Evaluation of the Operating Efficiency of a Hybrid Wind–Hydro Powerplant

Francisco Briongos, Carlos A. Platero, José A. Sánchez-Fernández and Christophe Nicolet
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Francisco Briongos: Department of Automatic Control, Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Industrial Informatics, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, E-28040 Madrid, Spain
Carlos A. Platero: Department of Automatic Control, Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Industrial Informatics, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, E-28040 Madrid, Spain
José A. Sánchez-Fernández: Department of Hydraulic, Energy and Environmental Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, E-28040 Madrid, Spain
Christophe Nicolet: Power Vision Engineering Sàrl, CH-1024 Ecublens, Switzerland

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-16

Abstract: This paper analyzes the operating efficiency of a hybrid wind–hydro power plant located in El Hierro Island. This plant combines a wind farm (11.48 MW) and a pumped storage power plant (11.32 MW). It was built with the aim of supplying the island demand from renewable energy instead of using existing diesel units. The paper discusses several operational strategies and proposes an efficiency metric. Using 10 min data, the operation of this power plant has been simulated. From these simulations (more than 50,000 for a year), the operating efficiency and the percentage of demand covered from renewable energy is obtained. The difference between the worst and the best strategy is a twofold increase in efficiency. Moreover, the results of the simulations are compared with the system operational history since June 2015 (when the wind–hydro power plant started operation) until 2018. These comparisons show a reasonable agreement between simulations and operational history.

Keywords: wind farm; pumped storage; isolated systems; power plant efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:668-:d:309550

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