Enhancement of renewable energy penetration through energy storage technologies in a CHP-based energy system for Chongming, China

The intermittency of renewable energy makes it difficult to be accommodated by the power grid. Energy storage technology can alleviate the power fluctuation and help meet peak demands. Therefore, it plays a role in assisting the renewable energy integration. In this paper, the improvement of renewable energy penetration through energy storage system in complementary and stand-alone renewable energy scenarios was investigated. As a case, two energy infrastructures of Chongming (China) in 2016 and 2040 were modeled by EnergyPLAN. The decrease of coal consumption through renewable energy integration and the enhancement of renewable energy utilization efficiency through energy storage technologies in renewable scenarios were researched by organizing the outputs of EnergyPLAN. Results showed that the coal consumption dropped by 34.62%, 38.46% and 50% when the renewable energy penetration was 100% in “wind”, “photovoltaic” and “wind-photovoltaic” scenarios for Chongming, 2016 respectively. The utilization efficiency of renewable energy can be improved up to 62.94%, 55.95%, and 60.14% respectively through energy storage system in these renewable scenarios for Chongming 2040. The most critical excess electricity production and electricity import can be decreased by the heat pump for Chongming, 2040 compared with compressed air energy storage, vehicle to grid and electricity to gas.