City Energy System Lab: Balancing Renewable Power with…

What the Simulation Represents

The simulation models an urban energy system where various renewable sources such as solar and wind are harnessed alongside traditional methods like gas. It allows users to size different components of a power plant, including solar panels, wind turbines, batteries for storage, and gas generators, to meet the city's electricity demands.

By adjusting these elements, learners can test how well the system performs under different climate conditions and economic constraints, providing insights into renewable energy integration challenges.

Key Concepts in Renewable Energy Systems

One of the primary goals is to balance supply and demand. Solar panels generate electricity during daylight hours when solar radiation is high, while wind turbines produce power based on prevailing winds. Batteries store excess energy for use when renewable sources are insufficient or at night.

Gas generators act as a backup source that can be turned on when renewables cannot meet the city's needs, ensuring reliability and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.

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The Role of Energy Storage

Energy storage is crucial for managing fluctuations in renewable energy production. Batteries store excess electricity generated by solar panels or wind turbines during peak production times to be used later when generation is low.

This not only helps in smoothing out the supply but also reduces the need for expensive and polluting backup generators.

Economic and Environmental Considerations

The simulation also considers economic factors such as cost per megawatt-hour (MWh) and carbon dioxide emissions. Users can explore how different configurations of renewable sources, storage, and backup generators affect both the financial viability and environmental impact of their design.

This helps in understanding trade-offs between initial investment costs, operational expenses, and long-term sustainability goals.

Frequently asked questions

How does the simulation handle different weather conditions?

The lab uses synthetic weather data for 8,760 hours to simulate a year of varying solar radiation and wind speeds, allowing users to test their designs under diverse climatic conditions.

What is the purpose of the auto-designer feature?

The auto-designer aims to find the cheapest mix of renewable sources and storage by automatically adjusting the sizes of different components based on predefined economic models.

How does the simulation ensure reliability in energy supply?

Reliability is ensured through a combination of renewable sources, storage capacity, and backup generators. The system must be designed to meet peak demand without failing, even during periods with low renewable generation.

What are loss-of-load hours and how do they impact the design?

Loss-of-load hours refer to times when the energy supply cannot meet demand, leading to power outages. The simulation aims to minimize these hours by optimizing storage capacity and backup generator usage.

Try it live

Everything above runs in your browser — open City Energy System Lab: Solar, Wind, Battery and Gas Dispatch, Reliability and Cost and change the parameters while it is running. Nothing is installed, nothing is uploaded, the whole model lives in one tab.

▶ Open City Energy System Lab: Solar, Wind, Battery and Gas Dispatch, Reliability and Cost simulation

City Energy System Lab: Balancing Renewable Power with Storage