-called 'coolth' can be used for energy storage, for example by storing ice or liquified refrigerant ready to expand and create cold. Yet additionally, it is well known that these forms of physical heat or work storage can be utilized to provide aforementioned frequency response where the heat, coolth or work is created using electricity. Thus, introducing electrical vehicles into a given country's national vehicle fleet, as well as providing heating and air conditioning, may require financially significant sums to be spent on reinforcements to existing electrical power distribution network to cope with peaks in power flow. Such investment is a major contemporary problem. Therefore, it is highly desirable to use an energy management system to control energy storage both as electricity, heat, coolth and work, when coupled with renewable generation, conventional generation and consuming load at premises / local scales to provide a highly optimised clean energy management system.

Users of petrol (US : "gasolene") or diesel vehicles have become accustomed, over a period of many years, to refill their vehicles with fuel in a matter of minutes, for example at vehicle forecourt stations, also known as ^service stations'. However, providing a similar rapidity of energy transfer in a situation of electrical vehicles creates major technical problems, especially when fast recharging within an hour period is desired. For example, an example contemporary electrical vehicle includes a 150 kW-rated electrical motor for propulsion, and a 50 kWh rechargeable battery for providing power to operate the electrical motor; in order to recharge the battery fully from a discharged state (SOC = 0 %) to a full charged state (SOC = 100%) within a period of 30 minutes hour requires a battery charger apparatus with a power rating of around > 100 kW, for exaample 120 kW, on account of resistive power dissipation occurring during fast charging. In practice, the charge power is limited by the voltage and current rating of an interface (vehicle-coupling power plug) employed, which may presently allow +/- 1000v (i.e. 2000v potential difference, limited to lOOOv with respect to 'Earth' potential) and 170 Amps, to give a maximum charge power of ~350kW. Of course, designs of such plugs may change in future to allow higher voltages to be employed; however, the conductor thickness limits a maximum current that can be employed, as humans members of the public') are required to mate the plugs manually (that may take considerable personal strength for hefty power cables) . Techniques such as battery swapping and non-contact power transfer are potentially able to overcome such a plug-and-cable limitation.

If a facility at a service station were to accommodate, for example, 20 vehicles for aforesaid fast charging, the facility at the service station could hypothetically place a maximum demand on an electrical power grid of 7 MW. Such a maximum power demand concerns substantial infrastructure requiring an HV connection ( 11 kV in the UK) . Around 2 MW is the practical limit of Low Voltage (LV) 400 Volt 3-phase power connections, again limited by plug and cable conductor area. Thus, unless the facility at the service station has a high-power connection to an electrical power grid, for example via a direct connection to an electrical sub-station, there is a risk of overload occurring when in operation. Moreover, establishment cost of new high power connections can be expensive to install . Such a scenario corresponds to a situation where local electrical grid response is desirable. Clearly, in embodiments of the present disclosure, by amortising a connection cost with a flexible generation power station, with or without electrical vehcile (EV) charging and with or without heat/coolth, that is capable of providing many services to an electrical grid/network connected thereto, there are provided synergies of national economic benefit of avoiding network re-enforcement, making maximal use of generation (i .e. Cogen), allowing more renewable generation grid connectivity and providing electricity and storage where it is needed and when it is needed.

However, providing spatially local energy storage capacity at a given facility at a service station is a technically challenging problem, both in terms of cost, weight and also physical size. Banks of many rechargeable batteries, for example with 7 MWh battery storage capacity, are costly, heavy and require considerable space to accommodate cooling systems for the banks of batteries.

Apart from a technical problem of fast-charging many electrical vehicles at a given location, there arise many other circumstances where cost- effective local energy storage and energy generation are required.

A grid storage system employing batteries has been described in the Applicant's earlier patent applications and patents, namely:

(i) a published patent application WO2014/177264 that describes a method of (for) controlling a state-of-charge (SOC) of a battery while providing frequency responsive service :

(ii) a published patent application GB 1507982.5;

(iii) a published patent application GB1608230.7; and

(iv) a published patent application GB1611998.4 that describes methods of (for) integrating a mechanical / electrical power source both at AC and DC with optional loads, ed while providing grid-based services.

It will be appreciated that electrical vehciles are susceptible to being provided with power wirelessly and continuously in operation by using resonant inductive power transfer (see published PCT patent application WO2013091875 (A2) (^v Inductive Power Coupling Systems for Roadways", Applicant - Ampium Ltd.)); it is a conventional approach to employ rechargeable batteries in such electrical vehicles for storing energy for use in providing power to one or more electrical motors of the electrical vehicles to propel the electrical vehicles. Such rechargeable batteries are often implemented using Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, although alternative battery chemistries have been proposed based on Magnesium salts, Nickel-metal hydrides, Sulphur, Lead-acid, Lead Silicate and so forth. Coping with power surges when wireless recharging a fleet of electrical vehicles, for example using fast charging as aforementioned, is a major technical problem. "Dr/Ve in" wireless fast-charging of electrical vehicles is a functionality that will be greatly desired by consumers in future.

Summary

The present disclosure seeks to provide an improved energy generation and supply system, wherein the energy generation and supply system includes a combination of at least one electrical power generation apparatus, electrical power consumption apparatus (and energy storage apparatus), in a more cost-effective and physically compact manner, as well as providing secondary synergistic benefits in a vicinity of the improved energy generation and supply system; for example, the improved energy generation and supply apparatus seeks to include an integration of energy buffering to be achieved, for example by using a dynamometer or flywheel energy-storage arrangement, and a re-use of waste energy from dynamometer or flywheel energy-storage arrangement operation to be achieved.

According to a first aspect, there in provided an electrical vehicle forecourt charging system including an energy generation and supply system, characterized in that the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system includes one or more charging bays for receiving one or more electrical vehicles for recharging purposes, and a coupling arrangement for coupling the one or more electrical vehicles to the energy generation and supply system, wherein the energy generation and supply system is coupled to a source of energy that supplies energy to the energy generation and supply system when in operation, wherein the energy generation and supply system includes one or more energy storage elements therein for buffering energy flowing through the energy generation and supply system when in operation, wherein the energy generation and supply system includes one or more power generators therein for generating energy within the energy generation and supply system when in operation, wherein the energy generation and supply system includes a management arrangement that control power flows within the energy generation and supply system when in operation, wherein the energy generation and supply system provides recharging energy to one or more rechargeable batteries of the one or more electrical vehicles at least in part from at least one of the one or more energy storage elements, and the one or more power generators.

The invention is of advantage in that the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system is capable, when in operation, of providing for charging of a plurality of vehciles, for example fast charging the plurality of vehicles, as well as providing synergistic functions such a electrical power grid demand response, Cogen heating and/or cooling in a local of the supply system, or other paid or unpaid advantages as described hereinafter.

Optionally, in the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system, the energy generation and supply system operates to provide demand response to the source of energy including an electrical power grid that requires its generating capacity to be matched in real-time to power demand placed upon the electrical power grid. More optionally, in the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system, the one or more energy storage elements are implemented as one or more rechargeable batteries whose real-time state-of-charge (SOCreai-time) is adjusted to a nominal state-of-charge (SOCnom) by applying bias selectively to high excursions or low excursions of demand response provided by the energy generation and supply system to the electrical power grid.

Optionally, in the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system, the coupling arrangement is implemented as at least one of:

(i) one or more cables; and

(ii) one or more wireless inductive coupling apparatus.

Optionally, in the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system, the one or more energy storage elements include a plurality of mutually different battery types, wherein the mutually different battery types have mutually different temporal discharge responses. More optionally, in the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system, the plurality of mutually different battery types includes at least one of: Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, Metal hydride batteries, Magnesium salt flow batteries, supercapacitors, ultracapacitors. More optionally, in the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system, the one or more energy storage elements are coupled within the system using one or more inverters that convert between DC and AC electrical operating regimes. The energy storage elements beneficially include a comprehensive cell management sub-system that ensures that all cells of the energy storage elements are kept mutually equally charged, namely are well matched (for example to within +/- 10%, and more optionally to within +/- 3% SOC). Similarly, it is beneficial that internal temperatures of the cells are monitored frequently, for example within 1 minute intervals, more optionally to within 10 Second intervals, and yet more optionally to within 1 Second intervals. More specifically, the Applicant has found that by very fast (around a period of 20 millisecond to 1 Second) measurement of cell voltages, cell charging currents, and cell temperatures, it is feasible to fast charge the cells to a higher state-of-charge (SoC) than normally recommended by a manufacturer of the cells, because it is possible to detect an individual cell overcharge situation very quickly and take remedial action to avoid cell overcharging or over-discharging.

Optionally, in the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system, the one or more energy storage elements includeat least one of (for example, a combination of) : a flywheel energy storage device, a compressed air energy storage arrangement, a dynamometer arrangement, an arrangement of one or more thermal sources or sinks. More optionally, in the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system, an arrangement of one or more thermal sources or sinks provides in operation Cogen functionality to provide, to a locality whereat the system is deployed, at least one of: heating, cooling, heating and cooling. More optionally, in the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system the compressed air energy storage arrangement provides in operation one or more compressed air feeds for refilling compressed tanks of air-propelled vehicles parked at one or more bays of the system. Optionally, in the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system the one or more power generators include at least one of:

(i) one or more gas turbine engines;

(ii) one or more diesel engines;

(iii) one or more photovoltaic panels;

(iv) one or more wind turbines; and

(v) one or more heliostats.

