TITLE:
Complementarity of Renewable Energy Resources (Solar, Wind and Hydraulic) in the São Francisco River Basin
AUTHORS:
Fábio Coutinho, Chigueru Tiba
KEYWORDS:
Hybrid Renewable Energy, Sao Francisco River Basin, Pearson, Spearman and Kendall Correlations Co-Located Plan, Solar, Wind and Hydraulic Generation
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geographic Information System,
Vol.16 No.6,
November
22,
2024
ABSTRACT: The São Francisco River basin is 2368 km long, with an average annual flow of 2846 m3/s and a drainage area of 639,219 km2. About 54% of this area lies in Brazil’s semi-arid northeast, with annual rainfall between 450 - 800 mm. The basin’s hydroelectric capacity is around 10,200 MW, but recent climate phenomena like El Niño and La Niña, worsened by global climate change, have reduced plant capacity factors from 0.70 - 0.80 to 0.35. Hybrid solar and wind systems integrated with hydroelectric plants offer a promising solution, increasing capacity and providing reliable storage through pumped water storage. This study assesses the complementarity of solar, wind, and hydroelectric energy in the São Francisco basin. Data from NASA POWER and CAMS, validated with terrestrial stations, were analyzed using Pearson, Spearman, and Kendall correlations. Results show variable complementarity across time scales, with weak complementarity annually but strong complementarity observed on daily and monthly scales. The study focuses on raw resource data, without considering integration or economic constraints.