Smart Integration of Renewable Energy Sources in the Supply of a Ski-Resort Microgrid

In accordance with the green paradigm, the newest microgrids for the powering of ski-resort systems are designed to integrate multiple renewable sources. As the alpine context is even more sensitive in terms of pollution, contamination and CO2 production, the importance of the sustainable adoption of distributed energy resources is more evident. In the mountain context, if one power input usually can be derived from hydroelectric systems in the nearby of alpine resorts, additional analyses are devoted in finding complementary sources. Because of the large availability of forests, a standard solution can be based on biomass exploitation. The present work wants indeed to weigh both hydroelectric and biogas approaches in order to find the most competitive. To this aim, a complete analysis on Homer optimizer is proposed to identify the best combination, thus taking into account load profile and source availability. Several comparisons are proposed to determine the electric energy balance on a standard year and the economic return on the investment. All the optimal configurations from Homer tool are finally gathered for evaluating the overall performance of each sustainable solution, then assessing technical, economic and environmental results.