Key cost analysis of wind and solar complementary technology for communication base stations

Does a weak transmission grid affect the cost of wind and solar energy?

Systems with weak transmission grid may also encounter voltage-related issues with high VRE penetration levels. Overall we conclude that the impact on costs of the operating characteristics of wind and solar energy seem to be small, but that these impacts have the potential to become notable at very high penetration levels.

How does wind and solar affect power prices?

This debate has focused on so-called price cannibalization, a phenomenon where the presence of large amounts of wind or solar causes power prices to fall on sunny or windy days; however, the impact of wind and solar on power prices is a function of their low marginal cost as well as their variability, and is not a measure of the cost of VRE per se.

Are PV capacity credit values higher than wind?

Generally though, the capacity credit values for PV were found to have a wider range than for wind, with a majority of values for PV tending to be relatively low, with a smaller number of (much) higher values. Fig. 6: Capacity credit data by VRE type.

Are technology and sector level complementarities independent?

In Fig. 1 we symbolize the different purposes of complementarities by two orthogonal arrows to indicate that technology and sector level complementarities are independent, in principle. The focus on societal functions is closely connected with the concept of socio-technical regimes, which is at the core of transition studies (e.g. Geels, 2002).

Does adding solar PV reduce the cost of meeting peak demand?

The implication is that at low penetration levels, and given the right resource and demand profile, adding solar PV can help make the system more reliable and/or reduce the cost of meeting peak demand. Fig. 4: Capacity adequacy costs. Costs are normalized to 2017 Euro. This figure summarizes the capacity costs data shown in Fig. 2.

How do you analyze technology level complementarities?

Analysis of technology level complementarities: For the development of a specific technology, it is central i) to identify technological, organizational, institutional and infrastructural components the focal technology depends on, ii) to assess their importance and iii) to identify critical bottlenecks.