CHEE2695 – Lecture 10
Renewables and variability:
- Some renewable energy sources are inherently variable, such as solar (sun
doesn’t always shine), wind (wind doesn’t always blow), etc.
- Some claim that this intermittency means these operations will never compete
due to the need for constant power generation. This has two fallacies:
o Power consumption is not consistent, particularly for consumer-based
systems,
o Energy storage can be achieved using a number of different options,
depending on energy source and application.
Demand vs. generation:
- Demand is not stable. It peaks in the morning and evening.
- Continental wind energy tends to peak at night, while coastal wind peaks
during the day.
- Solar peaks during the day.
- Increasing renewables available on the grid increases output stability
according to the law of large numbers.
- This is the probability theorem that states ‘as the number of experiments
increase, the ratio of outcomes will converge on the theoretical, or expected,
ratio of outcomes.
- Battery storage stores excess peak solar and wind energy.
Energy cloud vs. centralised energy generation:
- Today, we have a one-way power system, which is designed for one way
energy flow. It is technologically inflexible, has simple market structures and
transactions, and is highly regulated.
- The ‘energy cloud’ has distributed energy resources, with multiple inputs and
users, supporting two-way energy flows. It is flexible, dynamic, and resilient,
with rapidly changing regulations.
29/09/2016:
- On this date, South Australia lost power. This was due to a very large storm.
- People blamed this on South Australia’s overreliance on wind energy.
Renewables and variability:
- Some renewable energy sources are inherently variable, such as solar (sun
doesn’t always shine), wind (wind doesn’t always blow), etc.
- Some claim that this intermittency means these operations will never compete
due to the need for constant power generation. This has two fallacies:
o Power consumption is not consistent, particularly for consumer-based
systems,
o Energy storage can be achieved using a number of different options,
depending on energy source and application.
Demand vs. generation:
- Demand is not stable. It peaks in the morning and evening.
- Continental wind energy tends to peak at night, while coastal wind peaks
during the day.
- Solar peaks during the day.
- Increasing renewables available on the grid increases output stability
according to the law of large numbers.
- This is the probability theorem that states ‘as the number of experiments
increase, the ratio of outcomes will converge on the theoretical, or expected,
ratio of outcomes.
- Battery storage stores excess peak solar and wind energy.
Energy cloud vs. centralised energy generation:
- Today, we have a one-way power system, which is designed for one way
energy flow. It is technologically inflexible, has simple market structures and
transactions, and is highly regulated.
- The ‘energy cloud’ has distributed energy resources, with multiple inputs and
users, supporting two-way energy flows. It is flexible, dynamic, and resilient,
with rapidly changing regulations.
29/09/2016:
- On this date, South Australia lost power. This was due to a very large storm.
- People blamed this on South Australia’s overreliance on wind energy.
