Friedrich, Daniel

Lavidas, George

Most settlements in remote and isolated locations rely on imported diesel to provide electricity and thus electricity prices are usually very high. Hybrid Energy Systems (HES) which combine renewable electricity generation with energy storage and backup diesel generators have the potential to replace the majority of fossil fuel based electricity with renewable electricity while also reducing the price for the residents. However, due to the variability of the renewable electricity generation either a much larger renewable generation capacity or a very large battery capacity would be required to remove the diesel generators completely. By combining electricity generation from different renewable resources the fraction of power generated by fossil fuels can be reduced. While most HES system consider only wind turbines and solar PV panels, many island have a very good wave resource which could be exploited. In this contribution a mathematical framework is used to investigate the effect of combining wind turbines and wave energy converters (WEC) on the required amount of backup diesel generation and electricity storage as well as on the renewables fraction. Most waves are wind generated and there is usually a time delay of several hours between the wind and wave energy resource. Thus the waves act as an energy store for the wind and the integration of WECs in a HES can reduce the required amount of backup diesel generation and energy storage in comparison to a wind only HES. While WECs are less developed and currently more expensive compared to wind turbines, they offer enticing prospects for future HESs in remote coastal locations

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Combining offshore and onshore renewables with energy storage and diesel generators in a stand-alone Hybrid Energy System

https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/22938941/2015_Friedrich_Lavidas_OSES2015.pdf

Combining offshore and onshore renewables with energy storage and diesel generators in a stand-alone Hybrid Energy System

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