Optimal wind-hydro solution for Aegean Sea islands' electricity-demand fulfilment

Energy shortage and clean-water deficit, especially during the summer, are among the main factors delaying the economic development of Aegean Sea islands. All these islands possess an outstanding wind potential. However. the stochastic behaviour of wind speed leads to significant disharmony between wind energy production and electricity demand, Hence, the prospect of creating a combined wind-hydro energy production station is found to be a vital solution for all these islands, under the preconditions of maximum energy autonomy and limited first installation cost. Accordingly, it methodology of optimal wind-hydro solution estimation is developed and subsequently applied to several typical Aegean Sea island cases, in order to define the most beneficial configuration of the proposed renewable station. All numerical calculations are based on real data, like long-term wind speed measurements, demanded electrical-load and operational characteristics of the system components. In all cases analyzed, the renewable energy sources penetration exceeds 85%, while a significant part of the system's wind energy surplus is forwarded to a desalination plant for clean-water production. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.