BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 1
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
One intriguing option for Azerbaijan to increase its power system flexibility is the installation of Floating Photovoltaic (FPV) capacity on reservoirs connected to HPPs, Trend reports with reference to the recommendations of the International Energy Agency (IEA).
“Azerbaijan has several reservoirs suitable for this, the largest of which is the 605-km2 Mingachevir HPP reservoir. Although FPV is a nascent technology, coupling it with hydropower would offer several advantages. Transmission costs should be low, as FPV equipment could be linked to the HPP substation and no extra grids would need to be built. Also, solar and hydro generation could balance each other, as dry seasons offer the highest solar resources while rainy seasons offer the best hydro potential. A hybrid FPVhydro plant could also use pumped hydro technology to store excess solar power,” reads the IEA report.
Increasing solar and wind power generation capacity considerably (to more than 10 percent of total generation) would require Azerbaijan’s power system to become more flexible to accommodate the natural daily and seasonal variations of these energy sources, according to the agency.
“The country’s most obvious sources of flexibility are its combined-cycle gas turbine, gas engine and hydropower plants, and it could strengthen its electricity networks. Additional options include stronger cross-border connections, electricity trading, and storage ranging from minutes to hours and days (for example, pumped hydro and district heating systems with thermal storage). Financial incentives to put these measures in place and to establish demand-response capabilities should be considered as part of the electricity market reform. Emerging flexibility options include grid-scale batteries and hydrogen production, but reducing their cost continues to be a major challenge,” reads the report.
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