Optionally, in the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system, the system includes an invertor arrangement that, when in operation, handles reactive power arising within the system in respect of energy storage or supply provided by the one or more energy storage elements. According to a second aspect, there is provided a method of operating an electrical vehicle forecourt charging system including an energy generation and supply system, characterized in that the method includes:

(i) using one or more charging bays of the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system for receiving one or more electrical vehicles for recharging purposes;

(ii) using a coupling arrangement for coupling the one or more electrical vehicles to the energy generation and supply system;

(iii) arranging for the energy generation and supply system to be coupled to a source of energy that supplies energy to the energy generation and supply system when in operation,

(iv) using one or more energy storage elements of the energy generation and supply system to buffer in operation energy flowing through the energy generation and supply system;

(v) using one or more power generators of the energy generation and supply system to generate in operation energy within the energy generation and supply system; and

(vi) using a management arrangement to control in operation power flows within the energy generation and supply system, wherein the energy generation and supply system provides recharging energy to one or more rechargeable batteries of the one or more electrical vehicles at least in part from at least one of the one or more energy storage elements, and the one or more power generators. Optionally, the method includes arranging for the energy generation and supply arrangement to provide demand response in operation to the source of energy including an electrical power grid that requires its generating capacity to be matched in real-time to power demand placed upon the electrical power grid. More optionally, the method includes implementing the one or more energy storage elements as one or more rechargeable batteries whose real-time state-of-charge (SOCreai-time) is adjusted to a nominal state-of-charge (SOCnom) by applying bias selectively to high excursions or low excursions of demand response provided by the energy generation and supply system to the electrical power grid. Optionally, in the method, the coupling arrangement is implemented as at least one of:

(i) one or more cables; and

(ii) one or more wireless inductive coupling apparatus. Optionally, in the method, the one or more energy storage elements include a plurality of mutually different battery types, wherein the mutually different battery types have mutually different temporal discharge responses. More optionally, in the method, the plurality of mutually different battery types includes at least one of: Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, Metal hydride batteries, Magnesium salt flow batteries, supercapacitors, ultracapacitors. More optionally, in the method, the one or more energy storage elements are coupled within the system using one or more inverters that convert between DC and AC electrical operating regimes.

Optionally, in the method, the one or more energy storage elements include at least one of (for example a combination of) : a flywheel energy storage device, a compressed air energy storage arrangement, a dynamometer arrangement, an arrangement of one or more thermal sources or sinks. More optionally, in the method, an arrangement of one or more thermal sources or sinks provides in operation Cogen functionality to provide, to a locality whereat the system is deployed, at least one of: heating, cooling, heating and cooling. More optionally, in the method, the compressed air energy storage arrangement provides in operation one or more compressed air feeds for refilling compressed tanks of air- propelled vehicles parked at one or more bays of the system. Optionallt, in the method, the one or more power generators include at least one of:

(i) one or more gas turbine engines;

(ii) one or more diesel engines;

(iii) one or more photovoltaic panels;

(iv) one or more wind turbines; and

(v) one or more heliostats.

Optionally, the method includes arranging for the system to include an invertor arrangement that, when in operation, handles reactive power arising within the system in respect of energy storage or supply provided by the one or more energy storage elements. More optionally, the invertor may employ at least one of: fast (for example, less than 1 Second response time) control loops controlling voltage, power factor control that acts directly to maintain voltage stability. Such approaches to control are complimentary to the aforementioned frequency power (droop) controls. Again, control parameters of such fast grid stability controls are optionally dynamically altered in real time to provide useful so-called distribution and national scale ancillary services as described hereinafter.

More optionally, the EMS beneficially incorporates an optimal estimator arrangment; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalman_filter . In embodiments of the present disclosure, there are beneficially employed energy management systems that control, when in operation, power flowing into or from a given electrical power grid, and basing such control of power flow on a power flow meter measurement. However, in practice, the meter measurement has both time delay errors and power flow measurement errors. Similarly, controllable generation has time delay errors and power flow measurement errors. Some power sources may not even be directly metered. The EMS beneficially employs optimal estimator methods that require programming of a system model with error sources and group delays represented in the system model. The optimal estimator, for example using Kalman Filtering/Tracking methods described in known technical art, creates an optimal and self learning optimised control of the EMS to achieve delivery of various services. A simplest method employable for implementing the EMS is to ignore errors and use very fast metering and except any errors in power/energy service delivery. Alternatives to Kalman optimal estimators include Alpha and Alpha-beta-state filtering; as described at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha beta filter.

Similarly, other exemplary implementations of the use time based filters to reduce measurement noise and proportional-integral-differential (PID) controllers to overcome group delays in controlled sources.

When providing a frequency response, a plurality of techniques can be used to measure frequency accurately. While time-based zero crossing interval counters are practical to employ, especially when post-detection low pass filtering is used, the Applicant has found that optimal estimator theory can be applied to the measurement of electrical power grid operating frequency freai-ume. Specifically, the Applicant finds that PLL phase locked loop (PLL) techniques are appropriate and accurate to employ. Use of moderately fast ADC's over sampling at more than 100 Hz, optimally several kHz to accomodate harmonics, with supression filters for the invertor PWM, implimented as digital processing using techniques known in technical art, provide a very flexible and optimal estimation. Alternative techniques that can be employed include FFT/DFT tracking filters.

According to a third aspect, there is provided an energy generation and supply system including a power generator for generating power, an arrangement of energy storage devices for receiving power from the power generator and for buffering energy flows within the energy generation and supply system, an energy management system (EMS) for managing power flows within the energy generation and supply system, and a power-flow metering arrangement (M) for monitoring power flows occurring in respect of an electrical power grid to which the energy generation and supply system is coupled, and an energy consuming arrangement to which the energy supply system is coupled, characterized in that the energy management system (EMS) is coupled to the power- flow metering arrangement (M) for receiving information indicative of power flows and AC frequency occurring within the energy generation and supply system, and the energy management system (EMS) is coupled to control an invertor arrangement for interfacing electrical characteristics of the energy storage devices to the power generator, and for interfacing the energy storage devices to the electrical power grid and the energy consuming arrangement.

Various sources and sinks of power, and especially energy storage elements, may optionally be provided with associated metering to determine power flows that occur in operation within the system. Unmetered devices are optionally ulitized in the system, however one objective of the disclosure is to control a net power flow to and from an electrical power grid so as to provide: (i) a maximization of financial revenues from various ancillary servies; (ii) to reduce a cost of purchased electricity; and (iii) a maximization of revenues from electricity sold to the electrical power grid. Such a manner of operation is accomplished by prior trading and control executed by the dispatch system. Furthermore, as smartgrids further develop in future, it is anticipated that automatic negotiation of pricing of service and electricity energy supply will be happening, with or without human intervention, and pressively becoming more autonomous in future. Such operation has been modelled and researched, for example by organisation such as PNNL and IBM. The energy supply system, of the third aspect, is of advantage in that it is capable of providing a more rapid and better matched response to the power generator, the electrical power grid and the energy consuming arrangement.

Optionally, in the energy generation and supply system, the energy storage devices include a combination of one or more primary energy storage devices for accommodating high peak power flows and one or more secondary devices for accommodating lower power flows for longer durations. More optionally, in the energy generation and supply system, rapid power flows occur within a period of less than 1 Second, and slower power flows occur within a period of more than 1 Second. More beneficially, when providing frequency, voltage control and reactive power control, the system is able to react as fast as possible (sub-50 Hz cycle), less than 1 millisecond, but always limited by a frequency of switching operation employ for switching within an invertor PWM apparatus.

Optionally, the energy generation and supply system includes a resistive load arrangement that is couplable, via control of the energy management system (EMS), for use in adjusting a state-of-charge (SOC) of the energy storage devices. Optionally, this resistive heater can provide heat output via hot water, for example for Cogen purposes, for example for district heating to domestic premises and/or industrial premises.

Optionally, in the energy generation and supply system, the invertor arrangement handles, when in operation, reactive power arising within the energy generation and supply system.

Optionally, in the energy generation and supply system, the power generator includes an internal combustion engine arrangement whose mechanical output is coupled to a dynamometer arrangement for generating electrical power for use in charging the energy storage devices. A primary purpose of the dynamometer arrangement is optionally, for example, for testing of engines through application of a controllable mechanical load. However, it will be appreciated that the internal combustion engine arrangement optionally includes a gas turbine engine coupled to a generator to generate electrical power for the energy supply system. Optionally, a diesel turbine engine is employ instead of, or in addition to, the aforesaid gas or liquid fuelled turbine engine.

Optionally, in the energy generation and supply system, the energy consuming arrangement is at least one of: a factory, an electrical vehicle recharging facility.

Optionally, the energy generatio and supply system is configured, namely when in operation, to provide valuable services to at least one of: the electrical power grid, the energy consuming arrangement. More optionally, in the energy generation and supply system, the response load services include frequency response services for provide power flow as a function of electric power grid operating frequency to and/or from the at least one of: the electrical power grid, the energy consuming arrangement. It may also include dispatched reserve power, peak shifting of the factory load. Furthermore it may include network voltage control, and/or reactive power services.

Optionally, for achieving energy storage in the energy generation and supply system, for example to complement use of a gas turbine engine and an electrical power generator coupled thereto and disposed at a given location to generate electrical power locally (for example at a service station for providing rapid charging of a fleet of electrical vehicles), compressed gas (for example, compressed air) energy storage is employed for energy storage purposes. Optionally, the gas compression that is used to store energy, and the subsequent gas decompression that is used to release energy are performed in an isothermal manner, for example by using heat exchangers to add or remove energy to provide such isothermal operation; alternatively, the gas compression that is used to store energy, and the subsequent gas decompression that is used to release energy are performed in an adiabatic manner. Optionally, such adiabatic compression and adiabatic expansion are of advantage to provide synergistically, in a local vicinity of the energy generation and supply system, relatively hotter and cooler thermal sources and sinks, respectively. For example, masses of water (for example, tanks of water) can be used to provide thermal inertia to the thermal sources and sinks. For example, the thermal sources and sinks can be used for providing synergistically district heating and cooling to residential properties located near to the energy generation and supply system. Alternatively, or additionally, the thermal sources and sinks are used for increasing an inlet temperature of air supplied into the gas turbine engine and for cooling other parts of the gas turbine engine, for example its turbine bearings and its electrical generator windings; such selective heating and cooling is capable of increasing an operating efficiency of the gas turbine engine, thereby reducing a gas utilization of the gas turbine when generating a given amount of energy to assist operation of the energy generation and supply system. According to a fourth aspect, there is provided a method of (method for) using an energy generaton and supply system including a power generator for generating power, an arrangement of energy storage devices for receiving power from the power generator and for buffering energy flows within the energy generation and supply system, an energy management system (EMS) for managing power flows within the energy generation and supply system, and a power-flow metering arrangement (M) for monitoring power flows occurring in respect of an electrical power grid to which the energy generation and supply system is coupled, and an energy consuming arrangement to which the energy generation and supply system is coupled, characterized in that the method includes : (i) coupling the energy management system (EMS) to the powerflow metering arrangement (M) for receiving information indicative of power flows occurring within the power generation and supply system; and

(ii) coupling the energy management system (EMS) to control an invertor arrangement for interfacing electrical characteristics of the energy storage devices to the power generator, and for interfacing the energy storage devices to the electrical power grid and the energy consuming arrangement.

