Seasonal shifting of surplus renewable energy in a power system located in a cold region

• Main Authors: Jorge Morel, Yuta Morizane, Shin'ya Obara
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AIMS Press 2014-10-01
• Series: AIMS Energy
• Subjects: Wind power; solar power; tidal power; storage system; microgrid; seasonal energy shifting; cold region
• Online Access: http://www.aimspress.com/energy/article/21/fulltext.html

The Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 changed Japan's strategy for reducing CO₂ emissions. The government is now placing more emphasis on the development of nonCO₂-emitting distributed generation systems such as wind, solar, and tidal power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and guarantee electricity supply in the case of a natural disaster. This paper proposes a strategy for the exploitation of wind, solar, and tidal resources in a cold region in Japan by utilizing surplus energy from the summer and spring during winter. It also aims to determine the most favorable energy mix of these renewable sources and storage system types. The study is performed by calculating hourly demand and renewable energy supply for the city in one year, which is based on actual data of demand, solar irradiation, wind speeds, and tidal current speeds. The costs of the components of the renewable power plants and storage systems are considered, and different proportions of generation outputs are evaluated with different types of storage systems. According to results, the configuration containing the hydrogen storage system using organic chemical hydride methylcyclohexane (OCHM) is the most economical but is still more expensive than one using a conventional generation system. Moreover, we confirm that the cost of CO₂ emissions is the key element for leveling the playing field between conventional and renewable generation from an economic perspective. The cost of CO₂ emissions to public health as well as those costs related to the interruption of services during a catastrophe must be carefully calculated with other issues from conventional power projects to perform a precise comparative evaluation between both types of generation systems.