Aggregated reserve requirements of geographically diverse renewable portfolios in the Pacific Northwest

Graduation date: 2015Increased penetration of renewable energy sources results in higher operating reserve requirements, due to the inherent variability and uncertainty of these resources. Many studies, primarily focusing on wind and solar, have determined that geographic diversity of variable renewables substantially reduces system variability and uncertainty. The Pacific Northwest is well suited to the addition of wave and tidal energy to its renewable portfolio. This study compares the varying reserve requirements with geographically diverse combinations of wind, solar, wave and tidal sources; a total renewable penetration of thirty-six percent was selected for the analysis. The different groups of test scenarios consistently demonstrate reduced reserve requirements with geographic diversity. The best combination of renewable sources incorporated wind, solar, wave and tidal; all except tidal geographically diverse. The reserve requirements for this scenario were relatively close to the baseline of no renewables, demonstrating the advantages of a diverse mix of renewable sources