i An update to this article is included at the end

Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy Reports
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/egyr

Techno-economic feasibility of hybrid PV/wind/battery/thermal

storage trigeneration system: Toward 100% energy independency and
green hydrogen production
∗ ∗∗
Loiy Al-Ghussain a,b , , Adnan Darwish Ahmad c , , Ahmad M. Abubaker d , Külli Hovi e ,
∗∗
Muhammed A. Hassan f,g , , Andres Annuk e
a
Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA
b
Energy Conversion and Storage Systems Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 15013 Denver West Parkway, Golden, CO 80401, USA
c
Institute of Research for Technology Development (IR4TD), University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA
d
Mechanical Engineering Department, Villanova University, PA, USA
e
Institute of Forestry and Engineering, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, 51006, Estonia
f
Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, 12613, Giza, Egypt
g
Universite de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, E2S UPPA, LaTEP, Pau, France

article info a b s t r a c t

Article history: With the clear adverse impacts of fossil fuel-based energy systems on the climate and environment,
Received 23 July 2022 ever-growing interest and rapid developments are taking place toward full or nearly full dependence
Received in revised form 11 November 2022 on renewable energies in the next few decades. Estonia is a European country with large demands
Accepted 7 December 2022
for electricity and thermal energy for district heating. Considering it as the case study, this work
Available online 14 December 2022
explores the feasibility and full potential of optimally sized photovoltaic (PV), wind, and PV/wind
Keywords: systems, equipped with electric and thermal storage, to fulfill those demands. Given the large excess
Renewable energy energy from 100% renewable energy systems for an entire country, this excess is utilized to first meet
Hydrogen production the district heating demand, and then to produce hydrogen fuel. Using simplified models for PV and
Techno-economic optimization wind systems and considering polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis, a genetic optimizer
Photovoltaic
is employed for scanning Estonia for optimal installation sites of the three systems that maximize
Wind power
the fulfillment of the demand and the supply–demand matching while minimizing the cost of energy.
Estonia
The results demonstrate the feasibility of all systems, fully covering the two demands while making a
profit, compared to selling the excess produced electricity directly. However, the PV-driven system
showed enormous required system capacity and amounts of excess energy with the limited solar
resources in Estonia. The wind system showed relatively closer characteristics to the hybrid system
but required a higher storage capacity by 75.77%. The hybrid PV/wind-driven system required a total
capacity of 194 GW, most of which belong to the wind system. It was also superior concerning the
amount (15.05 × 109 tons) and cost (1.42 USD/kg) of the produced green hydrogen. With such full
mapping of the installation capacities and techno-economic parameters of the three systems across
the country, this study can assist policymakers when planning different country-scale cogeneration
systems.
Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

