Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
can develop an independent, stable and green electric grid. As renewable electricity
deployment continues to expand worldwide at a rate of 30% p.a. for both wind and
solar, these same issues will arise in larger countries. When the proportion of renew-
ables on any country's electricity is large enough to require signifi cant export and import
activity, issues of interconnection, storage and green value will need to be addressed.
8 Conclusions
No one technology has all the ideal characteristics required for optimal grid inte-
gration of renewables. It is most likely that PHES (depending on topography, geol-
ogy and feasibility), and FBES, will be the most attractive options for integrating
renewable energy in the future because:
•
PHES is a mature, proven, large-scale storage system that can act as an energy
reservoir during times of excess electricity-production or as a producer during
shortages in energy supply. In addition, recent studies have indicated that the
lack of suitable sites may not be as severe as originally anticipated. Therefore,
it is anticipated that PHES still has a role to play when integrating amounts of
renewable energy.
FBES facilities can act as the 'middle-man' between the grid and large-scale
•
PHES facilities. As FBES are site-specifi c they can built where PHES is not an
option and fl exibility can compensate for the disadvantages of PHES.
In addition to the technologies identifi ed above, all three energy storage systems
discussed in this chapter have a huge potential in improve renewable energy
penetrations in the future.
•
The HESS is establishing itself as a serious contender for future power produc-
tion more and more especially in the transport sector. Therefore, even if the
HESS is not utilised for converting the hydrogen back to electricity, it is evident
that hydrogen will probably be required for other applications such as heating
or transport in the future. Therefore, it is an area that has a lot of future potential
even though it can be an ineffi cient process.
The TESS is not only capable of increasing the wind penetrations feasible with-
•
in an energy system, but it also increases the overall effi ciency of the energy
system. Even more importantly, this technology has already been proven within
the Danish energy system and hence does not carry the same risks as other op-
tions. However, the primary drawback of the TESS in comparison to the HESS
is the transport sector: TESS does not account for the transport sector. However,
this can be counteracted by combining the TESS with EVs.
EVs are more effi cient than both hydrogen and conventional vehicles. They
•
also have the potential to make large-scale BES economical and hence vastly
improve the fl exibility within energy system. By combining EVs with the TESS
huge reductions in fuel demands can be achieved as well as drastic increases in
the potential to integrate renewable energy. Also, Lund has shown that this
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