scholarly journals Techno-Economic Analysis of On-Site Energy Storage Units to Mitigate Wind Energy Curtailment: A Case Study in Scotland

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1691
Author(s):  
Seda Canbulat ◽  
Kutlu Balci ◽  
Onder Canbulat ◽  
I. Safak Bayram

Wind energy plays a major role in decarbonisation of the electricity sector and supports achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. Over the last decade, the wind energy deployments have grown steadily, accounting for more than one fourth of the annual electricity generation in countries like the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Germany. However, as the share of wind energy increases, system operators face challenges in managing excessive wind generation due to its nondispatchable nature. Currently, the most common practice is wind energy curtailment in which wind farm operators receive constraint payments to reduce their renewable energy production. This practice not only leads to wastage of large volumes of renewable energy, but also the associated financial cost is reflected to rate payers in the form of increased electricity bills. On-site energy storage technologies come to the forefront as a technology option to minimise wind energy curtailment and to harness wind energy in a more efficient way. To that end, this paper, first, systematically evaluates different energy storage options for wind energy farms. Second, a depth analysis of curtailment and constraint payments of major wind energy farms in Scotland are presented. Third, using actual wind and market datasets, a techno-economic analysis is conducted to examine the relationship between on-site energy storage size and the amount of curtailment. The results show that, similar to recent deployments, lithium-ion technology is best suited for on-site storage. As case studies, Whitelee and Gordon bush wind farms in Scotland are chosen. The most suitable storage capacities for 20 years payback period is calculated as follows: (i) the storage size for the Gordonbush wind farm is 100 MWh and almost 19% of total curtailment can be avoided and (ii) the storage size for the Whitlee farm is 125 MWh which can reduce the curtailment by 20.2%. The outcomes of this study will shed light into analysing curtailment reduction potential of future wind farms including floating islands, seaports, and other floating systems.

Author(s):  
Keenan Nakagawa ◽  
Amarjit Singh

The Kahuku Wind Farm of Hawaii has been laden with controversy since its inception in 2011. Although it was one of the two wind farms on Oahu responsible for supplying a combined 14% of the island’s renewable energy in 2018, citizens have been outspoken in their criticism of the facility. Local residents have cited concerns regarding adverse health effects to the surrounding community, as well as deaths of native birds and endangered bats caused by the turbines. The impact on the Hawaiian hoary bat population has been a focal point of numerous complaints, as more bats are being killed than initially predicted. To the dismay of their opponents, eight additional turbines are being erected in Kahuku as part of the Na Pua Makani Wind Energy Project. And, as of November 2019, approximately 200 individuals have been arrested while protesting it. To add to the controversy, wind farm officials are currently facing legal hurdles, as challengers are skeptical on whether the project’s environmental review correctly estimates the number of birds and bats that will fall victim to this new development. The purpose of this study is to analyze and evaluate the issues associated with the Kahuku Wind Farm and Na Pua Makani Wind Energy Project, as well as the position and arguments of stakeholders and litigants.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Coburn ◽  
Eilín Walsh ◽  
Patrick J. Solan ◽  
Kevin P. McDonnell

Ireland has one of the highest wind energy potentials in Europe. The intermittent nature of wind makes this renewable resource impractical as a sole source of energy. Combining wind energy with pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) can overcome this intermittency, consuming energy during low-demand periods and supplying energy for periods of high demand. Currently Ireland has a number of hydroelectric power plants and wind farms of various scales in operation. A feasibility study was conducted to investigate the potential of securing a reliable source of renewable energy by increasing the penetration of hydroelectric power by means of combined wind-PHES developments. The greatest wind potential is experienced along the western coast of Ireland and a number of sites were identified here which satisfied a minimum mean wind speed criterion of 10.5 ms−1. Each site was then further evaluated according to topographical requirements for PHES. All but two of the identified sites are immediately unsuitable due to the presence of areas protected under European legislation; this highlights the nonenergy related obstacles in the path of renewable energy generation in Ireland and suggests that a compromise should be researched which could facilitate both renewable energy generation and species and habitat protection in Europe.