According to a fifth aspect, there is provided an electrical vehicle forecourt charging system including an energy generation and supply system of the third aspect, wherein the energy generation and supply system is operable to provide power for electrical vehicle battery recharging purposes.

Optionally, the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system has charging bays for receiving a plurality of electrical vehicles, and, when in operation, the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system is able to provide fast changing to the plurality of electrical vehicles, for example a full battery charge in less than 2 hours of charging, more optionally in less than 1 hour of charging, and yet more optionally in less than 30 minutes of charging, and ideally in less time than the energy consumer can drink coffee or conduct a financial transaction. Optionally, the electrical vehicles are battery hybrid electrical vehicles (namely, using a hybrid combintion of internal combustion engine and electrical motors to provide vehicular propulsion) or pure electrical vehicles (namely, relying only on electrical motors for providing vehicular propulsion) . Optionally, the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system includes a gas turbine engine and/or an electrical generator set for providing power when the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system experiences a relatively high power demand, for example in excess of what can be supplied from an electrical power grid connected to the the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system (for example, in an event of insufficient grid connection capacity or the electrical power grid itself experiencing excess load causing its operating frequency freai-ume to fall below a threshold frequency deviation from a nominal operating frquency fo of the electrical power grid) .

Optionally, for achieving energy storage in the the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system, for example to complement use of a gas turbine engine and an electrical power generator coupled thereto and disposed at a given location to generate electrical power locally (for example for providing rapid charging of a fleet of electrical vehicles), compressed gas (for example, compressed air) energy storage is employed for energy storage purposes. Optionally, the gas compression that is used to store energy, and the subsequent gas decompression that is used to release energy are performed in an isothermal manner, for example by using heat exchangers to add or remove energy as appropriate tto achieve isothermal operation. Alternatively, the gas compression that is used to store energy and the subsequent gas decompression that is used to release energy are performed in an adiabatic manner; optionally, such adiabatic compression and adiabatic expansion are of advantage to provide synergistically, in a local vicinity of the the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system, relatively hotter and cooler thermal sources and sinks, respectively. For example, masses of water (for example, tanks of water) can be used to provide thermal inertia to the thermal sources and sinks. For example, the thermal sources and sinks can be used for providing synergistically district heating and cooling (namely ^Cogen') to residential propeties, cafes, retailing premises and likewise, located near to the the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system. Alternatively, or additionally, the thermal sources and sinks are used for increasing an inlet temperature of air supplied into the gas turbine engine and for cooling other parts of the gas turbine engine, for example its turbine bearings and its electrical generator windings; such selective heating and cooling is capable of increasing an operating efficiency of the gas turbine engine, thereby reducing a gas utilization of the gas turbine when generating a given amount of energy to assist operaton of the the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system. Optionally, a diesel turbine or piston engine is employed instead of, or in addition to, the aforesaid gas turbine engine. Optionally, in the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system, the energy storage devices include a combination of one or more primary energy storage devices for accommodating high peak power flows and one or more secondary devices for accommodating lower power flows for longer durations. More optionally, in the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system, rapid power flows occur within a period of less than 1 Second, and slower power flows occur within a period of more than 1 Second. Energy storage devices such as banks of supercapacitors, rechargeable batteries (for example, Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, Magnesium salt flow batteries, metal hydride rechrgeable batteries, Zinc Bromine batteries and likewise can be employed) . Magnesium salt flow batteries are a form of Redox battery and are described in greater detail in a published patent application CN 107785636 (A), "Environment-friendly water battery system", wherein the environmentally friendly water battery includes a battery output, a first metal electrode, an electrolyte, a transparent polymer, an air electrode and a water battery casing. The metal electrode has a Magnesium content of not less than 70%, and the electrolyte is a neutral electrolyte such as salt water or sea water. Furthermore, a person skilled in the art will understand that the electrolysis of water into hydrogen and subsequent combustion is a form of energy storage, that is beneficially employed in embodiments of the preesent disclosure. When such energy storage via electrolysis of water is used in conjunction with the described system, Hydrogen is used as a bi- directional fuel cell battery. More optionally, the hydrogen is optionally stored and sold as fuel to hydrogen economy vehicles; for example via use of Hydrogen absorption and adsorption in respect of Boron compound powder or use of metal hydrides, for example Nickel hydrides.

According to a sixth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions being executable by a computerized device comprising processing hardware to execute a method of the second aspect or fourth fifth aspect.

Additional aspects, advantages, features and objects of the present disclosure are made apparent in the drawings and the detailed description of the illustrative embodiments construed in conjunction with the appended claims that follow.

It will be appreciated that features of the present disclosure are susceptible to being combined in various combinations without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.

Description of diagrams

The summary above, as well as the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments, is better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the present disclosure, exemplary constructions of the disclosure are shown in the drawings. However, the present disclosure is not limited to specific methods and apparatus disclosed herein. Moreover, those in the art will understand that the drawings are not to scale. Wherever possible, like elements have been indicated by identical numbers. Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the following diagrams:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an energy generation and supply system pursuant to the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an electrical vehicle forecourt charging system, for example optionally including the energy supply system of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of energy storage and generation elements of the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system of FIG. 1 ; and

FIG. 4 is an illustration of steps of a method of (for) operating the energy generation and supply system of FIG. 1, mutatis mutandis the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system of FIG. 2.

In the accompanying drawings, an underlined number is employed to represent an item over which the underlined number is positioned or an item to which the underlined number is adjacent. A non-underlined number relates to an item identified by a line linking the non-underlined number to the item. When a number is nonunderlined and accompanied by an associated arrow, the nonunderlined number is used to identify a general item at which the arrow is pointing.

Description of embodiments

The following detailed description illustrates embodiments of the present disclosure and ways in which they can be implemented. Although the best mode of carrying out the present disclosure has been disclosed, those skilled in the art would recognize that other embodiments for carrying out or practicing the present disclosure are also possible. In overview, embodiments of the present disclosure are concerned with adding a battery storage arrangement for use by customers, with an aim to provide for more optimal support of a given electrical power grid, when in operation, and also to try to reduce energy bills for the customers while also aiming to provide for increased revenues derived from grid ancillary services, as will be described in greater detail below.

As background to embodiments of the present disclosure, it will be apprecited that energy storage by employing a thermal inertia of a body of water, and by using compressed gas is known, for example as described in folowing earlier documents:

(i) PCT patent application WO2018/106361 A2 ("Energy Storage and Generation System"; Applicant - Olalekam); concerns use of compressed gas and liquids for achieving energy storage;

(ii) US patent application US 2018/0186228 Al ( System economically using Compressed Air as an Automobile Power Source and Method thereof"; Applicant - Wang) ; concerns using compressed air storage tubes on an automobile for providing the automobile with motive force;

(iii) US patent application US 2018/0156110 Al ("Compressed Energy Storage and Power Generation Method and Apparatus"; Applicant - Matsukuma) ; concerns stationary system for energy storage using compressed air; and

(iv) granted UK patent GB 2528449 B ("A Compressed Air Energy Storage and Recovery System"; Proprietors - Coney, Wazni and

Schulte) ; concerns use of heat exchangers, compressed air tanks and liquid storage tanks.

Although these known types of energy storage systems utilize compressed air for energy storage, none of these known types of systems are specifically deisgned for coping with very large power flows, for example in an order of a MegaWatt or more, required when fast charging a fleet of electrical vehicles using apparatus that is implemented in a highly compact and cost-effective manner.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown an illustration of an energy generation and supply system indicated generally by 50; in operation, the energy generation and supply system, 50 supplies energy to an external customer 112, for example to a factory. The customer 112 is, for example, connected to the power grid, 113, via "company meters", 111. The meters, 111, are so called "settlement fiscal meters" and may comprise both import, export and check meters. When the system 50 is in operation, a total customer power and energy flows are metered by a sub- meter 109, wherein the sub-meter 109 is connected to an Energy Management System 114. The sub-meter 109 is beneficially optimised to perform very fast power measurement in either power flow direction therethrough, namely for measuring power export and also power import when they occur in operation. The customer 112 is capable of presenting a ^normal' load to the energy generation and supply system 50, wherein the ^normal' load is sub-metered by a one or more meters 110. This customer 112 is optionally special, in that the customer 112 possesses an energy storage device, such as a dynamometer ("dyno") 103 or rotating flywheel energy storge device, which is connected to an engine, for example an engine under test, denoted by 101, via a mechanical coupling arrangement 102. A dynamometer will be appreciated by a person of ordinary technical skill to be a form of DC ("direct current") generator, usually connected to resistive water loads to dissipate power/energy generated in operation by the engine, for example the engine under test. Furthermore, optionally, the dynamometer 103 beneficially incorporates control loops that vary a mechanical torque/load that is presented in operation to the engine under test. An electrical output of the dynamometer 103 is coupled via a DC converter 105 to a first battery 106; that is electrically connected in parallel with a second battery 107. The first battery 106 is designed for absorbing and/or supply relative high peak powers (for example, including energy storage devices such as supercapacitors), whereas the second battery 107 is designed for providing long term energy storage (for example, using Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, Magnesium salt flow batteries and likewise) . There are utilized battery chemistries and voltage/current characteristics that may be mutually different, and, in this case, the first and second batteries 106, 107 are optionally manufactured as sub-systems that can incorporate internal DC-DC convertors to match impedances presented in operation by the batteries 106, 107 to a DC bus voltage employed, so that the batteries 106, 107 are optimally used within their current and voltage characteristics given their state-of-charge (SOC), their limiting C (namely, peak power delivery performance) values and a desired power operating point in their charge or discharge characteristics to be employed . For example, the batteries 106, 107 are beneficially operated within a SOC that is in a range of 40% to 90% of their maximum state-of- charge (SOCmax = 100%) ; such a range is chosen because batteries are often more easily degraded by being over-discharged than being over^¬ charged (over-discharge can cause dendritic growths to occur from battery electrodes that can short-out the batteries internally and also cause electrode swelling) .

