System design and policy suggestion for reducing electricity curtailment in renewable power systems for remote islands

In renewable power systems for remote islands, a significant amount of electricity is curtailed for power balance. This study examines the effect of reducing electricity curtailment on optimal renewable power system design for remote islands. A Mixed-Integer Linear Programming problem for obtaining the optimal design of remote renewable power systems is formulated with an additional constraint which limits the total electricity curtailment. For a parametric study, the problem is solved with various values of electricity curtailment limit, for four cases; two islands - one with a higher and the other with a lower capacity factor of wind turbines - in South Korea, and two renewable power penetrations - 60% and 90% - in the two islands. Variations in the optimal capacities of photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, and batteries for limited total electricity curtailment are examined for every case. Reasons of the variations are explained by an analysis on the temporal operation profiles of the remote renewable power systems. In addition, the appropriate upper limit of total electricity curtailment considering cost increment, normalized by the total electricity demand, is newly suggested as a function of renewable power penetration to guide policy design.