Enhancing your argumentative skills in Renewable Energy Part 2: Analyzing Energy Generation Patterns

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In my last article ( https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7173324389793427459/ ), I discussed how Energy Storage Systems (ESS) bolster grid resilience and help renewable sources to shine. Today, we'll delve into the generation patterns of various energy sources throughout the day to paint a broader picture using .... data!

Let's take Australia as our case study (thanks to Gavin Mooney for the data source: https://opennem.org.au/energy/nem/?range=7d&interval=30m&view=discrete-time).

Solar Power:

The solar power generation pattern is relatively predictable. It ramps up in the morning, peaks around midday, and declines by dusk. Despite the possibility of adverse weather affecting one location, the overall generation tends to be stable thanks to geographical diversity. The red line represents the average generation, while the gray lines indicate solar generation for the past 28 days.

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Wind Power:

In contrast, wind power generation is far less predictable and exhibits significant variations. The gray lines, which show daily generation for the previous 28 days, are widely dispersed, indicating this variability. Interestingly, wind generation is often higher during the evening, night, and early morning - attributed to winds from shore to earth and back due to temperature differences—and dips during the day.

Hydroelectric Power Plants:

Hydroelectric power plants are typically deployed to manage morning and evening demand peaks, functioning like large-scale batteries. They generate power during peak times and reverse to pump water uphill during off-peak hours, effectively smoothing out demand spikes. This cyclical operation requires electricity to pump the water back to the reservoirs, resulting in a net loss of stored energy.

The problem is why we can't build enough of them - they are expensive, and it is not so easy to find a place to put a dam:)

?Synthesizing the Data:

Now, let's overlay these patterns to visualize the aggregate power generation throughout the day, averaged over 28 days.

Solar (depicted in yellow) dominates the daytime energy mix.

Wind (shown in green) maintains a more consistent output across all hours.

Hydroelectric (represented in blue) strategically releases and stores water to address peak demands.

The goal is to minimize the black segment, which denotes coal-fired generation.

Solar power shoulders the bulk of the daytime demand efficiently. Yet, the evening peak remains challenging, necessitating the activation of all available energy sources as solar production stops, but demand is still at a high level. This period coincides with the highest electricity prices and underscores the potential benefits of integrating large-scale ESS solutions. It's like building Hydroelectric Power Plants but with energy stored in electricity instead of water.

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To further substantiate this observation, we will correlate these generation patterns with electricity price fluctuations. The picture below confirms a direct relationship between peak demand times and price spikes during that time.

And this is exactly the spot! Renewable energy generation has reduced dramatically, but demand is still high. The cost of power is high, which allows the introduction of additional instruments such as ESS!

Stay tuned!

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