Is the Large-Scale Development of Wind-PV with Hydro-Pumped Storage Economically Feasible in Greece?

The achievement of the long-term national energy targets in Greece for large-scale integration of wind and solar energy may be facilitated by the development of hydro-pumped storage projects. In light of the above, technical aspects related with the operation of the Greek power system and its ability to absorb renewable energy are analyzed in connection with the role of hydro-pumped storage and relative economic aspects. The aim of this work is to assess the potential contribution of hydro-pumped storage projects and estimate the capacity magnitude order to support large-scale wind and photovoltaic (PV) integration in Greece. For this purpose, scenarios for the Greek power system with focus on Wind and PV development, in conjunction with hydro-pumped storage capacity, are developed, and results for current situation and reference years 2030 and 2050 are presented. For the simulation, among others, high resolution mesoscale wind data for a typical year in the whole Greek territory are used for the steady state simulation of the Greek power system, in order to better estimate the power that could be generated from installed wind turbines, taking into consideration technical characteristics of a typical commercial wind turbine. Results indicate the need of gradual development of hydro-pumped storage in parallel with the large-scale integration of wind and PV capacity into the Greek power system. In addition, the feasibility of the examined scenarios is supported from the low cost of wind and PV generation. In the case of Greece, thanks to the complex morphology and hydraulic conditions of the country, hydro-pumped storage composes an efficient and low-cost storage solution