Optimal Storage Capacity within an Autonomous Micro Grid with a high Penetration of Renewable Energy Sources

Some Renewable Energy Sources (RES), such as wind and solar, produce power intermittently according to the weather conditions rather than to the power demanded. Energy Storage Systems (ESS) may be used to mitigate the intermittent generation from RES and to increase the quality of power supply. This study aims to find the relationship between the generation from RES and the needed amount of ESS. An autonomous microgrid has been analyzed in which a part of electricity demanded during one year is generated by Wind Turbines and Photovoltaic plants (PV), while the remaining part is produced by fuel based generators. An intelligent Energy Management System (EMS) optimally schedules the fuel based generators according to the load demanded, the weather conditions and to the electricity generation costs. The optimal storage needed to balance the system for different scenarios were investigated and results of this investigation are shown and discussed in this paper.