A stochastic model for a small producer with termal units, wind power plants and storage technologies

Renewable energy plays an important role in the world. Especially wind is considered one of the most important renewable resources and is probably the fastest growing renewable energy source in the world. However, renewable energy has been exploited only to a small fraction of its potential. This is due to the existence of several types of barriers to the penetration of this kind of resources. For this reason, in recent years, is considered increasingly important the development of storage technologies, that seems to have the potential to play key role in providing renewable energy. We develop a stochastic optimization model whereby a small energy producer aims at meeting a part of the market demand, in order to maximize his own profits. In our formulation, the producer can use both traditional energy sources and wind energy, and some specific kind of storage technology. The stochastic model represents a decision support tool, on a short time horizon, that allows to evaluate the variability of both wind resource and energy prices, and the impact of using innovative storage technologies. We focus also on the role of spinning reserve, that is requested when the producer uses an intermittent energy source. An overview, of both renewable energy and storage technologies, is presented. Some results are shown, concerning the use of some types of storage technologies and both thermal and wind energy. In particular, it highlights how the model is proposed as a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of a storage technology.