Assessing Renewable Resources at the Saronikos Gulf for the Development of Multi-Generation Renewable Systems

• Main Authors: George Lavidas, John K. Kaldellis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-11-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: solar energy; wind energy; wave energy; resource assessments; Saronikos Gulf
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/9169

Decarbonisation of any energy system implies that more renewables will have to be incorporated into the grid. This requires a thorough assessment of available resources to properly estimate potential contributions and identify opportunities. This work focuses on the Saronikos Gulf, which is part of the most crowded urban coastline in Greece. Solar, wind and wave resources are analysed, and the long-term characteristics affecting power production are discussed. Solar resources provide ≥250 Wh·<inline-formula><math display="inline"><semantics><msup><mi mathvariant="normal">m</mi><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula> with small long-term changes. Wind resources at coastal and onshore regions are ≥50 W·<inline-formula><math display="inline"><semantics><msup><mi mathvariant="normal">m</mi><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula>; however, it has higher annual volatility. Finally, the wave resources of the region are from 130 to 170 W/m with a positive resource rate of change ≈2.5 W·<inline-formula><math display="inline"><semantics><msup><mi mathvariant="normal">m</mi><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula>/year. It is expected that multi-generation by different resources, especially with temporal overlaps of wind and waves, will reduce intermittent production, hence accelerating the energy transition.