On the performance of commercial supercapacitors as storage devices for renewable electrical energy sources

Abstract

Supercapacitor cells and modules with an electrical capacitance reaching thousands of Farads become attractive components for energy storage, in regenerative energy based power electrical systems. The characteristics of high energy supercapacitor cells and modules produced at this time by leading manufacturers in the field are presented for organic and aqueous electrolyte technology. A stored specific energy as high as 5-6 Wh/kg is exhibited by commercial supercapacitor cells and modules, a value lower than the corresponding one for lead –acid batteries (30-35 Wh/kg). The specific power of supercapacitors reaching 3-5 kW/kg is higher than that of batteries (limited to 1kW/kg) and this feature is required in applications. The advantages and disadvantages of supercapacitors in comparison with batteries, a traditional way of electrical energy storage are discussed.