Unique Energy Generation-Plus-Storage Options Can Lead to Improved Sustainability Infrastructure

As individual renewable-energy technologies continue to improve in their respective markets, combining them with storage and a modern grid infrastructure becomes increasingly relevant.

Communities depend on a variety of resources to function. Utilities like electricity, water, heat, and more all rely on different inputs to be generated and distributed to industries, businesses, and households. In order to more effectively meet growing demand and minimize any risks and challenges with meeting that demand, more hybrid-energy options are being developed.

Team Gemini draws on success cases demonstrating the useful integration of a variety of resources. To support spreading these models everywhere, and beyond providing safeguarded energy, Team Gemini provides industry-leading technology options for communities and resource-intensive businesses.

The aim is to build a modern utilities infrastructure that supports a Triple Bottom Line and can apply to rural as well as urban environments. Team Gemini project developments cover critical community resources like electricity, thermal energy, water, waste remediation, and more.

Combining renewable-energy technologies in infrastructure models is not new, but they’re increasing in prevalence, and are now supported by more emphasis on energy storage.

“By pairing two different generating assets such as solar and wind with energy storage, the system is more reliable and flexible than individual standalone solutions,” Durandal said. “A wind-solar-battery system is more resilient against unforeseeable circumstances such as prolonged cloudy days with poor sunlight or days with low wind speeds.”

In addition to meeting strict energy generation requirements, the plant will be able to provide grid services like frequency regulation, energy-shifting, peak load reduction and ramping, he added.

Storage continues to bolster its reputation as the most versatile technology on the grid. More hybridization of storage with any type of generation is on its way, Miller said.

“By combining generation with storage, we can take advantage of the beneficial performance characteristics — fast response, fast ramp rate, low O&M costs, zero emissions — while using the generation asset to address the constraint posed by storage’s limited energy duration,” he said.

Frequency support and spinning reserve applications make the most sense for hybrid plants currently, in both electricity markets and remote grid environments globally, Miller added.

Specific to Team Gemini’s offerings in supplying these resources, team members like 2G Energy (combined heat and power), Viessmann (thermal energy and more), ABB (microgrids and resource management and monitoring), and A3 (wastewater treatment and water conservation) contribute effective solutions. Benefits of anaerobic digestion and CHP technologies include being able to store biogas until energy resources are needed. And one can still implement battery storage and other options to manage additional resources as well.

Beyond these, sustainable agriculture also comes into play, as food resources are critical for survival. Last but not least, the generation of bioproducts helps offset harmful effects of waste, turning a variety of feedstock into economic byproducts that can be applied for the benefit of the community—such as renewable energy, compost and fertilizer, biofuels, and more. These companies, among others, provide outstanding technology and service options to fulfill a variety of energy efficiency needs for countless industries.

We welcome you to learn more about our technology models at http://teamgemini.us/technologies/. Consider subscribing to our RSS feed or follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay in the loop about future updates.

For the original article, you can check out this link.