The global move to more sustainable and renewable energy sources causes increased fluctuations in theelectric market. That fact combined with the Swedish regulations on micro producers make high levels ofself-use critical and have increased the interest in energy storage of energy from intermittent sources.Cooperation with Eksta AB have provided the opportunity to evaluate an innovative energy storage conceptfor a future exploitation area of around 17,2 hectares planned residential and urban area. This bachelorthesis studies the potential of using stormwater management ponds for small-scale energy storage in theform of pumped hydro energy storage (PHES). The focus is on storage of surplus energy from a solarenergy system designed for micro production and local energy supply. However, it also evaluates thepotential of using the equivalent dimensions for energy storage which storage level only change whenbuying or selling electricity at market prices for arbitrage purposes.Potential in the form of financial benefit and increased self-use of solar energy are studied through aquantitative methodology that, in the case of storing surplus energy from a solar system, use a simulationmodel developed for this thesis that takes Eksta´s contractual electric specifications into account. Toevaluate the case of energy storage for arbitrage a simulation model is used in the form of an algorithmbaseddrive strategy named “Optimal”, which has been recreated from research in the field of energy storageand drive strategies. The level of innovation is high on account of including such as energy additions to thestorage from rain water management, energy losses from dispersion of stored stormwater to surroundingground layers, it´s novel focus on a stormwater pond for energy storage, the rarely studied combination ofPHES and small scale solar systems and finally that the dimensions of the pump and turbine that is neededin PHES is based on PaT (pump as turbine) technology, allowing the reverse drive of a centrifugal pumpto operate as a turbine.Sensitivity analysis is included to increase the understanding of PHES-stormwater systems in the case of Eksta and as a concept for energy storage. The work also includes a brief examination of relevant regulationsin order to supply a wider perspective.The result shows that the implementation of a PHES-stormwater system during the years 2018 and 2019increased the self-use of generated solar energy by 28,59 % and provide the joint financial benefit of 5989SEK. The simulation model of energy storage for arbitrage during the years 2018 and 2019 resulted in thecombined financial benefit of 699 SEK when “Optimal” operation strategy is used and 678 SEK with apractically applicable operation strategy.The main conclusion is that PHES-stormwater systems as an energy storage for small-scale solar surplushas high potential to increase the self-use of solar energy but relatively low potential to increase the financialbenefits of small-scale solar systems. From the sensitivity analysis it can be concluded that the simulatedPHES-stormwater system is sensitive to small and medium ranged changes in storage capacity, efficiency,rate of dispersion, set electrical buying price and selectivity of which hours to empty the storage. This whilebeing generally insensitive to small and medium ranged variations in installed peak effect of the solar system,filling/emptying time and the relative size of the turbine compared to the pump.The conclusion from the simulation of arbitrage application is that the potential for financial benefit inthese circumstances is extremely low. The sensitivity analysis lead to the conclusion that the system issensitive to small and medium ranged variations in storage capacity, efficiency, filling/emptying time andmarginal operation costs.Besides the limited financial benefit, other potential hindrances may be the legality of connecting the systemelectrically, lack of financial benefits given to larger but still small-scale solar systems and the eventuality ofdisrupting the main function of the stormwater pond, which is purifying stormwater.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hh-42111 |
Date | January 2020 |
Creators | Abrams, Philip |
Publisher | Högskolan i Halmstad, Akademin för ekonomi, teknik och naturvetenskap |
Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
Language | Swedish |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
Format | application/pdf |
Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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