TY - JOUR
T1 - The adoption of Seawater Pump Storage Hydropower Systems increases the share of renewable energy production in Small Island Developing States
AU - Pradhan, Anish
AU - Marence, Miroslav
AU - Franca, Mário J.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - In the last few decades, the energy demand is increasing globally which, given the present dependency of the energy generation on fossil fuels, results in a continuous increase in CO2 emissions. In an isolated electric grid system like in the SIDS, the majority of the electricity is produced by fossil fuels, therefore most of the SIDS nations are now focusing on Variable Renewable Energy sources (VREs). VREs such as wind and solar are hardly predictable and bring instabilities in the electric power system if not buffered by a storage system. Here we investigate the possibility of using Seawater Pump Storage Hydropower Systems (S-PSHS) as a renewable energy storage solution in an isolated electric grid. For this, the island of Curaçao (one of the SIDS nations) is used as proof of the concept. For detecting potential locations for the S-PSHS sites on the island, GIS application was developed. The application of this conceptual proposed solution in similar systems is straightforward and it can be easily upscaled in other geographies. The concept of using seawater for the pumped hydro project is not common in practice and it is anticipated to have technical, environmental and financial challenges which are discussed in this paper.
AB - In the last few decades, the energy demand is increasing globally which, given the present dependency of the energy generation on fossil fuels, results in a continuous increase in CO2 emissions. In an isolated electric grid system like in the SIDS, the majority of the electricity is produced by fossil fuels, therefore most of the SIDS nations are now focusing on Variable Renewable Energy sources (VREs). VREs such as wind and solar are hardly predictable and bring instabilities in the electric power system if not buffered by a storage system. Here we investigate the possibility of using Seawater Pump Storage Hydropower Systems (S-PSHS) as a renewable energy storage solution in an isolated electric grid. For this, the island of Curaçao (one of the SIDS nations) is used as proof of the concept. For detecting potential locations for the S-PSHS sites on the island, GIS application was developed. The application of this conceptual proposed solution in similar systems is straightforward and it can be easily upscaled in other geographies. The concept of using seawater for the pumped hydro project is not common in practice and it is anticipated to have technical, environmental and financial challenges which are discussed in this paper.
KW - CO2 reduction
KW - Energy storage system
KW - Pump storage hydropower
KW - Seawater pump storage hydropower system (S-PSHS)
KW - Small islands developing states (SIDS)
KW - Variable renewable energy source
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107664203&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.renene.2021.05.151
DO - 10.1016/j.renene.2021.05.151
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107664203
SN - 0960-1481
VL - 177
SP - 448
EP - 460
JO - Renewable Energy
JF - Renewable Energy
ER -