New Energy - Wind and Sun Bring Independence

Article is from a Magazine Article regarding purely regenerative energy supply. Article produced by the Research & Development Unit of the Grid Management and Control System of Younicos AG in Berlin, Germany. One of the Azore Islands in mid-Atlantic: Plenty of sunshine. Constant wind. But miles away from any power grid or any filling station for diesel generators. The obvious solution? Switch to regenerative energy sources for the entire island’s electricity supply. In other words, power from the sun and the wind. This project is for the island of Graciosa in the Azores. At the moment, diesel fuel for the island’s generators is brought in regularly by sea. Wind farms and photovoltaic systems could make this a thing of the past and give the island a less expensive alternative.

70 - 90% of the required energy would come from the sun and the wind, and the remaining 10 - 30% could be generated from locally produced biofuels.  Add a 3MW sodium-sulfur battery as electricity storage to compensate for large supply fluctuations and the island will be completely  independent of fossil fuels. However, before turning the whole island and its inhabitants into a test object, we reproduced their power grid at our Berlin test facility. Our  power supply concept is undergoing two years of close scrutiny here. We are thoroughly testing the transition from conventional to regenerative energy, simulating extreme situations, checking and optimizing different control strategies, and verifying that our concept is both real-world-proof and economical. The test setup is the fi rst-ever experimental plant of this kind in the megawatt range that we know of.

Keywords: wind sun solar energy regenerative Graciosa Island sodium sulfur battery simulation feasibility 

Azore Islands in mid-Atlantic: Plenty of sunshine. Constant wind. But miles away from any power grid or any fi lling station for diesel generators. The obvious solution? Switch to regenerative energy sources for the entireisland’s electricity supply. In other words, power from the sun and the wind.