The quantitative effect of geographical dispersion of intermittent renewable energy sources on output power variation balancing

In many countries, renewable energy technologies receive increasing attention. Several countries have set ambitious targets for integrating renewable energy sources into their power systems. A special place occupy wind power plants (WPP) and photovoltaic power plants (PVPP), characterized by variable output power in relatively short time intervals. These variations represent a challenge for managing and development planning of certain power systems. Appropriate measures in reduction of output power variation ranges can be achieved by geographical dispersion of these generating units. In this paper, quantitative effect analyses of geographical dispersion on requirements for balancing power has been done. Simulations and calculations have been performed using real, measured data on wind and solar energy potential. The research includes WPP and PVPP and has been extended to certain hybrid power system (HPS) configurations. Comparative analyses of integrating significant power in the considered generating facilities at one location and its wider spatial distribution showed significant decrease in balancing power requirements for even more than 60% in the case of geographical dispersion. Calculations carried out pointed also to a certain complementarity between WPP and PVPP in HPS configurations.