2014 ◽  
pp. 123-127
Author(s):  
Frank O’Connor

The Irish wind energy sector is booming. In 2012, Irish wind farms supplied enough energy to provide about 15% of Ireland’s electricity demand and power 1.12 million households. In March 2014, The Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA), an organisation committed to the promotion of wind energy in Ireland, highlighted a planned €7 billion investment in the sector, with a confirmed project pipeline of over 180 new wind schemes. According to a recent TCD/ESRI report, this will bring the total number of jobs in the sector from 3,400 at present to over 8,400 and see a doubling of production of clean, indigenous, renewable energy. The modern wind turbines, which will be rolled out as part of these new schemes are a far cry from the turbines installed over four decades ago at the first commercial wind farm, constructed in 1980 on Crotched Mountain, New Hampshire, USA. A modern turbine such as ...


2014 ◽  
Vol 521 ◽  
pp. 703-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Feng Li ◽  
Su Hua Ma ◽  
Xiao Dong Shen

Storage of energy generated by offshore wind farms still addresses one of the vexing problems inherent in offshore renewable energy such as offshore wind or solar energy how to store excess energy. Researchers tried to apply concrete in the energy storage of offshore wind farm recently, including the OTEC artificial energy islands, the MITS Ocean Renewable Energy Storage (ORES) and Belgiums energy atoll, and the progresses were reviewed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 839-856
Author(s):  
Muhammad Tayyab Naqash ◽  
Mohammad Hasan Aburamadan ◽  
Ouahid Harireche ◽  
Abdulrahman AlKassem ◽  
Qazi Umar Farooq

Climate change and natural resource depletion are likely to affect the future economic development of a country. The generation of power from oil and gas is among the major causes of reserves depletion and global warming. However, renewable energy is also deemed a clean and green choice for power generation to promote sustainability in engineering. The coastal lines of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) are widely extended, and wind energy appears to be a viable alternative to traditional sources, which needs to be investigated as it is highly desirable to seek energy from renewable energy sources, for instance, wind. This paper is aimed at addressing the wind energy potential along the Red Sea coast of KSA. Afterward, a suitable wind turbine based upon careful structural analysis has been proposed, which would form a basis, especially during the machine selection and design phases. For this purpose, seven different sites located along the coastal line, namely: Al Wajh, Umluj, Yanbu, Rabigh, Jeddah, Haddad, and Gizan, were initially selected to assess the wind energy availability. After that, a suitable turbine is recommended for yielding maximum output. It has been found from the reconnaissance that Al Wajh has sufficient land availability that receives high perennial wind speed, alongside shallow offshore water depth for monopile installation. Hence, this site is recommended for the development of a wind farm. Furthermore, turbines need to be installed at the height of almost 100 m to produce maximum energy to appropriately utilize the available indigenous wind energy. It is pertinent to mention that the superstructure of the turbines is designed based on the local loading conditions (wind, currents, waves, etc.) of the Al Wajh region. Also, the monopile substructures are proposed in the selected area in accordance with the available bathymetry.


Author(s):  
Lorenzo Battisti ◽  
Ambra Giovannelli

The strong drive to exploit wind energy has recently led to new types of location for wind turbine installations being considered, including mountain regions and, to be more specific, areas at elevations coming between 800 and 2,500 m asl. Authoritative sources, such as the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), have estimated that 20–25% of the approximately 60,000 MW expected to be installed in Europe between now and 2010 will be situated in cold-climate areas, and a part of them will be on hills and mountains. The installation of wind farms in the mountains consequently demands an in-depth analysis, in the design of such plant, into both the methods for assessing the resource and the more or less direct transfer of procedures and technologies developed for conventional sites. For the time being, the IEC standards (originally developed to provide a reference picture relating to conventional sites) fail to provide recommendations on this type of site, where the structure of the flow field is substantially more complex in terms of its effect on the stresses involved. The present work outlines the main features of mountain wind farm sites and discusses the effects of some of said features on the structural assessment of the turbines destined for such installations in the light of the IEC standard requirements. The work illustrate that the installation of wind turbines in mountain sites must consider different site-related features from those used to develop the requirements of the IEC standards. The examples given here indicate that, based on the standards, these features influence both energy generation and the turbine’s working life. Only an adequate understanding of these features can lead to a cost-effective sizing of the turbines. This type of approach can lead to a site-specific design concept, and only certain components are structurally adequate for the stress characteristics of a given site. These procedures will then have to be transferred to the standards, overcoming the conflict between the minimum standard requirements specifying the fundamental elements to consider in the project and the set of parameters describing the external conditions that demand a turbine of equivalent sturdiness in comparable applications.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (12) ◽  
pp. 5307-5314
Author(s):  
L. Sarojini ◽  
R. Supraja ◽  
V. Hamsadhwani ◽  
M. Sathiskumar

