Effect of energy storage in increasing the penetration of RES in the remote island of Agios Efstratios

Most of the inhabited Greek islands are not connected to the central electricity grid and their energy needs are satisfied by diesel power stations. The operation of such stations has negative economic and environmental effects related to the high transportation cost of fuels, increasing oil prices and emissions. The replacement of fossil fuelled stations with hybrid ones that combine renewable energy technologies with energy storage systems will provide a promising clean energy generation alternative and contribute to the limitation of the aforementioned drawbacks. The current paper deals with the integration of such a hybrid power system in the autonomous power system (APS) of the Greek island Agios Efstratios. The objective is to study the effect of energy storage (ES) in increasing the penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) in the hybrid system. Two storage technologies, based on lead-acid batteries and compressed hydrogen, have been studied for this purpose.