Abstract
National electricity supply utility in South Africa (Eskom) has been facing challenges to meet load demands in the country. The lack of generation equipment maintenance, increasing load demand and lack of new generation stations has left the country with a shortage of electricity supply that leads to load shedding. As a result, alternative renewable energy is required to supplement the national grid. Photovoltaic (PV) solar generation and wind farms are leading in this regard. Sunlight fluctuates throughout the day, thereby causing irradiation which in turn causes the output of the PV plant to become unstable and unreliable. As a result, storage facilities are required to mitigate challenges that come with the integration of PV into the grid or the use of PV independently, off the grid. The same storage system can also be used to supplement the power supply at night time when there is no sunlight and/or during peak hours when the demand is high. Although storage facilities are already in existence, it is important to research their range, applications, highlight new technologies and identify the best economical solution based on present and future plans. The study investigated an improved economic and technical storage system for generation of clean energy systems using solar/PV plants as the base to supplement the grid. In addition, the research aims to provide utilities with the information required for making storage facilities available with an emphasis on capital cost, implementation, operation and maintenance costs. The study solution is expected to be economical and technically proficient in terms of PV output stabilization and provision of extra capacity during peak times. The research technology’s focus includes different storage batteries, pumped storage and other forms of storage such as supercapacitors. The analysis or simulations were carried out using current analytic methods and software, such as HOMER Pro®. The end results provide the power utility in South Africa and abroad with options for energy storage facilities that could stabilise output demand, increase generation capacity and provide backup power. Consumers would have access to power most of the time, thereby reducing generation constraints and eventually the monthly cost of electricity due to renewable energies’ accessibility. Increased access to electricity will contribute to socio-economic development in the country. The proposed solution is environmentally friendly and would alleviate the present crisis of load shedding due to the imbalance of high demand to lower generations.
Highlights
South Africa has rich renewable energy (RE) capacity of approximately 4000 MW according the Department of Energy, Eskom has a target of 10,000 GWh to be introduced into the grid
Just like many other utilities across the world, they are in search of a storage facility for these renewable energies that are expected to supplement the grid during peak hours or whenever required
The research provides the utility with the option to select which storage it requires, depending on the resources at the area where PV is installed. This will improve the stability of the grid, thereby averting outage as a result of load, increasing generation capacity and consumers will have access to power most of the time, which, in the long run, is expected to bring about a reduction in the cost of electricity and contributes to socio-economic development in the country, by creating jobs which will invariably transform into an increase in production capacity
Summary
To achieve the objectives of the study, which include finding the economic and technical solutions to renewable energy storage, the following design processes were implemented: development of a PV model and its integration with storage batteries using lithium-ion and the design of a pumped storage (PPS) model as well as its integration with the PV model. The research provides the utility with the option to select which storage it requires, depending on the resources at the area where PV is installed This will improve the stability of the grid, thereby averting outage as a result of load (electricity demand), increasing generation capacity and consumers will have access to power most of the time, which, in the long run, is expected to bring about a reduction in the cost of electricity and contributes to socio-economic development in the country, by creating jobs which will invariably transform into an increase in production capacity. The preferred solution is environmentally friendly and alleviates the present crisis which is a result of high demand and low generation—i.e., supply
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