Optionally, there is employed an energy management system (EMS) 114 that receives, when in opeation, power, voltage and current readings from elements of the energy generation and supply system 50, especially from the batteries 106, 107, and from the invertors 105, 108.

In operation, the DC/DC convertor 105 provides impedance matching between, for example, the dynamometer 103 and the batteries 106, 107, wherein the DC/DC convertor 105 ensures that the dynamometer 103 can present a suitable (namely, ^correct') mechanical load to the engine 101 under test. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, such a DC/DC convertor 105 functions in a manner such that it is an integral part of the dynamometer 103, wherein the dynamometer 103 is designed to be connected to a resistive load. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the dynamometer 103 has an AC output from an alternator under automatic voltage regulaion (AVR) control . The dynamometer 103, operating in conjunction with the DC/DC convertor 105, deposits, namely "dumps" , output energy produced from the engine 101 under test into the batteries 106, 107. More specifically, control loops regulating operation of the dynamometer 103 or the DC/DC convertor 105 change dynamically the mechanical load presented to the engine 101 within a very fast timeframe, namely within a period of 100 mSec, more optionally within a period of 20 mSec to 50 mSec. A computer (not shown) controls operation of the dynamometer 103, for example presents the engine 101 with a defined given mechanical load; for example, the defined given mechanical load is a function of an engine rotation rate (for example, r.p.m.) of the engine 101, a hypothetical gear selected and a given road characteristics (gradient, frictionloss) for an automobile (namely, car) mass and throttle setting . The computer beneficially uses a physics-based algorithm to compute a mechanical load to be presented by the dynamometer 103 to the engine 101 as a function of the user defined driving characteristics.

The state-of-charge (SOC) of the batteries 106, 107 is controlled by the aforesaid energy management system (EMS) 114, which, via data communication implemented via a local control network 115, controls, when in operation, the DC/AC convertor 108, as well as monitors the first and second batteries 106, 107, respectively, and monitors a factory load 112 presented to the energy generation and supply supply system 50 via the aforementioned electrical meter 110 (namely, sub-meter") and an amount of energy/power consumed by the factory load, and/or an amount of energy supplied from the factory load. Ideally, the DC/AC convertor 108 is bi-direction and so the energy generation and supply system 50 can charge sub-systems of the the batteries 106, 107.

Optionally, a resistive load 117 is employed to correct the state-of-charge (SOC) of the batteries 106, 107; the resistive load 117 is optionally placed, namely connected, in a DC path of the energy generation and supply system 50, as illustrated in FIG. 1, namely across the batteries 106, 107, and/or as a resistive load 118 on an AC path of the energy generation and supply system 50, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Such an arrangement may be used, where a given customer has a limited export capacity and the resistive loads 117, 118 can be used to limit export power and/or correct batteries state-of-charge. The resistive loads 117, 118 are optionally use to heat a body of water with thermal inertia to provide a source of heat for district heating or likewise.

In the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1, there is provided the aforementioned energy management system (EMS) 114, wherein the EMS 114, when in operation, (namely, is operable to provide, is configured to provide) provides fast energy/power control of the energy generation and supply system 50; by "fast control" is meant a group delay of less than 250 mSec, more optionally less than 100 mSec, and yet more optionally less than 50 mSec or even intra-cycle of AC mains electrical supply of the electyrcial power grid 113. The EMS 114 is controlled in operation, namely is configured to be controlled, from a dispatch controller 116; the dispatch control 116 is pre-programmed with grid service definitions, for example in a chronological manner, for example pursuant to a calendar schedule, to allow a given complete site hosting the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1 to function as an optimised electricity trading arrangement. It will be appreciate that most operators of electrical power grids purchase a plurality of services from various commercial vendors, wherein the services are primarily categorised by how quickly the services react to various operating conditions arising in the electrical power grids, for example electrical grid operating frequency, electric grid voltage stability, variations in supply of electrical power to the power grids, and so forth. In the United Kingdom, these plurality of service include ^response services'; response services are concerned with providing an automatic response as a function of changes occurring in a grid frequency freai-ume of a given electrical power grid, namely providing a reserve power service which is dispatched by a grid system operator. In optimising consumption patterns of given factory load or a battery load, a service provided to a given national electricity power grid in an associated supply/generation electricity market is beneficially traded at Vi hourly intervals (namely at 30 minute intervals) .

The dispatch control 116 has associated therewith a programmer and operator that seek to improve, for example to optimize, the service /consumption measured by export/import meters 111 (" ") to increase, for example maximise, revenues/cost achieved while running engine testing and/or power consumption occurs at factory 112.

Advantageously, such a configuration allows for a provision of a fast response energy reserve and other services in a synergistic manner, for example as aforementioned "fast frequency response" and also so called TRIAD avoidance where normal power loads of the customer 112 are accommodated by the batteries 106, 107 and their invertor sub-system 105, 108 as aforementioned, reducing the power drawn from the grid 113, to zero at pre-scheduled times.

Optionally, when receiving power or supplying power therethrough, the invertor 108 can generate reactive power/and/or correct reactive power arising from load the power load present in operation by the factory 112. Such a reactive power in electricity supply grids can conventionally cost money to consume, but it is also possible to sell reactive power to electricity supply grids. Moreover, the invertor 108 allows, when in operation, for voltage control to be achieved; for example, the invertor 108 can be used to provide a voltage response service to a given electricity supply grid.

In the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1, the resistive loads 117, 118 can be used to correct for a state-of-charge (SOC) of the batteries 106, 107, in an event that a given site is operable to over- generate, namely to generate excess power. In the Applicant's aforementioned earlier patent applications, the Applicant has described methods that allow optimisation of a battery size in energy storage systems. The Applicant has found that, to provide a useful degree of frequency response service in the United Kingdom, a 15 minute storage battery, with around 50% capacity for self-generation, is optimal; however, it will appreciated that other ranges of capacity are optionally employed, for example in a range 30% to 80%, for example in a range of 40% to 90% (of maximum state-of-charge (SOC), namely full state-of- charge = 100%) . For the energy generation and supply system 50, more battery storage may be useful, for example, to recover the "wasted" energy from the dynamometer 103, and this is beneficially matched to temporal energy consumption patterns of the factory load 112. Furthermore, to meet requirements for TRIAD avoidance in the United Kingdom, the batteries 106, 107 and/or self-generation at the site should equal the peak consumed power for a period in a range of 90 to 120 minutes. A key element of the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1 , namely a form of hybrid system, is a manner in which the EMS 114 modifies very quickly, when in operation, the invertor power of one or more of the invertors 105, 108, for example within 250 mSec of shorter, based upon measurements made by using the sub-meter 109 CM"). A group delay associated with such measurement using the sub-meter 109 CM") directly results in power delivery errors when other system powers are dynamically changing; the Applicant has focussed on employing a very fast control loop in connection with the EMS 114, for example with less than 250 mSec response time, more optionally less than 100 mSec response time. Other potential approaches require a rapid response to be provided, wherein providing such a rapid response involves computing an aggregation of measured data relating to power flows, wherein there is employed a plurality of aforementioned control loops implemented in different geographical locations; the Applicant has found such other approaches are less able to provide fast 1 second frequency service, where power delivered to the electric supply grid 113, is modulated directly by an operating frequency freai-ume of the electrical supply grid 113.

In the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1 , the EMS 114 cannot control the power delivered from the dynamometer 103, when utilized, and it is unable to control the power used by the factory 112. However, the EMS 114 is capable, when in operation, of controlling other parameters of the energy generation and supply system 50, in response to temporal changes in the power used by the factory 112 and the power deleivered from the dynamometer 103. Moreover, by using energy storage provided by the batteries 106, 107, it is possible to blend power provided from these batteries 106, 107 as they change in their state-of- charge (SOC) to provide spot-on power to the electricity supply grid 113 which exactly matches an ancillary service (perhaps frequency dependent) and a trading of import/export of energy. There is thereby provided a ^{^}response' to the power grid 113. It will be appreciated that other techniques such as demand response are optionally incorporated into operation of the energy generation and supply system 50, as well as a service provided by the energy supply system 50 into the load presented by the factory 112. Other generation is potentially connected under control provided by the EMS 114, for example as will be elucidated in greater detail later. Similarly, solar panels for solar energy power production are optionally connected at DC as a power source to provided power generation to the energy generation and supply system 50, mutatis mutandis wind power production, tidal power production, biomass power production and so forth.

It will be appreciated that the batteries 106, 107 in the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1 can be supplemented or substituted with other storage devices such as liquid air energy storage devices, flywheel energy storage devices, hydroelectric energy storage apparatus, super capacitors, compressed air energy storage devices and similar; such alternative energy storage devices will be described later with reference to FIG. 2. Various synergistic benefits arise as a result of employing certain types of energy storage devices, as will be elucidated in greater detail later.

Moreover, optionally, the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1 is operated with multiple engines under test, connected to their respected dynamometers 103; optionally, in such as example, the plurality of dynamometers 103 is coupled to their respective invertors 108 that provide, when in operation, power to the batteries 106, 107. Thus, it will be appreciated that the energy supply system 50 of FIG. 1 is able to support multiple engines under test and multiple loads, batteries, invertors and factories.

The energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1 operates, namely is configured, namely is operable, via its EMS 114 to manage sub- systems of the batteries 106, 107 to different state-of-charges (SOC) to reflect their chemistry types; such battery chemistries are usually mutually different for so as to provide short-term high power and long- term battery energy storage times and/or capacities. For example, long storage times optionally use industrial continuous flow batteries, whereas short high power can be provided by at least one of Lithium-chemistry batteries, Nickel metal hydride (NIMh) batteries and Magnesium salt flow batteries. The dispatch controller 116 accepts, when in operation, commands from a grid system operator, as well as its aggregator/trading party (not shown in FIG. 1). Moreover, although FIG. 1 provides an illustration of AC supply being provided to the factory 112, it will be appreciated that the factory 112 can alternatively or additionally be provided with power at DC or AC through other means of self-generation which may utilise fossil fuelled "standby" generators as well as the renewable sources described above.

The energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1 is susceptible to being used in electrical vehicle charging infrastructure, for example in road-side or carpark electrical vehicle chargers (namely in "car charging petrol stations"), in service station fast-charging installations. In such an embodiment, the load provided by the factory 112 can be considered to be a load of a given vehicle garage (forecourt), a given charging station, or a given vehicle service station, which optionally includes refrigeration apparatus in a food sales part of the garage, lighting, pumping of liquid fossil fuels and such like. In such an embodiment, there is unlikely to be a dynamometer 103; however, there may potentially be DC solar cell power generating apparatus (e.g., photovoltaic collar cell array) or AC wind power generating apparatus (e.g., wind turbine) or even fossil standby generation. For example, there is beneficially employed at least one of: a gas turbine coupled to an electrical generator to provide electrical power, a diesel engine coupled to an electrical generator to provide electrical power. Moreover, optionally, using compressed air energy storage in the aforesaid electrical vehicle charging infrastructure provides a form of energy storage that provides other synergistic benefits, as will be elucidated in greater detail later. Compressed air energy storage is encvironmental very clean, and does not give rise to any form of hazardous wastes, when in operation.

Electrical vehicle batteries are often required, for example by owners of the vehicles, to be charged at high rates, because customer expectations are often pre-formed with reference to a manner in which internal combustion engine vehicles can be refueled with a few minutes with petrol Qgasolene') and diesel fuel. Such high charging rates include, for example, 1C (1 hour empty to full charge for a given rechargeable battery), 4C (i .e. around 15 minutes for a given rechargeable battery) or even IOC to 60C (1 minute charging for a given rechargeable battery), wherein "C" is a factor of the Amp-hour capacity of vehicle batteries. Thus, an electrical vehicle waiting to be charged is potentially a "peaky load" that can place high maximum power supply demands onto the electrical supply grid 113 of FIG. 1. However, the energy generation and supply system 50 is able to accommodate, namely buffer, such peaky demand by employing power levelling by way of, for example, power supplied from the first battery 106 and, then, thereafter by way of power supplied the second battery 107, to provide a long average consumption to an associated electrical supply grid 113. Such an electrical vehicle charger (not shown in FIG. 1) could have a peak power rating in a range of 100 kW to 2 MW, and run for 1 minute, optionally for 5 minutes, in a fast charging application. The sub-meter 109 and feedback to the invertors 105, 108 allow energy trading and frequency response provision to be implemented via mediation of the EMS 114 and the aforementioned dispatch system 116. Thus, it will be appreciated that the energy generation and supply system 50 is capable of providing for (namely is operable to provide, namely is configured to provide), electrical vehicle recharging, as well as providing V2G (^v 'vehicle-to-grid") services. Moreover, optionally, by way of using the dynamometer 103, electrical motor/battery testing can be incorporated as a functionality of the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1 ; for example, there is provided forecourt engine testing and servicing, wherein energy for the system 50 is harvested from such engine testing . Testing of electrical vehicle (EV) charging can also be undertaken using the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1 ; such testing can be used to identify potential vehicl battery degration, for example after prolonged use with many charge/discharge cycles. "Trading techniques", namely methods of buying and selling electrical power within a flexible dynamic electrical energy market, are optionally employed with the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1, for example when adapted to ⁿEV garage scenarios". Energy buffering and levelling the charging energy of a car charging station and employing optimum trading strategy are beneficially employed in connection with operating the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1.

The energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1 is susceptible to being implemented in various alternative configurations. In one example embodiment of the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1, storage of power at AC (^alternating current") is employed, a factory load at AC is utilized, and resistive loads at AC or DC indirect current") are optionally employed for assisting to maintain a suitable state-of-charge (SOC) for the batteries 106, 107; however, in such an embodiment, the electrical power grid 113 is likely to remain AC however. The energy generation and supply system 50 incorporates a monitoring arrangement that, when in operation, measures an electrical power grid operating frequency (namely, "grid frequency") freai-ume and feed this as sensed data to the EMS 114, for use in controlling the energy generation and supply system 50, and for controlling various power supply and/or power storage services provided by the energy generation and supply system 50.

It will be appreciated that contemporary designs of DC/DC power convertors are relatively inexpensive (due to use of advanced solid state power switching devices employed therein, for example Silicon Carbide transistors, Gallium Noitride transistors, high-voltage MOSFETs, IBJT and such like) and can be used to change impedance/voltage easily, for example with reference to the inverter 105 providing a temporally rapidly changing load to the dynamometer 103. Advantageously, such DC/DC power converters are optionally coupled between DC elements of the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1 to ensure that the system 50 functions in an optimal manner. In embodiments of the present disclosure, DC/DC convertors employed therein can operate to provide bi-directional power flow therethough, namely allowing power to flow in either direction therethough while changing impedances presented at connection terminals of thre DC/DC convertors. Furthermore, they can be operated in a manner in which they are either galvanically isolated, or not galvanically isolated, which may be important when configuring a safe Earthing system for embodiments of the present disclosure. Attention to what potentials are actually present in the system 50 and meeting national safety standards is an important aspect of designing a power station of the future. Furthermore, such DC/DC convertors can be used to interface to DC output of solar cells with the EMS providing a ^string booster box' functionality that is present in most contemporary solar systems, that allows for maximum power to be extracted in respect of a given received solar flux, namely a given solar ambient condition.

Additionally, peak currents may be handled in the energy generation and supply system 50 by employing storage capacitors (for example, supercapacitors or even ultra-capacitors) and/or small capacity rechargeable batteries (for example less than 50 Ah capacity, for example small Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries or Lithium Iron polmer batteries. Thus, it will be appreciated that mutually differing battery chemistries will have different impedance characteristics and, optionally, at least one of the first and second batteries 106, 107, optionally both, incorporate bi- directional DC/DC convertors (for example, for purposes of DC voltage matching to enable power mixing to be undertaken at DC. Moreover, it will be appreciated that DC/DC convertors can be designed to have symmetric switching topologies. Alternatively, mechanical electromagnetic relays can be employed to reconfigure a direction of power flow when one or more uni-directional DC/DC convertors are employed in the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1.

When manufacturing the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1, it will be appreciated that high power DC relays (for example, Silver- contact electromagnetic mechanical relays) are expensive to employ, and therefore AC switching is preferred to be used in the system 50; by "high power" is meant in excess of 10 kW, more optionally in excess of 100 kW. Therefore, it will be appreciated in an example embodiment of the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1, that the system 50 employs (namely is configured to employ, namely is operable to employ) AC buses and employs a greater proportion of AC/DC invertors within the energy generation and supply system 50. Moreover, it will be further appreciated that a DC/DC convertor having high power switches is optionally synergistically used also as an ON-OFF switch for the energy generation and supply system 50. Similarly, it will be appreciated that a DC/DC convertor is optionally used with a fixed power rating resistor to create a variable voltage resistor. Moreover, optionally, the energy supply system 50 uses (namely is configured to use, namely is operable to use) switched capacitors as loads, wherein these loads are substantially without any thermal dissipation (resistive losses) occurring therein. Such an approach can be used selectively to reduce resistive heating power losses occurring when the system 50 when it is in operation. It will be appreciated that the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1 is susceptible to employing various power conditioning configurations to correct for reactive power associated with AC power supply and/or consumption, and that capacitors/inductors are optionally selectively switched and used in the energy generation and supply system 50 in addition to employing four-quadrant invertors, for example for coupling between AC and DC parts of the energy generation and supply system 50, for coupling between mutually different DC to DC parts of the energy supply system 50, and for coupling between mutually different AC to AC parts of the energy generation and supply system 50.

Optionally, the energy generation and supply system 50 of FIG. 1, configured to provide electrical vehicle recharging, coupling of power from the energy generation and supply system 50 to a given electrical vehicle is achieved using resonant inductive power coupling . Such resonant inductive power coupling, namely wireless power coupling, is described in detail in a published patent document WO2013/091875 A2, "Inductive power coupling systems for roadways", Ampium Ltd. ), whose teachings are hereby incorporated by reference.

As aforementioned, the energy generatio and supply system 50 of FIG. 1 is susceptible to being used in an electrical vehicle charging infrastructure, for example in road-side or carpark electrical vehicle chargers (namely in "car charging petrol stations"), in service station fast-charging installations and likewise. However, the infrastructure is susceptible to being implemented in many different ways, pursuant to the present disclosure. It will be appreciated that future trends towards a large proportion of a given national fleet of vehicles being electrically propelled, for example by year 2040 in the United Kingdom, requires that considerable electrical vehicle recharging infrastructure be deployed. Moreover, it will also be expected that the electrical vehicle recharging infrastructure will be capable of fast charging a plurality of electrical vehicles simultaneously at a given location, for example in a car park, in a service station, in a shopping centre, and so forth. For example, as aforementioned, 20 vehicles with 50 kWh rechargeable battery capacity being fast charged within a 1 hour period can place in excess of a 1 MW load on an electical supply grid. Fast charging within periods of minutes places extreme equirements that can be met by employing a low voltage (LV) connection with energy storage apparatus or by employed higher capacity high voltage (HV) connections, or both LV and HV connections concurrently. The local energy storage apparatus is sized (in its energy storage capacity) by the capacity of the car battery and the frequency at which car charging is undertaken, bounded by either the peak connection capacity and/or the total local generation capapcity. In order to ensure that existing electrical power grids can cope with such demand, without needing to be fundamental upgraded in a major manner, it is clear that energy storage (namely, energy buffering) is required spatially locally to the electrical vehicle recharging infrastructure. One solution is to employ the generation and energy supply system 50 of FIG. 1, with copious capacity for the batteries 106, 107, irespective of whether or not a dynamometer 103 or likewise is employed. Moreover, it is highly desirable to employ local electrical power generation in the generation and energy supply system 50, as will be elucidated in greater detail below.

