Renewable Energy Optimal Management with Hydrogen Production and Desalination Systems

Abstract

Renewable energy sources are expanding worldwide, with the aim to reduce the emission of greenhouse gas and consequently limit the global warming. However, the adoption of non-programmable energy sources introduces the problem of how matching the energy demand curve with the energy production from the adopted sources. In order to improve self-consumption of renewable energy and improve the integration of these systems, renewable energy communities are being developed all over the world, aiming at sharing the renewable energy production among the community members. This aspect is more evident in case of small islands, where the number of generators is limited. The authors adopt an economic criterium for sizing a renewable energy mix by considering three different approaches to manage the daily production: (1) limitation of the installed power, (2) the curtailment of the energy production and (3) storage systems. In any case, a high curtailment of the energy production is necessary. Thus, the authors investigate the possibility of supplying desalination and electrolyzer units, in order to store energy from a season to another during the year and limit the energy curtailment.