پیامدهای سود و زیان از یکپارچه سازی رآکتورهای هسته ای کوچک انعطاف پذیر مزارع بادی برون سپاری خارجی در یک نیروگاه مجازی

Nuclear power currently supports the goals of the European Union low-carbon society by being a dependable source of energy, while emitting no CO2. In the future, more flexible nuclear systems could enable wind to achieve a 50% share of the renewable contribution to the energy mix. Small and medium-sized reactors (SMRs) could provide firming power generation to back-up the supply from renewable resources and follow-load. This study involves the hypothetical combination of an off-shore wind farm and a SMR, operated together as a virtual power plant (VPP). Results using wind data from the North Sea indicate that the combination results in 80% less wind power variation to the grid, effectively creating a virtual baseload power plant. This gain comes at the loss of 30% SMR capacity utilization. The research identified that the reduction of 1000 MW off-shore wind farm variability was best achieved with 700 MW SMRs using 100 MW modules. In demand-following mode the VPP could maneuver output to improve synchronization with demand by 60–70% over a wind-only system. Power variability was indifferent to the SMR module size. The VPP could not reduce 100% of the wind variation, as additional balancing measures (e.g., smart grid, storage, and hybrid-nuclear systems) are still needed.

In Holland, the windmill provided a critical technology for removal of the waters of the North Sea from the polders to reclaim the land now used in agriculture, dairy, and production of the world famous tulips. Fleets of up to 50 drainage mills were put in service to pump the polder water by stages to river channels. By 1850 there were 9000 windmills in Holland that provided a dependable means for emptying the polders, as ebbs in the wind could be made up by the flows when the wind was blowing. However in the second half of the 19th century windmills began to be replaced with steam engines which could perform the work more quickly and on a larger scale. In the years following World War I the electrification of the rural districts ultimately led to the use of electric pumps. Nowadays, only 1200 windmills survive in the Netherlands, primarily for historical preservation.Today, wind power is an important component of the renewable energy portfolio that supports the European Commission (EC) roadmap for a competitive low carbon economy in 2050 (EC, 2011a). However, for wind to meet the stringent conditions for reliability and grid safety, it is increasingly becoming dependent on a new smart grid, energy storage, and flexible low-carbon energy sources. This dependency becomes particularly acute when variable renewable energy systems (RES) exceed ∼20% of the total power mix. Some researchers suggests that even at levels greater than 10%, a more flexible dispatch of different types of power plants will be needed than what exists today (Greenpeace, 2008).

The use of flexible SMRs could be complementary to other measures (e.g., smart grid, energy storage) as part of the EU’s integrated strategy for achieving the goals for a low-carbon society. This paper provides a technical evaluation of the potential role for SMRs in supporting the deployment of wind power in achieving high penetration levels in future energy systems. The study netted interesting insights regarding the differences between SMRs (flexible, modular), reactor sizes, the operational flexibility required for power ramping, and the power management modes (baseload, demand-following). The objective was to reduce the variability from wind. Initially, a base-load mode was considered. The analysis showed that by dimensioning the SMR up to 40% of the wind farm capacity there is no notable difference between the smoothing achieved by flexible or modular SMRs. The noticeable difference starts to become apparent for SMR sizes greater than 40%. For the larger reactor sizes, the modular SMR provided somewhat better capabilities to reduce wind power variations. For example, a VPP composed of a 1000 MW off-shore wind farm and 500–700 MW SMR could reduce the variability by 50–85% as compared to a wind-only system. The highest reductions were achieved using 700 MW modular reactors. The trade-off from achieving the reduction in wind variability comes at the loss of reactor utilization (i.e., capacity factor). The study shows that as the SMR rated power increases from 100 MW to 700 MW for both types of SMR, the utilization factor declines. For a 700 MW modular SMR, the reactor utilization drops by 30% (i.e., 1.0 to 0.7) in order to achieve the aforementioned 80% reduction in wind variability (not-withstanding scheduled shut-downs). The reduction in capacity factor is in addition to the scheduled reactor outages required for maintenance and refueling, which usually run from 0.75 to 0.95.