Renewable Electricity and the Grid: The Challenge of Variability

ISBN-13: 9781844074181 / Angielski / Twarda / 2007 / 244 str.

Godfrey Boyle

Opis

Can renewable energy provide reliable power? Will it need extensive backup? The energy available from wind, waves, tides and the sun varies in ways that may not match variations in energy demand. Assimilating these fluctuations can affect the operation and economics of electricity networks, markets and the output of other forms of generation. Is this a significant problem, or can these new sources be integrated into the grid system without the need for extensive backup or energy storage capacity? This book examines the significance of the issue of variability of renewable electricity supplies, and presents technical and operational solutions to the problem of reconciling the differing patterns of supply and demand. Its chapters are authored by leading experts in the field, who aim to explain and quantify the impacts of variability in renewable energy, and in doing so, dispel many of the myths and misunderstandings surrounding the topic.

Spis treści

Preface * Variable Renewables and the Grid: An Overview * Wind Power on the Grid * Renewable Resource Characteristics and Network Integration * The UK Energy Research Centre Review of the Costs and Impacts of Intermittency * Wind Power Forecasting * Flexibility of Fossil Fuel Plant in a Renewable Energy Scenario: Possible Implications for the UK *The Potential Contribution of Emergency Diesel Standby Generators in Dealing with the Variability of Renewable Energy Sources * Demand Flexibility, Micro-Combined Heat and Power and the 'Informated' Grid * A Renewable Electricity System for the UK * Reliable Power, Wind Variability and Offshore Grids in Europe * Planning for Variability in the Longer Term: The Challenge of a Truly Sustainable Energy System * Index

O autorze

Godfrey Boyle is Director of the Energy and Environment Research Unit at the UK Open University, where has chaired several renewable and sustainable energy course teams. He has published widely on these subjects, including the textbooks Energy Systems and Sustainability (2003) and Renewable Energy: Power for a Sustainable Future (2004). He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (formerly the Institution of Electrical Engineers) and a Trustee of the National Energy Foundation.