Synergistic optimization of renewable energy installations through evolution strategy

With large parts of the world moving toward renewable energies, there is an urgent need to organize this large-scale transition effectively. This paper presents a new methodology to guide the planning and siting of renewable electricity generation for countries or larger geographical regions. Its flexible approach accounts for the specific boundary conditions, constraints and available resources of the region of interest and enables solutions that optimize the interplay between the various types of generation. Evolution strategy permits a simultaneous optimization of the placement and the share of renewable electricity generation technologies that are to be added to a system, while most efficiently combining the new with the existing electricity generation and respecting the constraints of the electrical grid. Using Switzerland as case study, we demonstrate the method’s ability to devise national installation scenarios that are efficient, realistic with respect to land use and grid infrastructure and reduce significantly the need for seasonal storage. We show how the spatio-temporal variability of weather-driven electricity generation can be exploited to benefit the electrical system as a whole.