Optimizing World-wide Utilization of Renewable Energy Sources in the Power Sector

Abstract

In  view  of  resource  scarcity  and  environmental  issues,   transition   of   the   current   energy   system   towards   a   renewable-based supply seems to be a necessity. The interesting questions  within  this  framework  are  how  such  a  renewable-based  energy  system  should  be  structured,  and  how  costly  it  might be. We investigated the optimal structure of a prospective renewable-based power supply system on the world wide scale. This  paper  describes  the  applied  simulation  technique,  which  integrates  an  adequately  precise  geographical  coverage  with  high   temporal   resolution.   This   methodology   provides   the   requirements  to  properly  mimic  the  geographical  dependencies  of energy supply and demand as well as short term intermittent patterns  of  renewable  sources.  A  linear  optimization  algorithm  determines  the  cost  optimal  configuration  of  the  prescribed  energy system.