Determination of energy storage capacity requirement for a hybrid renewable power generation system

Abstract

With the great advance made in renewable generation technologies, cost of the production of power from renewable energy is becoming increasingly competitive when compared with that from fossil fuel-based generation resources. As a result, it will be economically beneficial to integrate large amounts of renewable capacity into power systems, if the cost trend continues. Unlike traditional energy resources, however, using renewable resources for generation presents technical challenges in producing continuous and controllable electric power: The distinct feature of the renewable energy such as solar/wind is its nature of intermittency. Since it is difficult to predict and control the output of the renewable resources, an extra Energy Storage System (ESS) is needed to enable a proper management of the uncertain power production. The ESS acts like energy buffer such that the renewable output power can be regulated to suit the operational requirements of the network.