Sustainable Electric Power System: Is It Possible? Case Study: Croatia

This paper analyzes the reality of sustainable energy supply (SEPS) from renewable energy sources (RES) as a totally green strategy of electric energy production. The paper is based on the Advanced International Policies (AIP) scenario of the European Renewable Energy Council agency forecast by the year 2040, which foresees the share of 82% of RES, extended to 100% of RES. The key element that creates conditions for achieving this ambitious scenario is an innovative solution of the so-called solar hydroelectric power plant (SHE) which is basically combined photovoltaic (PV) power plant and pump storage hydro (PSH) which can provide continuous supply of electric power and energy to consumers. Therefore, SHE is presented in this paper as the main building element of the future SEPS. For covering unit consumption of electric energy of 1 GWh in a power system, the paper calculates unit values of the SHE system: 0.73 MW of PV generator; 4,545  m2 of PV generator; 0.36  hm3 of reservoir volume, 0.21 GWh of PSH ...