SPATIOTEMPORAL MODELING FOR ASSESSING COMPLEMENTARITY OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES IN DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYSTEMS

Abstract

Spatial assessments of the potential of renewable energy sources (RES) have become a valuable information basis for policy and decision-making. These studies, however, do not explicitly consider the variability in time of RES such as solar energy or wind. Until now, the focus is usually given to economic profitability based on yearly balances, which do not allow a comprehensive examination of RES-technologies complementarity. Incrementing temporal resolution of energy output estimation will permit to plan the aggregation of a diverse pool of RES plants i.e., to conceive a system as a virtual power plant (VPP). This paper presents a spatiotemporal analysis methodology to estimate RES potential of municipalities. The methodology relies on a combination of open source geographic information systems (GIS) processing tools and the in-memory array processing environment of Python and NumPy. Beyond the typical identification of suitable locations to build power plants, it is possible to define which of them are the best for a balanced local energy supply. A case study of a municipality, using spatial data with one square meter resolution and one hour temporal resolution, shows strong complementarity of photovoltaic and wind power. Furthermore, it is shown that a detailed deployment strategy of potential suitable locations for RES, calculated with modest computational requirements, can support municipalities to develop VPPs and improve security of supply.