Electrical Power Supply of Remote Maritime Areas: A Review of Hybrid Systems Based on Marine Renewable Energies

Abstract

Abstract:Ocean energy holds out great potential for supplying remote maritime areas with their energy requirements, where the grid size is often small and unconnected to a continental grid. Thanks to their high maturity and competitive price, solar and wind energies are currently the most used to provide electrical energy. However, their intermittency and variability limit the power supply reliability. To solve this drawback, storage systems and Diesel generators are often used. Otherwise, among all marine renewable energies, tidal and wave energies are reaching an interesting technical level of maturity. The better predictability of these sources makes them more reliable than other alternatives. Thus, combining different renewable energy sources would reduce the intermittency and variability of the total production and so diminish the storage and genset requirements. To foster marine energy integration and new multisource system development, an up-to-date review of projects already carried out in this field is proposed. This article first presents the main characteristics of the different sources which can provide electrical energy in remote maritime areas: solar, wind, tidal, and wave energies. Then, a review of multi-source systems based on marine energies is presented, concerning not only industrial projects but also concepts and research work. Finally, the main advantages and limits are discussed.

Hybrid Floating Solar Plant Designs: A Review

“…An energy island consists of a multipurpose floating platform including several sustainable energy generation options [81]. A concept of "solar methanol island" based on offshore floating PV is proposed for H 2 production and CO 2 extraction from the seawater.…”

“…The operating conditions for large-scale solar methanol islands are determined by engineering analyses and optimizations. The islands provide power to a centralized site, which includes desalination and electrolysis cells for H 2 processing, electrochemical cells for CO 2 extraction, and catalytic reactors and associated equipment for methanol production and separation, all of which are placed on a rigid boat [81]. Other island components include batteries for short-term electrical energy storage, a methanol storage tank, and miscellaneous equipment and furnishings.…”

River and Estuary Current Power Overview

“…Roy et al [27] proposed an up-to-date review of hybrid system projects based on marine renewable energies. From an industrial point of view, these systems operate above all with PV and wind turbine because these technologies are more mature, but by considering the number of projects stayed in a concept phase, their development remains premature.…”

Wave Energy Harnessing in Shallow Water through Oscillating Bodies

“…Wave energy exploitation still has high investment costs, therefore, in the last ten years, hybrid solutions with other renewable sources like wind and solar have been proposed; this allows limiting installation costs and achieve a more regular energy production (see for example [4]). On the other hand, wave energy exploitation is economically advantageous for islands and remote coastal areas, where the electric grid is absent and fuel supply is difficult; reviews of wave energy and hybrid (wave, tidal, wind, solar) technologies suitable for these areas can be found respectively in references [5,6].…”