Brattle Principal Bruce Tsuchida has contributed a chapter to the second edition of Renewable Energy Integration: Practical Management of Variability, Uncertainty, and Flexibility in Power Grids.
The second edition offers a distilled examination of the intricacies of integrating renewables into power grids and electricity markets. It offers informed perspectives from internationally-renowned experts on related challenges and solutions based on demonstrated best practices developed by operators around the world.
Mr. Tsuchida contributed Chapter 24, "Renewables Integration on Islands," which provides a summary of the paths and issues encountered by forward-leaning islands that have been planning and implementing ways to integrate high penetration levels of renewable energy sources (RES), with some exceeding 50%, a penetration level higher than most interconnected systems in the world. The chapter addresses the challenges of integrating intermittent RES, such as wind and solar resources, on island systems and points out technical challenges ranging from long-term planning to short-term operations that require island system operators to meld all existing technologies and explore further innovative technology options.
The chapter also explains that the financial limitations (i.e., the typically small scale of the economy and the business environment of islands) often add further challenges that may not be considered in larger interconnected systems. To address these unique challenges, leading islands are developing a more holistic vision for accommodating larger amounts of RES at lower total system cost by co-planning the electricity sector with other sectors of the economy (such as electrification of heating and transport), effectively creating a microgrid. This paradigm is likely to become increasingly important given the global challenge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Mr. Tsuchida notes that the solutions sought by islands cover a variety of issues considered as separate topics for interconnected grids, ranging from the smart grid, distributed energy resources, climate policy, and system resilience to storage technologies. He concludes that for the first time, island systems are the test bed of innovative technologies that can potentially lead the future of large interconnected systems.
More information on the book can be found here.
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