Progress in Energy Generation For Canadian Remote Sites

Many remote areas around the world are isolated, for various reasons, from electricity networks. They are usually supplied with electricity through diesel generators. The cost of operation and transportation of diesel fuel in addition to its price have led to the procurement of a more efficient and environmentally greener method of supply. Various studies have shown that a wind-diesel hybrid system with compressed air storage (WDCAS) seems to be one of the best solutions, and presents itself as an optimal configuration for the electrification of isolated sites. This system allows significant fuel savings to be made because the stored compressed air is used to supercharge the engine. In order to optimize system performance and minimize fuel consumption, installation of a system for recovering and storing the heat of compression (TES) seems necessary. In addition, the use of hydro-pneumatic energy storage systems that use the same machine as the hydraulic pump and turbine allow us to store energy in tight spaces and, if possible, contribute to power generation. The scrupulous study of this technical approach will be the focus of our research which will validate (or not) the use of such a system for the regulation of frequency of electrical networks. In this article we will skim through the main research that recently examined the wind-diesel hybrid system which addressed topics such as adiabatic compression and hydro-pneumatic storage. Instead, we will offer (based on existing studies) a new ACP-WDCAS (wind-diesel hybrid system with adiabatic air compression and storage at constant pressure), which combines these three concepts in one system for the optimization of wind-diesel hybrid system.