The complementary nature between wind and photovoltaic generation in Brazil and the role of energy storage in utility-scale hybrid power plants

Abstract

Solar and wind sources together provided more than half of the Brazilian Northeast electricity generation in 2019. This growing share of renewable energies in the Brazilian energy matrix increases the importance of portfolio optimization and the energy storage management. This paper assesses the complementary nature between wind and photovoltaic generation in the Brazilian Northeast, and how this complementarity, together with energy storage, can reduce the shortcomings that the corresponding natural resource intermittency imposes on these sources. The work consists of two main analyses: (i) analysis of the capability in supplying the Brazillian Northeast region power demand with a hybrid wind + solar + storage power plant; and (ii) contingency optimization analysis for hybrid wind + solar + storage power plants. The results show that wind and solar resources are consistently complementary in the region, with a daily Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient of −0.51. Also, the load supply analysis shows that a renewable energy mix based on a 40% wind and 60% solar share would require the equivalent of only 6% of its annual generation in storage capacity. An energy curtailment analysis showed that the complementary nature of the wind and solar resources, together with energy storage, can lead to a reduction of up to 11% in transmission capacity demand.