CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Electricity is energy that has been harnessed and refined from a wide range of sources
to a different voltage level. Electricity has become very useful and has changed everyone's
life since the day it was discovered. Our addiction to electricity has generated a concurrent
addiction to fossil fuels. However, the reserves of fossil fuels will soon be depleted, since oil
is a limited resource (H. Naeem, 2005). Over the years, the cost of electricity has risen to
unprecedented levels due to the economic and political factors, and limited supply of oil.
In remote areas of the world where grid-supplied electricity is unavailable,
unreliable, or prohibitively expensive, an alternative exists in the form of a Remote Area
Power Supply (RAPS) (Ndeye Fall et al.). Remote areas are becoming a topic of increasing
international interest as they can provide insights in the transition towards a more sustainable
energy future (IEA-RETD, 2012). Being geographically isolated and distant from different
services (e.g. energy, health and education), remote areas have seen their development
delayed for decades.
Diesel Engine Generator have been utilizing by the remote areas and islands for a
decade.

Electricity is produced using diesel generator at very high economic and

environmental cost (Hussein Ibrahim et al.). In remote areas of Canada, for example, dieselbased electricity services are provided with high reliability. However, the high cost of diesel
has prevented economic development opportunities at productive and household level.
Further, the use of diesel produces air and soil pollution through greenhouse gas emissions
and fuel leaks (Royer, 2013). In India, about 24,500 villages out of 112,000 unelectrified

villages are classified as remote villages. This means they cannot be supplied with electricity
services through the extension of the conventional electricity grid in the near future (Nouni,
et al., 2008). In Small Island Developing States of the Pacific, it is estimated that 70 percent
of households do not have access to electricity, which is equivalent to access rates in subSaharan Africa. Grid extension seems to be inappropriate there (Dornan, 2014). In
Mozambique and Tanzania, despite efforts to extend the national grid in rural areas, most
remote areas will not be reached within the foreseeable future (Ahlborg & Hammar, 2014).
Since most of these locations possess good wind conditions an obvious solution to
reduce this burden is to couple a wind turbine with the diesel generator (Hussein Ibrahim et
al.). The main purpose of adding wind turbines is to reduce diesel fuel consumption leading
to the environmental and cost benefits associated with reducing usage of fossil fuels (Krishna
Raghavan, Arrakis Associate).
Since 1985, Italy has a wind/diesel power plant suitably designed for autonomous
supply of electrical power to users in remote areas. Such a plant is now under long-term
running tests and feeds a small factory too (Crescimbini, F et al.). Research work in the
1980s done by United States Windpower (Chertok, A. et al) showed that the wind diesel
systems would be profitable only at sites where fuel costs are tremendously high and
abundance in wind resource. Danvest Energy (Danvest) has solved these problems, and it is
now possible to operate hybrid Wind-Diesel (WD) systems up to 100% wind penetration.
With Danvest Hybrid WD concept, remote areas and islands are offered the opportunity to
utilize wind energy in combination with diesel generated power for their power production
(Danvest Hybrid Power., 2013). Wind-Diesel mode can be considered as a diesel plant with

the wind turbine as a negative load. It is the mode of many low/medium wind penetration
power wind-diesel systems already implemented in Nordic communities in Yukon , Nunavut
(J.F. Maisson., 2001)and in Alaska (B. Reeves., 2002).
The fundamental idea of the energy storage is to transfer the excess of power (energy)
produced by the power plant during the weak load periods to the peak periods. Initially,
electricity must be transformed into another form of storable energy (chemical, mechanical,
electrical, or potential energy) and to be transformed back when needed (Hussein Ibrahim et
al.).

S
Suul et al (2008) found that for isolated power systems with renewable generators,

pumped storage is important for its provision of primary frequency control during times of
low demand and high output from fluctuating renewable sources. Castronouovo and Lopes
(2004) showed that a combined wind generator and pumped storage plant can increase its
operational profits anywhere from 12% to 22%, depending on the deviation penalty level by
co-optimizing the wind generator and the pumped storage operation together as opposed to
optimizing only a wind generator. Ding et al. (2012) performed a similar analysis but
considered the number of daily starts/stops along with the start/stop costs of the PSH and also
included the subhourly Svariations in wind power fluctuations. They compared the results of
a deterministic, chance-constrained, and stochastic optimization formulation. They found
small differences between all the results, but the underlying trend was that the combined
operations of a wind generator and PSH plant can increase profits by as much as 25%
compared to stand-alone operations of a wind farm. Black and Black (2007) analyzed the
impact of wind power forecasting uncertainty on the value of PSH in the United Kingdom

power system assuming wind power supplies more than 20% of the energy. They focused on
the potential contribution of PSH toward nonspinning reserves and their impact on other
reserve providers such as gas turbines. They found that using the PSH to meet the reserve
requirement can increase system efficiency, enhance wind power absorption, and reduce CO2
emissions. The benefits of storage are most significant in systems with low generation
flexibility and large wind penetration. Donalek et al. (2009) showed that properly designed
pumped storage facilities could assist in integrating intermittent wind energy resources into
the regional dispatch. S
They concluded that pumped storage units with the newest technology, such as
adjustable speed and ternary units, can supply load following and become the fastest
response stations in the power system. They can also be used to mitigate the frequency of
industrial load shedding caused by system disturbances.

1. Ndeye Fall, Lauren Giles, Brian Marchionini, and Edward G. Skolnik

2. IEA-RETD, 2012. Renewable Energies for Remote Areas and Islands, Moscow:
IEA Renewable Energy Technology Deployment .
3. H. NAEEM, 2005
4. Hussein Ibrahim, Mariya Dimitrova, Yvan Dutil, Daniel Rousse, Adrian Ilinca,
Jean Perron, 2012
5. Chertok, A., Bell, B., McNerney, G., Chapman, J., Post, R., .Advanced Wind-Diesel Technology
6.

For the 1990.s,. EWEC.89 Conference Publication Part One, Peter Peregrinus Ltd (IEE), pp. 198202, July 1989
Crescimbini, F., Honorati, O., Avolio, S., Palmari, C., Rotondi, M., .Experience With An
Autonomous Wind/Diesel Prototype,. EWEC.89 Conference Publication Part One, Peter
Peregrinus Ltd (IEE), pp. 225-229, July 1989

7. Danvest Hybrid Power., 2013

8. J.F. Maisson Wind Power Development in Sub-Arctic Conditions with Severe Rime Icing ,
Presented at the Circumpolar Climate Change Summit and Exposition, Whitehorse, Yukon,
2001
9. B. Reeves Kotzebue Electric Association Wind Projects , Proceedings of NREL/AWEA
2002 Wind-Diesel Workshop, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, 2002