Seawater pumped storage systems and offshore wind parks in islands with low onshore wind potential. A fundamental case study

The scope of this article is to investigate the effects of introducing a WP-PSS (Wind Powered Pumped Storage System) in isolated electricity systems assuming unfavourable conditions such as low onshore wind potential and low PSS head height. These disadvantages can be compensated with the installation of offshore wind parks, larger reservoirs and double penstocks to allow simultaneous water fall and pumping using pipes of the greatest diameter that are currently commercially available. With the above modifications, the energy efficiency of the WP-PSS improves while the installation costs rise. A new operation algorithm for the WP-PSS is created to fully utilize the capacity of the double penstock and ultimately maximise wind energy penetration. A case study for a WP-PSS on the island of Rhodes is presented in this paper. Despite unfavourable conditions, the WP-PSS model leads to the following results: • Annual wind energy penetration exceeds 50% of the annual electricity consumption. • The WP-PSS exhibits attractive financial induces without including any subsidies. The WP-PSS presented in this paper proved to be technically and economically feasible and revealed that WP-PSSs are a guaranteed choice for large scale penetration of R.E.S. in electrical systems. - Highlights: • Offshore wind parks (WPs) and seawater PSS can guarantee power production in autonomous systems. • The examined system is proved technically and economically feasible under unfavourable conditions. • A new operational algorithm is developed to maximise the wind energy penetration. • The annual wind energy penetration exceeds 50%. The economic indexes are acceptable. • The WP-PSS is a guaranteed choice for wind energy penetration maximisation