Abstract
Pumped hydro storage (PHS) is one of the more suitable energy storage technologies to provide bulk storage of intermittent renewable energy sources (RES) such as wind. Since the main limiting factors to the expansion of this mature technology are environmental and financial concerns, the use of an existing reservoir can help mitigate both types of impacts. In addition, the high number of reservoirs for municipal and irrigation supply in many areas of the world makes the idea of using PHS as a relatively diffuse, open-market, technology for RES management attractive. These arguments in favor of PHS must, however, be convincing for investors and regulators from an economic standpoint. To this end, this paper presents a methodological tool to screen the feasibility of a PHS facility around an existing reservoir based on the principles of cost–benefit analysis, calibrated with data from Sicily, Italy. Each potential plant is characterized by two locational and two plant-specific parameters. Costs and benefits are assessed through a simulation model of the storage–release process on an hourly basis. Costs include both investment, and operation and maintenance expenditures, while the benefits considered include the opportunity cost of the current energy mix substituted by the stored energy, and the avoided CO2 emissions. The evaluation exercise is carried out parametrically, i.e., looking at a large number of combinations of the four parameters, in order to explore a wide range of possible plant configurations and to identify optimal ones under different locational conditions. A sensitivity analysis performed on models’ parameters points out the sensitivity of results to benefit, rather than cost-related, input parameters, such as the efficiency of the generating and pumping system and the opportunity cost of energy.
Highlights
The interest worldwide in energy storage issues has grown dramatically in the last years from governmental and planning agencies [1,2,3,4,5,6] and industry alike [7], due to the difficulty of integrating intermittent and hardly predictable renewable energy sources (v-RES), such as wind, in the existing grids
When used for the purpose of storing energy surpluses deriving from intermittent RES, pumped hydro storage (PHS) systems operate in conditions that are different from those encountered in a conventional day–night, Water 2018, 10, 1813; doi:10.3390/w10121813
Considering construction of a new plant requires a thorough assessment of their techno-economic feasibility based on the specific supply–demand conditions at the appropriate timescale
Summary
The interest worldwide in energy storage issues has grown dramatically in the last years from governmental and planning agencies [1,2,3,4,5,6] and industry alike [7], due to the difficulty of integrating intermittent and hardly predictable renewable energy sources (v-RES), such as wind, in the existing grids. Among the different energy storage technologies, pumped hydro storage (PHS) is the most mature and widespread, used to store energy surpluses for many hours and release it to the grid when demanded. When used for the purpose of storing energy surpluses deriving from intermittent RES, PHS systems operate in conditions that are different from those encountered in a conventional day–night, Water 2018, 10, 1813; doi:10.3390/w10121813 www.mdpi.com/journal/water. The major drawback of PHS as storage technology lies in the long construction times and environmental concerns [13]. Retrofitting of existing hydropower schemes with PHS has a lower environmental impact and is often seen as a more benign solution, as the receiving environment has already been modified and is regulated by the existence of the hydropower plant. Most European countries including Italy, are devoid of a specific regulation on pumped hydro storage [19]
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