(31p) Sustainability Assessment of Advanced Hybrid Systems for Achieving Industrial Net Zero

The increased need for environmentally friendly and reliable energy solutions has hastened the incorporation of renewable energy sources into current power systems. However, the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydro frequently undermines energy supply stability. To solve this, hybrid energy systems combine several energy sources, including renewables, to improve the resilience, efficiency, and dependability of power generation. Hybrid energy systems can amalgamate various renewable sources or combine them with conventional energy systems, such as fossil fuels or nuclear power, to mitigate their limits. A conventional hybrid system may include solar photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, and energy storage systems such as batteries, as well as biomass and hydropower plants. The synergy between diverse energy sources provides greater flexibility, minimizing reliance on a single source of energy^4,5.

Solar and wind hybrid systems are a novel technique to producing renewable energy that combines two of the most abundant and clean energy sources: solar and wind power. By combining several technologies into a single energy system, hybrid systems can overcome the limits of relying solely on one source, such as variability and intermittency. These systems are especially effective in areas where solar and wind resources complement one another, with wind energy available at night or on overcast days and solar energy copious throughout the day⁶.

A solar-wind hybrid system typically consists of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, wind turbines, a battery storage system, and an energy management system. The PV panels capture sunlight and convert it into electricity during the day, while wind turbines generate power when wind speeds are sufficient, often at night or during cloudy conditions. The energy management system balances power generation from both sources, ensuring efficient distribution and storage of electricity⁶.

Energy storage, usually in the form of batteries, is a crucial component of hybrid systems. It allows the system to store surplus energy generated during peak production periods, making it available during times of low or no energy generation (e.g., at night with no wind or during periods of low sunlight). By incorporating storage, the hybrid system provides a reliable and continuous power supply, mitigating the intermittent nature of solar and wind energy^5,6.

Solar-wind hybrid systems are suitable for both on-grid and off-grid applications. In isolated and rural locations with little or unstable grid infrastructure, these systems can provide a long-term solution for energy access, powering homes, schools, and healthcare facilities. They are also employed in industrial, commercial, and agricultural situations where continuous power is required, and renewable resources can be gathered to meet specific energy demands. With advancements in technology and declining costs, the popularity of solar-wind hybrid systems is anticipated to rise, considerably aiding the global transition to renewable energy and sustainability^4,5.

As the energy landscape evolves toward renewable sources such as solar and wind, effective energy storage becomes increasingly important to handle their intermittent nature. Hybrid energy systems, which integrate diverse energy generation methods such as solar, wind, and traditional fossil fuels, are increasingly reliant on hybrid energy storage solutions to maintain a steady, dependable energy supply. These systems combine several storage technologies to balance energy supply and demand, enhance system performance, and reduce costs. Hybrid energy storage systems are emerging as a critical component of the transition to cleaner, more sustainable energy infrastructures.

Hybrid energy storage systems combine two or more different energy storage technologies to take advantage of the strengths of each while mitigating their weaknesses. Typically, these systems include a combination of short-term, fast-response storage devices like batteries and long-term, high-capacity storage solutions such as pumped hydro, flywheels, or thermal storage. By integrating multiple technologies, hybrid energy storage systems can better manage fluctuations in energy generation and meet varying energy demands in hybrid energy systems⁹. Hybrid energy storage technologies encompass Batteries, Pumped Hydro Storage, Flywheels, Thermal Energy Storage, Supercapacitors, Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage, Solar Fuels, and Hydrogen Storage. Thus, this study focuses on the methodological sustainability assessment of the hybrid wind-solar-electricity storage systems. The effectiveness of these hybrid systems is evaluated in terms of efficiency, economic, energy efficiency and environmental viability.

Measuring sustainability performance and making decisions are critical and complicated processes. As a result, the development/ implementation of a methodological approach that ensures the capability of gathering and abstracting complicated process operations, as well as providing simple analysis and communication with appropriate sustainability indicators, is required. By considering the aforementioned aspects, in this study, the methodological sustainability assessment is proposed as a powerful tool, assisting the designer in obtaining a comprehensive performance evaluation. The developed framework utilizes available wind, solar and electricity storage solutions to produce clean energy. In this phase, the focus is to collect the representative data for the existing technologies from the literature. Various scenarios are assessed based on the selected options, incorporating technologies such as wind, solar, battery, thermal energy storage, pumped hydropower storage, compressed air energy storage, hydrogen storage, and hybrid storage.

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