The role of modified diesel generation within isolated power systems

James Hamilton, Michael Negnevitsky and Xiaolin Wang

Energy, 2022, vol. 240, issue C

Abstract: Traditional engine load limits restrict a diesel engine's range and its ability to load share. Accordingly, to achieve high renewable penetrations, diesel generation is conventionally turned off, positioning diesel in competition with variable renewable generation. While this approach maximises renewable penetration (environmental gain), it is uneconomic, requiring costly and complex enabling technologies such as battery storage. For many isolated communities the commercial, technical and social barriers associated with storage integration prove insurmountable. A stalemate results, with owners unable to transition to renewable generation due to inflexible diesel technologies. In this respect, it is easy to view diesel generation as an obstacle to renewable integration. Thankfully, modified diesel technologies can offer improved flexibility without the cost or complexity of energy storage. This paper details the development and testing of both low load and variable speed technologies, each able to improve the performance of diesel generation. Two isolated power system case studies are modelled, with Cape Barren island increasing renewable penetrations to between 41.3% to 58.0% compare to conventional penetrations of 7.7% to 10.1%. For Lady Elliot island the modelled range is 26.7% to 28.5% in comparison to a base of 5.3%. The results serve to recommend modified diesel application as a precursor to battery storage integration.

Keywords: Energy storage; Hybrid power system; Low load diesel; Microgrid; Remote area power; Variable speed diesel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544221030784
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:240:y:2022:i:c:s0360544221030784

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2021.122829

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().