Profitability of hybrid power plants in European markets.
Abstract
As markets continue to evolve, hybrid power plants (HPPs) are attracting the interest of plant operators and industry players alike. With their ability to provide flexible dispatchability, HPPs are poised to become a competitive solution in future energy markets, particularly in grid ancillary markets (such as frequency control, reactive power control and black-start). Moreover, resource complementarities present in some sites have the potential to significantly improve production predictability of collocated HPPs.To assess the profitability of HPPs in European markets, a hybrid sizing algorithm is applied to three locations across Europe with distinct resource distribution characteristics. The sizing tool implemented includes several novel features that are not typically incorporated into existing sizing software currently available on the market. This includes turbine selection, a simplified physical design of the wind power plant, a surrogate wake model, and a simplified solar panel degradation model. NPV-overCAPEX optimal plant designs, tend to favor hybridization, by either collocating wind and solar power with storage, or only solar power with storage. On the hand, minimizing the levelized cost of energy generally results in single-technology power plants. The results show significant potential for hybrid power plants in European markets. However, to truly demonstrate their economic competitiveness, the focus should shift from LCOE to other optimization metrics that consider revenue from different electricity markets.
Cite this
Habbou, H, Leon, JPM, and Das, Kaushik. Profitability of hybrid power plants in European markets. In: Journal of Physics: Conference Series. Vol. 2507. 1. IOP Publishing:012009. DOI 10.1088/1742-6596/2507/1/012009
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