In FIG. 2, there is shown an illustration of an electrical vehicle forecourt charging system, indicated generally by 1000. The electrical vehicle forecourt charging system 1000 is generally arranged in a like manner to the energy supply system 50, except that the dynamometer 103 is optionally omitted or substituted by a mechanical flywheel energy storage device, for example using a vacuum-mounted flywheel with non-contact magnetic bearings. The electrical vehicle forecourt charging system 1000, namely also referred to as an energy generation and supply system 1000, includes a main assembly 1010, for example housed within one or more truck containers or custom-designed building, for example in a parking lot of a service station located along a motorway or highway. Adapting standard truck container designs for implementing the sytem 1000 is especially desirable when examples of the system 1000 are to deployed in large numbers in a relatively short prior of time, for example 100000 examples in a period of 1 month. The energy generation and supply system 1000 is optionally supplied with a fuel feed 1005, for example a natural gas feed, a diesel fuel feed or likewise. Moreover, the energy generation and supply system 1000 is beneficially coupled to an electrical power grid 113, for example via the meters 109, 111 as described in the foregoing. In operation, the energy generation and supply system 1000 provides ^response' to the electrical power grid 113, for example to assist to stabilize an electrical supply provided via a meter 110 to a factory load denoted by 112. Furthermore, the energy generation and supply system 1000 includes a plurality of n charging bays 1020(1) to 1020(n), wherein n is an integer having a value of 1 or greater, for example n is 10 or greater. In operation, the energy generation and supply system 1000 is capable of providing fast charging of one or more electrical vehicles (not shown) parked in one or more of the bays 1020(1) to 1020(n) and connected to the energy generation and supply system 1000, for example via a flexible power cable arrangementor via a resonant inductive wireless coupling arrangement, or both.

The energy generation and supply system 1000 includes the batteries 106, 107, for example implemented as an arrangement including a plurality of mutually different types of battery chemistries, optionally coupled via their inverters 105, 108 is a manner as described with reference to the energy generation and supply system 50 described in the foregoing. The batteries 106, 107 provide the energy generation and supply system 1000 with energy storage to cope in operation with surges of power occurring when fast charging a plurality of electrical vehicles in the bays 1020(1) to 1020(n). The energy generation and supply system 1000 further optionally includes the resistive loads 116, 117 that are useable in operation to provide temporally immediate adjustment of power load within the energy generation and supply system 1000, wherein the resistive loads 116, 117 beneficially provide thermal energy that is synergistically employed within the energy generation and supply system 1000, for example to heat water or molten metal (for example, lead or a lead alloy) to maintain a heat source, for example denoted by 1130(T+), at an elevated temperaure above ambient temperature of envions of the energy generation and supply system 1000.

The system 1000 beneficially includes a gas turbine engine 1100, whose gas-driven turbine is coupled to a corresponding electrical generator 1110 for generating electrical power for assisting the energy generation and supply system 1000 to cope with power surges when many electrical vehicles (not shown) are being fast-charged temporally simultaneously at the bays 1020(1) to 1020(n). Waste heat from the gas turbine engine 1100 is beneficially sunergistically utilized within the energy generation and supply system 1000, for example to heat water or molten metal (for example, Lead or a Lead alloy) to maintain a heat source, for example denoted by 1130(T+), at an elevated temperaure above ambient temperature of envions of the system 1000. The gas turbine engine 1100 is provided with gas from the fuel feed 1005, that is optionally buffered via a fuel buffer tank accommodated within the energy generation and supply system 1000. Optionally, a diesel generator is employed in addition to, or in substitution of, the gas turbine engine 1100. The gas turbine engine 1100 beneficially provides an output power in a range of 500 kW to 20 MW, and its generator 1110 is corresponding power rated to match; the diesel generator is beneficially similarly power rated to the gas turbine engine 1100. It will be appreciated that arrays of smaller engines can be used to achieve a given desired output power capacity and that, when controlling energy, engines have a specific efficiency characteristic that varies with their output power and therefore the EMS system can optimise the energy efficiency of fuel- to-electricity conversion in a plurality of ways, for example including running most engines at peak efficeincy (or in an ^Λο/Γ state), and by using a fewer number of engines to provide a given variable power element within the energy generation and supply system 1000. The energy generation and supply system 1000 optionally includes an energy storage apparatus 1120 based upon compressed air. Electrical energy supplied from one or more of the power grid 113, the gas turbine engine 1100, the batteries 106, 107 is used to power an air compressor 1120 to compress air into a compressed air tank arrangement. Heat generated by compressing air into the compressed air tank arrangement is extracted via a heat exchanger to heat the heat source 1130(T+) at an elevated temperaure above ambient temperature of envions of the energy generation and supply system 1000; for example the elevated temperature is 50 °C or higher, more optionally 80 °C or higher, and yet more optionally 90 °C or higher. Moreover, compressed air from the the compressed air tank arrangement is used to drive a turbine or piston- cylinder arrangement to generate mechanical output to drive an electrical power generator to provide electrical power to cope with power surges in the energy generation and supply system 1000 when fast charging a plurality of electrical vehicles in the the bays 1020(1) to 1020(n). When the compressed air expands, for example via adiabatic expansion, cooling of the compressed air occurs that can be used via heat exchangers to maintain a heat sink 1130(T-) at a depressed temperaure below ambient temperature of envions of the system 1000, for example in a range of 0 °C to -20 °C. For example, the heat sink 1130(T-) is implemented using a thermally-insulated tank of ethylene glycol solution that has a freezing point of -10 °C or lower, more optionally -20 °C or lower. Likewise, the the heat source 1130(T+) is implemented as a thermally insulated tank of water and/or metal (Lead, or metal alloy such as Tin-Lead alloy). The heat source 1130(T+) and the heat sink 1130(T-) can be synergistically used for 'Cogen' purposes in a vicnity of the energy generation and supply system 1000 for district heating and/or cooling of domestic premises 1200, and for various purposes in the industry 112 (for example space heating or cooling, refrigeration, water distillation, resin curing, chemical processing, materials drying, and so forth). For example, a cafe or restaurant is provided in a vicnity of the energy generation and supply system 1000 for pampering drivers and passengers of electrical vehicles being fast charged by the energy generation and supply system 1000; the cafe or restaurant can provide refreshments wherein heating and cooling provided from the heat source 1130(T+) and the heat sink 1130(T-) can be synergistically used for cooking purposes, food preservation and space heating or space cooling (depending upon season of year). Cooling from the heat sink 1130(T-) can be used to remove heat from one or more of the batteries 106, 107, for example caused by resistive heating occurring therein when subject to peaks of power demand therefrom, for example during fast charging of vehicle batteries in the bays bays 1020(1) to 1020(n), for example at IOC charging rates. Moreover, heating and cooling provided from the heat source 1130(T+) and the heat sink 1130(T-) can be synergistically used to increase a thermal operating efficiency of the gas turbine engine 1100, for example to cool its turbine bearings or to preheat air supplied to an inlet of the gas turbine engine 1100 when in oepration to enhance its operating efficiency, for example to assist cold-start of the gas turbine engine 1100 in severely cold winter conditions (for example in Canada and Alaska in winter). Yet moreover, compressed air supplied from the compressed air tank arrangement of the energy generation and supply system 1000 can be used to recharge compressed air tanks of compressed air-propelled vehicles. Compressed air vehicles have been investigated by Tata Motors (based in India) for use in Asia (Guy Negre et al. see https: //www.voutube.com/watch^' w6aJMNXSk,

https://www.voutube.com/watch?v=fm8RCww3cUY) ,

wherein adiabatic expansion of air from compressed air tanks of such vehicles provides cabin (passenger) cooling, and the compressed air is employed to provide motive force from an air (non-combustion) piston engine arrangement to propel the vehicles; such compressed air vehicles are ¹ zero-emission' vehicles that are alleged to be convenient and clean for use in densely populated urban environments. On account of the energy generation and supply system 1000 using compressed-air energy storage, there is a very low environmental hazard in an event of an air leak occurring as a result of equipment faults (i.e. no fire risk whatsoever) .

As aforementioned, suitable compressed-air energy storage apparatus that are suitable for use in constructing and operating the energy generation and supply system 1000 are described, by way of example, in aforementioned earlier documents:

(i) PCT patent application WO2018/106361 ;

(ii) US patent application US 2018/0186228;

(iii) US patent application US 2018/0156110; and

(iv) granted UK patent GB 2528449 B.

These earlier documents provide enabling disclosures of how to implement compressed energy storage apparatus. By synergistic use of energy storage within the energy generation and supply system 1000, the system 1000 is able to provide a high degree of synergistic functionality that assists to make the energy generation and supply system 1000 highly cost-effective in use, without needing to incur costly upgrades of existing electric power grid 113 components to cope with fast concurrent charging of a plurality of electrical vehicles, for example a fleet of electrical vehicles, such as a fleet of electrical buses, taxis, self-drive vehicles and trucks. Moreover, the energy generation and supply system 1000 is optionally also capable in operation of providing a response service to the electrical power grid 113, to assist to stabilize its operation to address real-time imbalances in its generating capacity and customer load. Such a manner of operation is key to governmental aims to deploy electrical vehicles to considerable extent, for example more than 50% of all vehicles being electrical vehicles, by year 2040 in Europe, pursuant to EU mandate.

