Why Wind: Adding Wind Energy Into Your Renewable Energy Microgrid

To achieve a 100% renewable energy microgrid, the hybridization of technologies is essential to ensure a reliable, resilient and consistent energy supply. Diesel generation is often utilized as the emergency back-up supply to a micro or minigrid system, but the use of fossil fuels has a harmful impact on the environment and on the health of those using the system, furthermore, with increasing and unpredictable fuels costs, it can also substantially increase the cost of electricity of the solution.

Incorporating wind into a hybrid renewable energy mix, opposed to solar PV and energy storage alone has a number of advantages which are very evident, clear and profitable. Wind energy can be available 24 hours a day in many locations, whilst solar PV has up to a maximum 12-hour generation time, depending on the location. The combination of both resources is able to produce a more consistent supply of electricity, with the strengths of each resource balancing the system. As production from one resource dwindles daily or seasonally, the other often compensates.

Considering wind production early in the design process, we can:

Reduce the solar PV capacity,
Reduce the surface area required for the solar PV panels and/or,
Reduce the battery size required.
Extend the life of the batteries by working in shallower discharge cycles and providing charge at night.
Save substantial operating costs

By reducing your dependency on diesel fuel to an absolute minimum, you can effectively insulate yourself from the highly fluctuating price of diesel. Furthermore, these systems are designed to run automatically, with little maintenance required, saving transportation and logistics costs of the raw energy source and personnel for refueling and other additional costs. With proper sizing, this type of facility can reduce the use of diesel backup by over 90%.

Throughout the session we will demonstrate the key advantages of hybridization of renewable energy technologies, and showcase through case studies and international examples of why wind is a key component to becoming 100% renewable.

Speaker:

Alistair Munro
Founder & CEO
Ryse Energy

Prior to founding Ryse Energy, Alistair had an extensive career in the global power and water sector with several C-Level positions in the engineering and chemical sectors in a range of companies from start up to FTSE 250. He has significant technical and commercial experience in the global power and water sector having lead regional and global teams in the international market to deliver above plan results. Alistair has led and advised on multiple acquisitions with successful exits through trade sales with 10x multiples.

Alistair has an BSc in Chemistry from the University of the West of Scotland, and holds an International Marketing Diploma from IMD in Lausanne. Over the past 10 years he has been a Member of the Board of the International Desalination Association and has presented at multiple international conferences, including the United Nations.