Study of the effect of natural factors on optimal capacity of renewable energy resources

Melentiev Energy Systems Institute of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Irkutsk, Russia

^* Corresponding author: sever@isem.irk.ru

Abstract

The paper briefly describes a methodological approach to determine the maximum effective capacity of a renewable energy source for an off-grid consumer, considering natural factors. The annual distribution of indicators of solar and wind energy resources in the northeastern regions of Russia is analyzed. The groups of the characteristic maximum of average monthly wind velocities and the areas of their manifestation are revealed. The results of studying the dependence of the optimal capacity of an off-grid wind power plant on the annual distribution of wind velocities at different wind potential values are presented. The installed capacity utilization factor of wind power plants is shown to depend on natural factors. The results of this study are applied as a basis for guidelines on the priority of using renewable energy sources subject to natural conditions. Keywords: Decentralized consumers, technique to determine optimal capacity, annual distribution, ratio between optimal capacity and consumer’s maximum load.