Linking solar and biomass resources to generate renewable energy: can we find local complementarities in the agricultural setting?

Beschreibung

Additional references to the article: Linking solar and biomass resources to generate renewable en-ergy: can we find local complementarities in the agricultural setting? Gillianne Bowman, Thierry Huber, Vanessa Burg Energies, https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/3/1486

Today, the energy transition is underway to tackle the problems of climate change and energy sufficiency. For this transition to succeed, it is essential to use all available re-newable energy resources most efficiently. However, renewable energies often bring high volatility that needs to be balanced. One solution is to combine the use of different renewable sources to increase the overall energy output or reduce its environmental impact. Here, we estimate the agricultural solar and biomass resources at the local level in Switzerland, considering their spatial and temporal variability using Geographic In-formation Systems. We then identify the technologies that could allow synergies or complementarities. Overall, the technical agricultural resources potential is ~15 PJ/annus biogas yield from residual biomass and ~10 TWh/a electricity from solar installed on roofs (equivalent to ~36 PJ/a). Anaerobic digestion, combined heat & power plant, Raw manure separation, Biomethane upgrading, Power to X, Electrolysis, Chill generation and Pho-tovoltaic on biogas facilities could foster complementarity in the system if resources are pooled within the agricultural setting. Temporal complementarity at the farm scale can only lead to partial autarchy. The possible benefits from these complementarities should be better identified, particulary in looking looking at the economic viability of such systems.