Search

Diversifying variable renewable resources by combining wind, solar photovoltaic, and battery assets in a hybrid power plant can increase renewable energy usage efficiency and improve system flexibility, particularly in distributed energy systems. However, the resilience impact of these systems, particularly outage mitigation, can be difficult to quantify due to uncertainty in resource, energy demand, and outage occurrence. This study outlines a framework to quantify the incremental benefit of hybrid power plant assets for reducing loss-of-load expectation during random outage events. Hybrid power plant performance during outages (considering varying duration and severity) is simulated using a Monte Carlo methodology to reflect uncertainty associated with renewable resource, load demand, and outage timing. Results demonstrate the additional incremental value from increasingly hybrid designs, in which relative capacities of wind, solar photovoltaic, and storage assets contribute to lower loss-of-load expectation than the constituent technologies would alone. The value of added wind or solar capacity increases as the plant composition approaches an equal split. The value of added battery capacity depends on the outage duration and severity, but the first 50 MWh of added storage capacity is the most valuable for reducing the loss-of-load expectation for all plant designs. • Quantified the impact of wind, solar, and battery capacity in reducing loss of load expectation. • Sensitivity analysis of this calculation to outage duration, time of year, and type. • Hybrid plants reduce loss of load expectation compared to single-resource plants. • Hybrid power plants require less battery capacity to achieve these reductions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen (H 2) is an efficient energy carrier and storage mechanism that can supply both stationary and transport energy demand. Rapidly declining renewable energy generation costs; technology innovations in wind, solar, battery storage, and electrolysis; and a global push for more sustainable and secure energy have driven increased interest in green H 2 production. In this study, we develop an H 2 scenario analysis tool to assist in rapid, high-resolution insights into future, green H 2 pathways to achieve policy goals and market competitiveness. Using this tool, we estimate H 2 production and costs for U.S., off-grid scenarios given varying policy and cost scenarios from 2025–2035. Results indicate that achieving economically competitive green H 2 production (below $2/kg) is possible in 2030 with no policy incentives (one site achieves this target), while increasing policy support to include wind and green H 2 production tax credits enables widespread economic viability sooner, with sub-$2/kg LCOH targets achieved by 2025 and 51.7% of sites achieving this target by 2035. Maximizing policy support through prevailing wage and apprenticeship credit multipliers enable widespread economic viability, including sub-$1/kg of green H 2 by 2025 and even negative pricing by 2035. Regions with lowest LCOH values correspond to high wind resource areas and capacity factors. Achieving decarbonization goals with green H 2 depends on technology cost reductions and policy support, with a maximum average LCOH reduction of $3.10 between no and maximum policy support scenarios, and a maximum average LCOH reduction of $5.86 between current, conservative technology costs and 2035 projected technology cost assumptions. • A national analysis of LCOH from wind power for policy and technology cost scenarios. • Three site analyses to identify the drivers for LCOE and LCOH in hybrid plant design. • Software that develops performance and cost scenarios for hybrid power(-to-X) plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Offshore wind and wave energy are co-located resources, and both industries are driven to reduce cost of energy. Due to the maturity of offshore wind technology and continued growth of both offshore floating wind and wave energy converter (WEC) technology, there is new opportunity to combine wind and wave technologies in the same leased ocean space through co-located array development. Co-location is projected to have synergistic effects that reduce direct and indirect costs for developments, but few of these synergistic effects have been quantified, and many have not been related to cost. Moreover, there is currently no cost model that incorporates these effects. In this study, we address this need by developing a cost model that represents co-located array developments, particularly for floating offshore wind and WEC technologies. We exemplify the use of this cost model through a case study. Results suggest floating wind-wave co-located arrays are advantageous to WEC-only or floating wind-only. These results are contingent on our assumptions regarding cost categories and values included in the model and also the power production and reliability of the devices. We conclude by identifying research gaps and uncertainties to be minimized in future improvements of the model. Highlights • A lifecycle cost model for co-located offshore wind-wave arrays is developed. • Cost of co-located arrays is comparable or less than floating offshore wind turbine arrays. • Model can be used in computational optimization to further decrease costs of co-located systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Offshore wind farm operations and maintenance costs currently total 6 m€/year, or 25–28% of total costs. For wave and tidal energy converters, this cost is projected to be twice that of offshore wind, but has high levels of uncertainty. As the wave and tidal energy industries mature, decreasing O&M costs through reliability-based design optimization is critical to increasing feasibility and competitiveness with other energy technologies. In this paper, we will synthesize existing information on reliability-based optimization in systems analogous to offshore renewable energy systems. We will conclude by highlighting opportunities for future work in this field. Highlights • Explores state-of-the-art optimization for reliability in offshore renewable energy systems. • Operations and Maintenance costs for offshore renewable energy systems are very high. • Reliability-based design optimization increases the longevity of these systems, reducing costs. • Not accounting for reliability can lead to inviable designs or higher probabilities of failure. • RBDO methods accelerate convergence, improve reliability, and enhance market competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]