Referring next to FIG. 3, an implementation of compressed air energy storage for the energy generation and supply system 1000 is illustrated in greater detail . The energy generation and supply system 1000 includes a compressed air energy storage arrangement indicated generally by 2000. The arrangement 2000 includes a compressed air tank 2010, for example having an internal volume in a range of 1 m³ to 10 m³. The tank 2010 is capable, when in operation, to receive compressed air at pressures up to 200 Bar, more optionally up to 300 Bar, and yet more optionally up to 500 Bar; 1 Bar is nominal atmospheric pressure (circa 760 mm Hg). The tank 2010 includes an outer wall 2030 of woven Carbon fibre mesh, alternatively woven fibreglass, that is in gaseous communication at its exterior service with ambient air. Moreover, the tank 2010 has an inside layer 2020 that comprises a plastics material, a gel or a wax, or a combination thereof, that is able to deform and flow so that any cracking or deformation due to high pressure gas ingression into the the layer 2020 does not stress the outer wall 2030; the outer wall 2030 is thereby protected from high pressure gas that could ingress into interstitial spaces of its Carbon fibres, alternatively fibeglass strands, and cause a degradation of structural integrity of the Carbon fibres over time, alternatively fibeglass strands. In a fault condition of the outer wall 2030 fracturing in operation, the inside layer 2020 contains the fault condition as a deflagration, thereby avoiding any form of explosion, and thereby greatly increasing safety of the energy generation and supply system 1000 when in operation. The air compressor 1120 A is beneficially implemented as a piston pump compressor, a multi-stage compessor turbine, a multi-stage gerotor pump or similar. In operation, the air compressor 1120 A absorbs electrical power to do work to compress ambient air and pump it via a heat exchanger 2050 into the tank 2010. Such compression cause heating of the air, wherein the heat exchanger 2050 is used to heat a liquid, for example water, or a low melting-point metal or metal allow (e.g. Lead, Lead-tin alloy (solder)), in the thermal source tank 1130(T+) that provides for energy storage within the energy generation and supply system 1000. The thermal source tank 1130(T+) is therefore useable as a synergistic source of heat energy at a temperature of up to + 100 °C, when water is used, or temperatures up to, for example, +500 °C, when various types of meltable metal alloys are utilized.

When an energy demand on the energy generation and supply system 1000 is unusually high, for example approching 1 MW or more, for fast changing a fleet of electrical vehicles coupled to the energy generation and supply system 1000 at its bays 1020, compressed air stored in the tank 2010 is passed via an air-motor 1120B implemented as a multistage piston block or a multi-stage turbine, wherein the air-motor 1120B in operation drives an electrical generator to provide electrical power within the system 1000, for example to support vehicular fast charging activities. However, it will be appreciated that adiabatic expansion of the compressed air supplied from the tank 2010 causes the air-motor 1120B to be cooled ; however, a heat exchanger 2060 is used for thermally coupling the air-motor 1120 to a thermal sink 1130(T-) that is implemented using a tank of liquid, for example the tank is filled with ethylene glycol solution, such that the thermal sink 1130(T-) is synergistically able to absorb thermal energy generated within the system 1000 and/or its spatial environs (for example, for providing disrict cooling to residential houses, factories, restaurants, cafes and so forth in summer time) . In FIG. 3, Koutl and Kout2 denote cooling functionality provided from the the thermal sink 1130(T-), for example for cooling the inverters 105, 108, cooling bearings of the gas turbine engine or diesel engine 1100, 1110 and its associated electrical generator energy included within the energy generation and supply system 1000, district neighbourhood cooling, battery cooling to electical vehicles that are being fast charged and likewise.

The thermal source tank 1130(T+) is susceptible to receiving heating energy flows Hinl, Hin2 from more paths than merely from a path Hin3 from the heat exchanger 2050, for example from dissipation rising in the loads 117, 118, from an exhaust outlet of the gas turbine engine and/or diesel engine 1100, from batteries of the plurality of electrical vehicles that are being fast charged, from a solar collector (heliostat or solar photovoltaic panels) and so forth. Moreover, the thermal source tank 1130(T+) is optionally used to pre-heat compressed gas that is extracted from the tank 2010 prior to it being provide to the air-motor 1120B to improve its operating efficiency. As aforementioned, the compressed air tank 2010 can be used directly for recharging on-board compressed-air tanks for compressed-air propelled vehicles, for example as being developed by Tata Motors in India. Air- propelled vehicles are described in :

(i) a published US patent application US2017211435 (Al), "Compressed-air engine with an integrated active chamber and with active intake distribution", inventors - Negre, Applicant MDI;

(ii) a published international PCT patent application WO2009112415 (Al), "Poweered vehicle for city use with pressurized air propulsion" , inventor - Negre, Applicant - MDI; and (iii) a granted US patent US6334435 (Bl), "Method for operating pollution-free engine expansion chamber and expansion chamber therefor", Applicant - Negre. Referring next to FIG. 4, there are shown steps of an example method of (namely, a method for) using the energy generation and supply system 50, alternatively the energy generation and supply ystem 1000, to generate and/or buffer energy, for example for concurrently fast charging a fleet of electrical vehicles at a given geographical location, such as a vehicle forecourt or a service station. The steps of the method are indicated generally by 3000. The method 3000 includes a first step 3010 of providing the aforesaid energy storage devices 106, 107, 1120A, 1120B, 1130 for receiving power from the electrical power grid 113, a power generator arrangement 101, 102, 103, 1100, 1110 and for buffering energy flows within the energy generation and supply system 50, 1000, wherein the first step 3010 further includes providing the aforesaid energy management system (EMS) 114 for managing power flows within the energy generation and supply system 50, 1000, providing the power-flow metering arrangement (M) 109, 110, 110 for monitoring power flows occurring in respect of an electrical power grid 113 to which the energy generation and supply system 50, 1000 is coupled, and providing an energy consuming arrangement 112, 1020 to which the energy generation and supply system 50, 1000 is coupled.

The method 3000 further includes a second step 3020 of coupling the energy management system (EMS) 114 to the aforementioned power- flow metering arrangement (M) 109, 110, 111 for receiving information indicative of power flows occurring within the power generation and supply system 50, 1000 when in operation. The method 3000 further includes a third step 3030 of coupling the energy management system (EMS) 114 to control the aforementioned invertor arrangement 105, 108 for interfacing electrical characteristics of the energy storage devices 106, 107, 1120A, 1120B, 1130 to the power generator 101, 102, 103, 1100, 1110, and for interfacing the energy storage devices 106, 107, 1120A, 1120B, 1130 to the electrical power grid 113 and to the energy consuming arrangement 112, 1020, for example for purposes of fast charging one or more electrical vehicles (for example, for fast charging concurrently a plurality of electrical vehilces at 1C or greater rate) in a vehicle forecourt or vehicle service station. The method 3000 further includes a fourth step 3040 of providing at least one of the heat source 1130(T+) and the heat sink 1130(T-) coolth') and synergistically using the heat source 1130(T+) and the heat sink 1130(T-) to provide thermal energy flows for environments or processes disposed in a spatial vicinity of the energy generation and supply system 50, 1000. For example, the thermal energy flows can be used for vehicle forecourt de-icing in wintertime, domestic and/or industrial district heating and/or district cooling, food processing, and likewise. Modifications to embodiments of the invention described in the foregoing are possible without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the accompanying claims. Expressions such as "including", "comprising", "incorporating", "consisting of", "have", "is" used to describe and claim the present invention are intended to be construed in a non- exclusive manner, namely allowing for items, components or elements not explicitly described also to be present. Reference to the singular is also to be construed to relate to the plural. Numerals included within parentheses in the accompanying claims are intended to assist understanding of the claims and should not be construed in any way to limit subject matter claimed by these claims.

Claims

1. An electrical vehicle forecourt charging system (1000) including an energy generation and supply system, characterized in that the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system (1000) includes one or more charging bays (1020) for receiving one or more electrical vehicles for recharging purposes, and a coupling arrangement for coupling the one or more electrical vehicles to the energy generation and supply system, wherein the energy generation and supply system is coupled to a source of energy (113, 1005) that supplies energy to the energy generation and supply system when in operation, wherein the energy generation and supply system includes one or more energy storage elements (103, 106, 107, 2010) therein for buffering energy flowing through the energy generation and supply system when in operation, wherein the energy generation and supply system includes one or more power generators (1100) therein for generating energy within the energy generation and supply system when in operation, wherein the energy generation and supply system includes a management arrangement (115, 116) that control power flows within the energy generation and supply system when in operation, wherein the energy generation and supply system provides recharging energy to one or more rechargeable batteries of the one or more electrical vehicles at least in part from at least one of the one or more energy storage elements, and the one or more power generators.

2. An electrical vehicle forecourt charging system ( 1000) of claim 1, characterized in that the energy generation and supply system operates to provide demand response to the source of energy including an electrical power grid (113) that requires its generating capacity to be matched in real-time to power demand placed upon the electrical power grid (113).

3. An electrical vehicle forecourt charging system (1000) of claim 2, characterized in that the one or more energy storage elements are implemented as one or more rechargeable batteries whose real-time state-of-charge (SOCreai-time) is adjusted to a nominal state-of-charge (SOCnom) by applying bias selectively to high excursions or low excursions of demand response provided by the energy generation and supply system to the electrical power grid (113).

4. An electrical vehicle forecourt charging system ( 1000) of claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the coupling arrangement is implemented as at least one of:

(i) one or more cables; and

(ii) one or more wireless inductive coupling apparatus.

5. An electrical vehicle forecourt charging system (1000) of claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, characterized in that the one or more energy storage elements (106, 107) include a plurality of mutually different battery types, wherein the mutually different battery types have mutually different temporal discharge responses.

6. An electrical vehicle forecourt charging system ( 1000) of claim 5, characterized in that the plurality of mutually different battery types includes at least one of: Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, Metal hydride batteries, Magnesium salt flow batteries, supercapacitors, ultracapacitors.

7. An electrical vehicle forecourt charging system (1000) of claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the one or more energy storage elements (103, 106, 107) are coupled within the system (1000) using one or more inverters (105, 108) that convert between DC and AC electrical operating regimes.

8. An electrical vehicle forecourt charging system ( 1000) of any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the one or more energy storage elements (106, 107) include a flywheel energy storage device, a compressed air energy storage arrangement (1120, 1130), a dynamometer arrangement ( 103), an arrangement of one or more thermal sources or sinks ( 1130).

9. An electrical vehicle forecourt charging system ( 1000) of claim 8, characterized in that an arrangement of one or more thermal sources or sinks (1130) provides in operation Cogen functionality to provide, to a loality whereat the system (1000) is deployed, at least one of: heating, cooling, heating and cooling .

10. An electrical vehicle forecourt charging system ( 1000) of claim 8, characterized in that the compressed air energy storage arrangement

(1120, 1130) provides in operation one or more compressed air feeds for refilling compressed tanks of air-propelled vehicles parked at one or more bays (1020) of the system ( 1000).

11. An electrical vehicle forecourt charging system ( 1000) of any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the one or more power generators include at least one of:

(i) one or more gas turbine engines;

(ii) one or more diesel engines;

(iii) one or more photovoltaic panels;

(iv) one or more wind turbines; and

(v) one or more heliostats.

