Design and Simulation of Integrated Distributed Energy Resources onto the Island of Saint Lucia (#1954)

Authors

Singh, Pritpal

Abstract

This study examines the current generation capacity and load demand of the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia. A 2015 national energy transition plan published by the utility company on Saint Lucia details the necessary expansion into solar and wind resources to decrease reliability on imported fossil fuels while maintaining proficient grid reliability. Presently, about 5% of total generation capacity can be supplied through distributed solar resources. The goal of this investigation is to determine site locations around the island which have ideal conditions for distributed energy resource (DER) development. Typical meteorological data analysis of solar irradiance and wind speed was performed to characterize the generation capacity and performance of the proposed DERs. These grid-connected DERs were simulated using ETAP modelling software to determine generation contribution to a substation in a distribution network. The results from this simulation yielded that the two proposed DER installations could supply 11.91% of total grid demand on a typical day. Further analysis strongly suggests that wind powered DERs are significantly advantageous due to consistent wind speeds throughout the year