GIS-Based Assessment of Hybrid Pumped Hydro Storage as a Potential Solution for the Clean Energy Transition: The Case of the Kardia Lignite Mine, Western Greece

Pavlos Krassakis; Andreas Karavias; Evangelia Zygouri; Christos Roumpos; Georgios Louloudis; Konstantina Pyrgaki; Nikolaos Koukouzas; Thomas Kempka; Dimitris Karapanos

doi:10.3390/s23020593

Sensors (Jan 2023)

GIS-Based Assessment of Hybrid Pumped Hydro Storage as a Potential Solution for the Clean Energy Transition: The Case of the Kardia Lignite Mine, Western Greece

Pavlos Krassakis,
Andreas Karavias,
Evangelia Zygouri,
Christos Roumpos,
Georgios Louloudis,
Konstantina Pyrgaki,
Nikolaos Koukouzas,
Thomas Kempka,
Dimitris Karapanos

Affiliations

Pavlos Krassakis: Centre for Research and Technology, Hellas (CERTH), 52 Egialias St., 151 25 Maroussi, Greece
Andreas Karavias: Centre for Research and Technology, Hellas (CERTH), 52 Egialias St., 151 25 Maroussi, Greece
Evangelia Zygouri: Centre for Research and Technology, Hellas (CERTH), 52 Egialias St., 151 25 Maroussi, Greece
Christos Roumpos: Public Power Corporation of Greece (PPC), Department of Mining Engineering and Closure Planning, 104 32 Athens, Greece
Georgios Louloudis: Public Power Corporation of Greece (PPC), Department of Mining Engineering and Closure Planning, 104 32 Athens, Greece
Konstantina Pyrgaki: Centre for Research and Technology, Hellas (CERTH), 52 Egialias St., 151 25 Maroussi, Greece
Nikolaos Koukouzas: Centre for Research and Technology, Hellas (CERTH), 52 Egialias St., 151 25 Maroussi, Greece
Thomas Kempka: GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Dimitris Karapanos: Centre for Research and Technology, Hellas (CERTH), 52 Egialias St., 151 25 Maroussi, Greece

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/s23020593
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 23, no. 2
p. 593

Abstract

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Planned decommissioning of coal-fired plants in Europe requires innovative technical and economic strategies to support coal regions on their path towards a climate-resilient future. The repurposing of open pit mines into hybrid pumped hydro power storage (HPHS) of excess energy from the electric grid, and renewable sources will contribute to the EU Green Deal, increase the economic value, stabilize the regional job market and contribute to the EU energy supply security. This study aims to present a preliminary phase of a geospatial workflow used to evaluate land suitability by implementing a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) technique with an advanced geographic information system (GIS) in the context of an interdisciplinary feasibility study on HPHS in the Kardia lignite open pit mine (Western Macedonia, Greece). The introduced geospatial analysis is based on the utilization of the constraints and ranking criteria within the boundaries of the abandoned mine regarding specific topographic and proximity criteria. The applied criteria were selected from the literature, while for their weights, the experts’ judgement was introduced by implementing the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), in the framework of the ATLANTIS research program. According to the results, seven regions were recognized as suitable, with a potential energy storage capacity from 1.09 to 5.16 GWh. Particularly, the present study’s results reveal that 9.27% (212,884 m2) of the area had a very low suitability, 15.83% (363,599 m2) had a low suitability, 23.99% (550,998 m2) had a moderate suitability, 24.99% (573,813 m2) had a high suitability, and 25.92% (595,125 m2) had a very high suitability for the construction of the upper reservoir. The proposed semi-automatic geospatial workflow introduces an innovative tool that can be applied to open pit mines globally to identify the optimum design for an HPHS system depending on the existing lower reservoir.

Published in Sensors

ISSN: 1424-8220 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Technology: Chemical technology
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors

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