12. An electrical vehicle forecourt charging system ( 1000) of any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the system (1000) includes an invertor arrangement (105, 108) that, when in operation, handles reactive power arising within the system (1000) in respect of energy storage or supply provided by the one or more energy storage elements ( 103, 106, 107, 2010) .

13. A method of operating an electrical vehicle forecourt charging system ( 1000) including an energy generation and supply system, characterized in that the method includes:

(i) using one or more charging bays (1020) of the electrical vehicle forecourt charging system ( 1000) for receiving one or more electrical vehicles for recharging purposes;

(ii) using a coupling arrangement for coupling the one or more electrical vehicles to the energy generation and supply system; (iii) arranging for the energy generation and supply system to be coupled to a source of energy ( 113, 1005) that supplies energy to the energy generation and supply system when in operation, (iv) using one or more energy storage elements (103, 106, 107, 2010) of the energy generation and supply system to buffer in operation energy flowing through the energy generation and supply system;

(v) using one or more power generators (1100) of the energy generation and supply system to generate in operation energy within the energy generation and supply system;

(vi) using a management arrangement ( 115, 116) to control in operation power flows within the energy generation and supply system, wherein the energy generation and supply system provides recharging energy to one or more rechargeable batteries of the one or more electrical vehicles at least in part from at least one of the one or more energy storage elements, and the one or more power generators.

14. A method of claim 13, characterized in that the method includes arranging for the energy generation and supply system to provide demand response in operation to the source of energy including an electrical power grid (113) that requires its generating capacity to be matched in real-time to power demand placed upon the electrical power grid (113).

15. A method of claim 14, characterized in that the method includes implementing the one or more energy storage elements as one or more rechargeable batteries whose real-time state-of-charge (SOCreai-time) is adjusted to a nominal state-of-charge (SOCnom) by applying bias selectively to high excursions or low excursions of demand response provided by the energy generation and supply system to the electrical power grid (113).

16. A method of claim 13, 14 or 15, characterized in that the coupling arrangement is implemented as at least one of:

(i) one or more cables; and

(ii) one or more wireless inductive coupling apparatus.

17. A method of claim 13, 14, 15 or 16, characterized in that the one or more energy storage elements (106, 107) include a plurality of mutually different battery types, wherein the mutually different battery types have mutually different temporal discharge responses.

18. A method of claim 17, characterized in that the plurality of mutually different battery types includes at least one of: Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, Metal hydride batteries, Magnesium salt flow batteries, supercapacitors, ultracapacitors.

19. A method of claim 18, characterized in that the one or more energy storage elements (103, 106, 107) are coupled within the system (1000) using one or more inverters (105, 108) that convert between DC and AC electrical operating regimes.

20. A method of any one of the preceding claims 13 to 19, characterized in that the one or more energy storage elements ( 106, 107) include a flywheel energy storage device, a compressed air energy storage arrangement ( 1120, 1130), a dynamometer arrangement (103), an arrangement of one or more thermal sources or sinks (1130).

21. A method of claim 20, characterized in that an arrangement of one or more thermal sources or sinks (1 130) provides in operation Cogen functionality to provide, to a locality whereat the system ( 1000) is deployed, at least one of: heating, cooling, heating and cooling .

22. A method of claim 21, characterized in that the compressed air energy storage arrangement (1120, 1130) provides in operation one or more compressed air feeds for refilling compressed tanks of air-propelled vehicles parked at one or more bays ( 1020) of the system ( 1000) .

23. A method of any one of claims 13 to 22, characterized in that the one or more power generators include at least one of:

(i) one or more gas turbine engines;

(ii) one or more diesel engines;

(iii) one or more photovoltaic panels;

(iv) one or more wind turbines; and

(v) one or more heliostats.

24. A method of any one of claims 13 to 24, characterized in that the method includes arrangement for the system (1000) to include an i nvertor arrangement (105, 108) that, when in operation, handles reactive power arising within the system (1000) in respect of energy storage or supply provided by the one or more energy storage elements (103, 106, 107, 2010) .

25. An energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) including a power generator ( 101, 102, 103) for generating power, an arrangement of energy storage devices ( 106, 107) for receiving power from the power generator ( 101, 103) and for buffering energy flows within the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000), an energy management system (EMS) ( 114) for managing power flows within the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000), and a power-flow metering arrangement (M) (109, 110, 111) for monitoring power flows occurring in respect of an electrical power grid ( 113) to which the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) is coupled, and an energy consuming arrangement (112, 1120) to which the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) is coupled, characterized in that the energy management system (EMS) (114) is coupled to the power-flow metering arrangement (M) ( 109, 110, 111) for receiving information indicative of power flows occurring within the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000), and the energy management system (EMS) ( 114) is coupled to control an invertor arrangement ( 105, 108) for interfacing electrical characteristics of the energy storage devices ( 106, 107) to the power generator (101, 102, 103), and for interfacing the energy storage devices ( 106, 107) to the electrical power grid ( 113) and the energy consuming arrangement ( 112).

26. An energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) of claim 25, characterized in that the energy storage devices ( 106, 107) include a combination of one or more primary energy storage devices ( 106) for accommodating rapid power flows and one or more secondary devices (107) for accommodating slower power flows.

27. An energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) of claim 26, characterized in that the rapid power flows occur within a period of less than 1 Second, and the slower power flows occur within a period of more than 1 Second.

28. An energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) of any one of preceding claims 25 to 27, characterized in that the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) includes a resistive load arrangement (116, 117) that is couplable, via control of the energy management system (EMS) ( 114), for use in adjusting a state-of-charge (SOC) of the energy storage devices ( 106, 107) .

29. An energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) of any one of claims 25 to 28, characterized in that the invertor arrangement (105, 108) is operable to handle reactive power arising within the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) .

30. An energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) of any one of preceding claims 25 to 29, characterized in that the power generator (101, 102, 103) includes an internal combustion engine arrangement (101) whose mechanical output is coupled to a dynamometer arrangement ( 103) for generating electrical power for use in charging the energy storage devices ( 106, 107).

31. An energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) of any one of preceding claims 25 to 30, characterized in that the energy consuming arrangement ( 112) is at least one of: a factory, an electrical vehicle recharging facility.

32. An energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) of claim 31 , characterized in that the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) is coupled to the energy consuming arrangement ( 112) via a wireless resonant inductive power coupling arrangement, for electrical vehicle recharging purposes.

33. An energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) of any one of preceding claims 25 to 32, characterized in that the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) is configured to provide response load services to at least one of: the electrical power grid ( 113), the energy consuming arrangement (112) .

34. An energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) of claim 33, characterized in that the response load services include frequency response services for providing power flow as a function of frequency to and/or from the at least one of: the electrical power grid ( 113), the energy consuming arrangement ( 112) .

35. A method of using an energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) including a power generator ( 101, 102, 103) for generating power, an arrangement of energy storage devices ( 106, 107) for receiving power from the power generator ( 101, 102, 103) and for buffering energy flows within the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000), an energy management system (EMS) ( 114) for managing power flows within the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000), and a power-flow metering arrangement (M) ( 109, 110, 111) for monitoring power flows occurring in respect of an electrical power grid ( 113) to which the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) is coupled, and an energy consuming arrangement ( 112) to which the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) is coupled, characterized in that the method includes:

(i) coupling the energy management system (EMS) ( 114) to the power- flow metering arrangement (M) ( 109, 110, 111) for receiving information indicative of power flows occurring within the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) ; and

(ii) coupling the energy management system (EMS) ( 114) to control an invertor arrangement ( 105, 108) for interfacing electrical characteristics of the energy storage devices ( 106, 107) to the power generator ( 101, 102, 103), and for interfacing the energy storage devices ( 106, 107) to the electrical power grid ( 113) and the energy consuming arrangement ( 112) .

36. A method of claim 35, characterized in that the method includes arranging for the energy storage devices ( 106, 107) to include a combination of one or more primary energy storage devices ( 106) for accommodating rapid power flows and one or more secondary devices (107) for accommodating slower power flows.

37. A method of claim 36, characterized in that the method includes accommodating rapid power flows occurring within a period of less than 1 Second, and slower power flows occurring within a period of more than 1 Second.

38. A method of any one of claims 35 to 37, characterized in that the method includes arranging for the energy supply system to include a resistive load arrangement that is couplable, via control of the energy management system (EMS) ( 114), for use in adjusting a state of charge (SOC) of the energy storage devices ( 106, 107).

39. A method of any one of claims 35 to 38, characterized in that the method includes operating the invertor arrangement ( 105, 108) to handle reactive power arising within the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) .

40. A method of any one of claims 35 to 39, characterized in that the method includes arranging for the power generator ( 101, 102, 103) to include an internal combustion engine arrangement ( 101) whose mechanical output is coupled to a dynamometer arrangement ( 103) for generating electrical power for use in charging the energy storage devices (106, 107) .

41. A method of any one of preceding claims 35 to 40, characterized in that the method includes arranging for the energy consuming arrangement to be at least one of: a factory, an electrical vehicle recharging facility.

42. A method of claim 41 , characterized in that the method includes arranging for the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) to be coupled to the energy consuming arrangement ( 1 12, 1 120) via a wireless resonant inductive power coupling arrangement, for electrical vehicle recharging purposes.

43. A method of any one of claims 35 to 42, characterized in that the energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) is configured to provide response load services to at least one of: the electrical power grid ( 1 13), the energy consuming arrangement ( 1 12) .

44. A method of claim 43, characterized in that the response load services include frequency response services for provide power flow as a function of frequency to and/or from the at least one of: the electrical power grid ( 1 13), the energy consuming arrangement ( 1 12) .

45. An electrical vehicle forecourt charging system ( 1000) including an energy generation and supply system (50, 1000) of any one of claims 35 to 44, wherein the energy generation and supply system is operable to provide power for electrical vehicle battery recharging purposes.

46. A computer program products comprising non-transitory computer- readable storage media having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions being executable by a computerized device comprising processing hardware to execute a method of any one of claims 13 to 24, or 35 to 45.