The identification of potential STORES Renewable Energy Zones. A renewable energy zone is a region that has characteristics that could make a substantial contribution to increasing the supply of renewable energy.
Report extract
A renewable energy zone is a region that has characteristics that could make a substantial contribution to increasing the supply of renewable energy. Characteristics that make a renewable energy zone attractive include:
- Excellent wind
- Excellent sun
- High quality STORES sites for short term storage, which can increase the load factor on transmission lines and convert sun/wind following output to load-following output
- Easy connection to major load centres
- Anti-correlation of the wind and sun within the zone or between the zone and major load centres (i.e. the wind blows more at night or in winter)
- Benign geological, hydrological, environmental, heritage, land tenure, access and other characteristics.