Empowering Variable Renewables – Options for Flexible Electricity Systems
By: International Energy Agency
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Paris
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] /
Number of pages: 30
ISBN-13: 9789264077201
Subjects: Force and energy; Power (Mechanics); Power resources
Description: A number of renewable electricity technologies, such as wind, wave, tidal, solar, and run-of-river hydro share a characteristic that distinguishes them from conventional power plants: their output varies according to the availability of the resource. This is commonly perceived to be challenging at high shares, but there is no intrinsic, technical ceiling to variable renewables’ potential. Variability has to be looked at in the context of power system flexibility: if a power system is sufficiently flexible, in terms of power production, load management, interconnection and storage, the importance of the variability aspect is reduced.