Limited fossil fuel resources and current environmental considerations have created wind energy as the best alternative for spotless renewable source of energy, to replace the conventional sources of energy. The Wind power production has quite a few drawbacks owing in the direction of the methods used in harnessing wind energy. This paper focuses on the method that decreases the effect of the voltage variability within the grid initiated through uncontrollable imprudent power flow and the output power fluctuation within the grid. This paper gives solution to diminish the fluctuation that creates unstable voltage across the line by installing such an energy storage device. Reactive power compensation has been mutually implemented to manage the distribution of the reactive power supply across wind farm based power networking through internal Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM). Here, bidirectional interleaved DC/DC-converters and double layer electrical capacitors are used. Therefore the introduction of two different systems, the energy storage systems with interleaved boost unit along with the reactive power mitigation for giant wind farms was implemented by integrating them into single system to check and review the wind power plant stability management.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 745-754
Author(s):  
Otávio Augusto de Oliveira Lima Barra ◽  
Fábio Perdigão Vasconcelos ◽  
Danilo Vieira dos Santos ◽  
Adely Pereira Silveira

O Brasil é um país com uma extensa linha de costa, são cerca de 7.367 km de extensão do seu litoral, com um potencial natural para a geração de energia eólica. O estado do Ceará é um dos maiores produtores de energia eólica para o país, obtendo notoriedade e a necessidade de manutenção dos seus parques eólicos, especialmente se instalados em zonas de costa, onde há uma grande dinâmica natural. O presente trabalho, busca o acompanhamento das dinâmicas morfológicas na praia de Volta do Rio, localizada em Acaraú/CE, que fica a cerca de 238 km de Fortaleza/CE. Os dados coletados em idas à campo, constataram que há um forte processo erosivo atuante na praia de Volta do Rio, o que alerta para a contenção do avanço marinho sob o parque eólico presente no local. A erosão é um fenômeno natural que trabalha na modelação de demasiadas formas terrestres. No litoral, isso não é diferente, por ser um ambiente altamente dinâmico onde há a interação entre continente, atmosfera e oceano, sendo possível encontrar diversos atuantes que podem intensificar os processos erosivos, sejam eles o vento, maré, ou por intervenções humanas, como construções e ocupações indevidas ao longo da linha de costa.Palavras Chave: Volta do Rio; Energia Eólica; Erosão. ABSTRACTBrazil is a country with an extensive coastline, about 7,367 km of coastline, with a natural potential for wind power generation. The state of Ceará is one of the largest producers of wind energy for the country, obtaining notoriety and required maintenance of its wind farms, especially if located in coastal areas, where there is a great natural dynamic. The present work seeks the movement of morphological dynamics in the beach of Volta do Rio, located in Acaraú/CE, which is about 238 km from Fortaleza/CE. The data collected in the field found that there is a strong erosive process on the Beach of Volta do Rio, which warns about the expansion of advanced marine on the wind farm present on site. Erosion is a natural phenomenon that works in the modeling of many hearth forms. On the coast, this is not different, considering a highly dynamic environment in which there is an interaction between continent, atmosphere and ocean, being possible to find many factors that can intensify the erosive processes, such as wind, tide, or human intervention, as constructions and improper occupations along the coast line.Key words: Volta do Rio; Wind Energy; Erosion. RESUMENBrasil es un país con una extensa costa, cerca de 7.367 km de costa, con un potencial natural para la generación de energía eólica. El estado del Ceará es uno de los mayores productores de energía eólica del país, ganando notoriedad y la necesidad de mantener sus parques eólicos, especialmente si está instalado en zonas costeras, donde existe una gran dinámica natural. La presente investigación tiene como objetivo monitorear la dinámica morfológica en la playa de Vuelta del Rio, ubicada en Acaraú / CE, que está a unos 238 km de Fortaleza / CE. Los datos recopilados en los viajes de campo, encontraron que hay un fuerte proceso erosivo en la playa de Vuelta del Rio, que advierte sobre la contención del avance marino bajo el parque eólico presente en el sitio. La erosión es un fenómeno natural que funciona en el modelado de muchas formas terrestres. En la costa, esto no es diferente, ya que es un entorno altamente dinámico donde existe la interacción entre el continente, la atmósfera y el océano, permitiendo encontrar varios actores que pueden intensificar los procesos erosivos, ya sea viento, marea o intervenciones humanas, como edificios y ocupaciones inadecuadas a lo largo de la costa.Palabras clave: Vuelta del Río; Energía Eólica; Erosión.


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