Hybridisation & Storage
Firm power through hybrid solutions
In order to achieve around-the-clock decarbonisation of global electricity systems, renewables will need to supply power 24/7, 52 weeks of the year. We have the solution.
The sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow, but there is a high degree of predictability in their variability.
Through innovation and diversification, we are developing renewable project platforms that can reliably match energy supply to user demand, every hour of the day. It’s an approach to firm power delivery that we call hybridisation.
How Hybridisation works
Our solution to variability begins with data. Using solar irradiation and wind measurements, we model the daily and seasonal energy profiles of potential project sites, building a hybrid portfolio of technologies that, when taken together, can deliver consistent generation.
This portfolio approach allows us to match supply and demand with high levels of certainty that, in the future, will be supported by battery storage.
Andes Renovables: meeting Chile’s electricity demand with wind and solar
In 2016, the Chilean government invited bids to supply 16% of country’s electricity needs in an auction judged on price and the capacity to deliver to a 24-hour demand profile. Mainstream won a contract to supply 3.4 terawatt hours of electricity each year, enough to power 1-in-6 of the nation’s homes.
It was a milestone test of renewable energy as a viable source of firm power, and our strategy for delivery rested on hybridisation. See how our 1.37 GW Andes Renovables wind and solar platform fits the requirements of a complex power purchase structure that’s becoming the norm.
How we’re providing firm power from wind and solar hybdrisation
Andes Renovables is one of the world’s first wind and solar platforms to solve the firm power challenge on a national scale. Watch this video to see how we designed-in delivery with the high levels of certainty so vital for the energy transition.
Reliable energy supply
A well-configured renewables mix beats the firm power argument for fossil fuels
Big inroads on Net Zero
Scale of deployment represents significant progress towards national decarbonisation goals
Private offtake opportunities
Growing interest from the corporate market as an energy cost, security and ESG solution
Platform design expertise
Industry-leading hybrid technical capabilities applied with our Global Development Standards
Energy shifting
Energy can be stored in hours of high generation and released during peak demand, when the network needs it most.
Additional revenue streams
The addition of battery storage will create more flexibility and new revenues (see below)
And finally… batteries are included
Battery and Energy Storage Systems, or BESS, are becoming an integral part of our hybrid solutions, providing the final enabling piece in the renewable energy model.
They avoid the inefficiencies of wasted energy during periods of oversupply, eliminate costly times of undersupply, and deliver the grid stability that only thermal power plants could provide before. What’s more, they open the door to a range of new revenue-earning services for grid operators, electricity utilities and end users.