Renewable hybrid energy systems as a game changer

Geography Renewable Energy

India recently conducted two auctions for wind/solar hybrid projects. Both the auctions were under-subscribed, with bids totaling 1.56GW awarded to SB Energy, Adani Green Energy and Renew Power, against a total of 2.4GW on offer.

Renewable hybrids can play a key role in helping India accelerate the decarbonisation of power generation and lowering the cost of electricity in the medium term.

India has added 65-70GW of wind and solar capacity so far, with wind and solar contributing 9.5% of generated energy in May 2019. If the government target of 175GW is achieved by 2022, this share could exceed 15-16%.

Renewable energy has three inherent challenges

First, it relies on intermittent sources, producing energy only when the sun is shining or wind is blowing
Second, its output is constrained to specific hours of the day;
Third, its use leads to lower utilization of transmission lines. This can create issues in matching peak power demand with renewable output (e.g. in evening hours when solar energy is not available), and raise costs of transmission.

Renewable hybrids can be one solution to the above issues-

A hybrid system can combine wind, solar with an additional resource of generation or storage.
The intermittency of wind and solar could also be balanced by adding a fast ramping source of power; for example, an open cycle gas turbine.
The overall output of the hybrid system can thus be matched against a required load on an hourly basis. In this way, it can provide both base load and flexible power.

Way forward-

Hybrid systems are expected to become increasingly cost competitive, driven by reducing costs of battery storage and solar energy.
India’s ministry of new and renewable energy released a solar-wind hybrid policy in 2018. This provides a framework to promote grid-connected hybrid energy through set-ups that would use land and transmission infrastructure optimally and also manage the variability of renewable resources to some extent.
India is not the only country planning hybrid projects; 50-plus hybrid projects of MW-scale have already been announced or are under construction globally, with Australia and US being the leaders.
For larger capacities or longer duration balancing, pumped hydro is a viable storage solution, but is restricted by the lack of suitable physical locations.
If the economics of hybrid systems do approach the above levels, our analysis indicates that they can potentially be competitive with 30-40% of existing coal-fired stations in India.
They can therefore become a viable solution to meeting future base load power requirements, all at zero carbon emissions and future cost-inflation proof.
Several leading Indian corporates are also showing active interest in increasing their usage of clean power if round-the-clock solutions are available.

Source- https://www.livemint.com/opinion/online-views/opinion-renewable-hybrid-energy-systems-as-a-game-changer-1566235207654.html