Transition to Renewable Energy for Communities: Energy Storage Requirements and Dissipation

Abstract

The transition of residential communities to renewable energy sources is one of the first steps for the decarbonization of the energy sector, the reduction of CO2 emissions, and the mitigation of global climate change. This study provides information for the development of a microgrid, supplied by wind and solar energy, which meets the hourly energy demand of a community of 10,000 houses in the North Texas region; hydrogen is used as the energy storage medium. The results are presented for two cases: (a) when the renewable energy sources supply only the electricity demand of the community, and (b) when these sources provide the electricity as well as the heating needs (for space heating and hot water) of the community. The results show that such a community can be decarbonized with combinations of wind and solar installations. The energy storage requirements are between 2.7 m3 per household and 2.2 m3 per household. There is significant dissipation in the storage–regeneration processes—close to 30% of the current annual electricity demand. The entire decarbonization (electricity and heat) of this community will result in approximately 87,500 tons of CO2 emissions avoidance.