Wind-hydro pumped storage systems to meet lebanese electricity demand

Abstract

Lebanon is facing currently anacute energy crisis, due tolack of domestic energy resources, reduced production capacities and a growing demand for energy. Relying on wind energy could reduce the impact of this crisis. However, continuous change in wind speed from calm to stormy introduces challenges. One possible solution to address these challenges is to introduce new storage facilities or to use storage capabilities already available in the power generation system. Existing hydro power plants with large reservoirs or pumped storage hydro power plants are suitable for this purpose. Furthermore, Lebanon has a fairly high wind energy potential and hydro power resources. This paper is an attempt to analyze the design of a pumping station and the performance of a hybrid wind-hydro power plant, in three hydraulic plants to produce electricity in Lebanon (Markabi, Awali and Joun), in order to choose the most suitable plant to store electrical power. An economic analysis and an evaluation of the amount of water that could be pumped in each of the hydraulic plants are carried out in this study, in order to select the most suitable hydraulic plant to store the electricity surplus. Moreover, this study presents an economic evaluation of the implementation of wind turbines in Lebanon. It is shown that Markabi is the most suitable plant to store electrical power.