Integrating photovoltaics into energy systems by using a run-off-river power plant with pondage to smooth energy exchange with the power gird

In order to slow climate change, economies need to quickly move away from finite energy sources and towards using low-carbon energy systems. However, the integration of non-dispatchable wind and solar sources comes with additional costs and can make the energy market unusual and unpredictable. Specifically, the presence of variable renewable energy sources makes it harder to accurately forecast energy demand. This paper is a first step in presenting a novel approach to overcoming the inherent variability of photovoltaics (PV) by combining them with a run-off-river (ROR) power plant. A mixed integer mathematical model has been developed and applied to simulate the operation of a PV–ROR hybrid energy source coupled with the national power system. Simulations demonstrate various configurations of parameters and their impact on the objective function which was to maximize the volume of energy from PV and hydropower used to cover energy demand, while ensuring that neither energy deficits nor energy surpluses exceed 5% of energy demand. Our analysis indicates that an ROR power plant with relatively small pondage is capable of subsidizing the varying energy output of the PV system. Besides conducting a simulation and optimization, this paper suggests an approach to smoothing the energy exchange with the grid based on fixed volumes of energy which should be delivered during daylight and nighttime hours.