Energetic Complementarity Solar PV and Wind Power Based on Satellite Data

Abstract

With the current global energy crisis renewable energy integration is expected to grow drastically in the near future. However, integrating high amount of renewables to the grid is subjected to various operational challenges. One solution for this challenge is looking for complementing intermittent renewable resources. In this paper solar PV and wind power complementarity analysis was carried out over the three topographic regions of Eritrea based on monthly satellite-based power generation data. Three different approaches (Pearson correlation coefficient, graphical and dimensionless index) were employed to investigate the complementarity of PV and wind power in the chosen sites. The analysis results showed that the southern coastal and central highlands sites have low complementarity behaviour. The solar PV and wind power synergy was however, found to be the maximum in the northern highlands and western lowlands sites of the country. It is interesting to find out that the high wind potential sites in southern coastal region are positively correlated to solar availability with peaks in winter and low in summer with no complementarity pattern.