Optimal Control Models of Renewable Energy Production Under Fluctuating Supply

The probably biggest challenge for climate change mitigation is to find a secure low-carbon energy supply, which especially is difficult as the supply of renewable sources underlies strong volatility and storage possibilities are limited. We therefore consider the energy sector of a small country that optimizes a portfolio consisting of fossil and/or renewable energy to cover a given energy demand, considering seasonal fluctuations in renewable energy generation. By solving these non-autonomous optimal control models with infinite horizon, we investigate the impact of fossil energy prices on the annual optimal portfolio composition shown by the obtained periodic solutions.