Combining wind power, solar energy, batteries and in future even electrolysers, allows hybrid parks to be more cost effective by sharing infrastructure such as roads, grid connections or substations and even support the grid stability.

Hybrid parks can be custom-designed or retro fitted to existing assets to combine multiple technologies, such as wind turbines, solar panels, batteries and electrolysers to produce, store or use fossil-free energy in one location.

Multi-technology parks are more than just a market trend: Hybrid parks can sometimes even be a condition for obtaining a permit, like in Germany in connection with the so-called ‘innovation tenders’.

Several advantages with hybrid power farms:

– Improvied grid usage: As wind and solar production are complementing each other in production times, the usage of the available grid capacity can be increased. Additionally, batteries and electrolysers can be used to prevent power curtailments, shift production in time and provide grid stabilising services.

– Cost-efficiency: All technologies can use the same infrastructure such as roads, grid connection or substations (and therefore don’t need to be built twice)

– Efficient land-use: The different technologies are all built at the same location and not scattered. This becomes more important as land is a scarce resource, especially in countries such as the Netherlands, and regional zone planning is becoming more restrictive.

– Reduced financial risks: The combination of different complementing technologies increases the diversification and therefore reduces the overall park risks. Long-term, hydrogen can be seen as a natural hedge against volatile energy prices, as soon as Hydrogen Purchase Agreements are in place.

Source: Evwind