Study of wind power utilization in district heating systems in the Westfjords, Iceland

Abstract

Some Renewable Energy Sources (RES), such as wind power, are often regarded as intermittent. That means they are not available on demand, but rather depend on external conditions e.g. such as the weather. In order to manage these resources, it is advised to combine them with energy storage or other energy sectors, what is known as “sector coupling”. This approach is set to mitigate the negative impact of unstable renewable energy sources and manage the generated surpluses. In this study, a system combining wind turbines, district heating network and short-term thermal energy storage was proposed and examined for the instance of the Westfjords, Iceland. Isafjorður, Patreksfjorður, Bolungarvik and Flateyri are the exemplary communities with existing district heating networks, chosen to investigate the implementation of the system. A short review of the current state of the energy sector in Iceland was provided to present the local conditions. Wind potential in the described area was estimated as high in comparison with average wind turbine generation in the European Union and a few instances of wind turbines placement were analyzed in this study. For locations close to the district heating network, a long-term correlation between power generation and usage was proven. However, locating wind turbines in places with better wind conditions, provides stable output and a similar amount of energy produced by fewer generators.