1. Introduction limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 ◦ C by lowering green-

The need to lessen the threat of climate change has been
addressed in the Paris agreement. The suggested efforts include
∗ Corresponding author at: Mechanical Engineering Department, University
of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA.
∗∗ Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: Loiy.Al-Ghussain@uky.edu (L. Al-Ghussain),
adnandarwish@uky.edu (A.D. Ahmad), ahmad.abubaker@uky.edu
(A.M. Abubaker), kylli.hovi@emu.ee (K. Hovi), mhd.zidan17@cu.edu.eg
(M.A. Hassan), andres.annuk@emu.ee (A. Annuk).
house gas emissions (United Nations, 2015). Creating climate-
sustainable and friendly energy is required since around 80% of
the greenhouse gas emissions are emitted from the energy sector,
which led the European Energy Union to adopt ‘‘A Framework
Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Cli-
mate Change Policy’’ (The European Commission, 2014). Adopting
this strategy could aid in achieving the objectives of a green
solution to reduce global temperature. The strategy may include
the transitions to renewable energy (RE) systems. Solar, wind,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2022.12.034
2352-4847/Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al.
bio-energy, and hydro-energy resources are utilized to match
100% of the power demand needed on a country scale.
Fossil fuels are generally utilized in the energy sector due to
their flexibility in storing for long periods. They offer a robust
balance between supply and demand through the long and short
terms. However, the availability of such resources can be sensi-
tive to multiple factors, such as wars, pandemics, and different
political views. Therefore, the shift to robust energy produc-
tion is essential. Around 90% of Estonia’s power is generated
directly from oil shale or by petroleum and gas from oil shale.
The rest is produced via wind, biomass, and small quantities
of natural gas, hydroelectric, and coal (U.S. Energy Information
Administration, 2015). Since Estonia is a member of the European
Union, it is devoted to raising and promoting the portion of RE
production. One of the goals of the EU is to increase the share
of renewable up by 27% by 2030 (Mottaeva et al., 2018). To
make RE resources feasible in terms of matching the demand and
reducing the intermittency to almost zero, numerous renewable
resources should be integrated and utilized in parallel. Raising
the renewable share would increase security, independence from
other countries, energy efficiency, and technology development
(Hassan et al., 2022b).
RE should be considered a strategic choice in Estonia’s electric-
ity generation plans. The vision for improving Estonia’s electricity
market includes enhancing resource efficiency to support the
economy (Mottaeva et al., 2018). The main RE potential man-
ifests in bioenergy based on heat and electricity, biomethane,
and wind energy (Mottaeva et al., 2018). The share of wind
energy in the total RE production was 37.7% in 2018 for the
satisfactory wind conditions in Estonia, which is one-third higher
than what was produced in 2017. Solar batteries’ subsidy holders
are overgrowing in terms of solar potential. More than 750 firms
generate electrical energy from PV panels. In the second quarter
of 2018, 2.2 GWh of solar panels were added to the electricity
grid (Mottaeva et al., 2018). Sunshine duration in Estonia varies
in the range of 1600–1900 h per year. Therefore, it might be risky
to invest in solar panels in Estonia due to the small number of
sunny days throughout the year (2021).
Future power planning should include higher capacities of RE
systems to reduce the demand–supply mismatch. Additionally,
a broader framework should be considered that addresses all
characteristics of the proposed RE approach (Derakhshan, 2011).
It is necessary to manage data collection analysis and assessment
of anticipated locations in the country to take maximum advan-
tage of RE integration (Kapoor et al., 2012). Therefore, essential
circumstances can be made for a future with a 100% renewable
target on a country scale, such as Estonia (Kahen, 1998).
Numerous studies attempted to analyze long-term plans for
RE integration to accommodate a feasible and smooth turn to
100% RE supply (Hansen et al., 2019). Lund and Mathiesen (2009)
introduced an approach that considers hourly-based simulations
to prove that the transition to 50% RE is possible based on socioe-
conomic and sensitivity analyses. Seck et al. (2020) evaluated the
short-term grid dynamics to investigate France’s long-term plans.
The study showed that 65% RE could stabilize the electric grid.
Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and wind turbines are exten-
sively used in the transition to 100% renewables (Rezaei et al.,
2021; Yao et al., 2020). PV and wind turbines are superior to
other RE sources due to their lower specific capital cost (Bhandari
et al., 2014). Therefore, many researchers utilized these two RE
resources in their energy plans (Al-Ghussain et al., 2022a,b). For
example, Al-Nimr et al. (2018) relied on solar power for energy
production and water desalination. Another study investigated
replacing fossil fuel-based power generation with solar-based en-
ergy systems (El-Sayed and Kreusel, 1995). Furthermore, hybrid
energy systems consisting of wind or solar power are utilized to
753
Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772
be coupled with different other energy systems, such as central-
ized power plants (Ahmad et al., 2020), piezoelectric (Yoon et al.,
2015), and geothermal (Ghosh and Dincer, 2014), to increase
power production and enhance power efficiency.
Integrating PV and wind turbines would provide stable power
output, compared with separate systems (Ahmed et al., 2008).
Additionally, hybrid integration means lower installation and pro-
duction costs because each source’s installed capacity would be
smaller (Al-Falahi et al., 2017). Furthermore, energy storage sys-
tems are required for dispatchable power supply and reduction
of the demand–supply mismatch. Camargo et al. (2019) inves-
tigated 100% RE feasibility in Chile. Their model comprised PV,
wind turbines, and EES. Al-Ghussain et al. (2021b) proposed a
mapping technique for RE resources with optimum capacities for
numerous locations with different scenarios consisting of PV and
wind turbines. The study provided a maximum fraction of RE and
minimized the energy cost. Another study by the same authors
(Al-Ghussain et al., 2021a) proposed a superposition procedure to
reach 100% RE in Jordan without using an energy storage system.
However, it was addressed that when reaching 100% RE coverage,
a substantial amount of excess energy is produced due to the
mismatch between the demand and supply.
Batteries are mainly used to solve the intermittency issue in
RE resources, in which, Li-ion batteries are associated with metal
depletion, human health hazards, and harmful environmental
impact (Al-Ghussain et al., 2022b). Therefore, the need for a more
sustainable and green storage system increases for country-scale
systems. This can be addressed using thermal energy storage
(TES) since it is considered an efficient and low-cost kind of
energy storage, which is widely employed in concentrated solar
power (CSP) systems, with molten salts being the storage media
(Al-Ghussain et al., 2022b; Bauer et al., 2021).
Excess energy is usually considered waste, which can be
avoided by dissipating the excess energy as heat or shutting down
the renewable energy system (RES). Another way of dealing with
waste energy is by selling it to neighboring countries (Sediqi
et al., 2018). However, the latter option is constrained by different
conditions, mainly the geopolitical situation in the region. There-
fore, it is more satisfactory to fully utilize this energy in other
applications, such as water desalination, hydrogen production,
and district heating/cooling.
The production of clean fuels, such as hydrogen, from ex-
cess energy is highly recommended. Availability, energy indepen-
dence, and energy security are the reasons behind such clean fuel
production (Nguyen and Mikami, 2013). Holladay et al. (2009)
investigated hydrogen production from renewable resources and
fossil fuels. Forsberg (2007) examined two technologies for hy-
drogen production using energy form nuclear and conventional
systems. They concluded that hydrogen production from large
centralized systems would provide potential markets in peak
electricity production and transportation. Bozgeyik et al. (2022)
utilized RE to produce electricity and hydrogen with and without
a desalination system. Al-Ghussain et al. (2022a) examined the
potential of using excess produced energy from planned PV, wind,
and hybrid PV-wind systems with Lithium-Ion battery storage for
Jordan in 2050 to produce hydrogen fuel. They showed that the
PV-based system is nearly perfect in terms of supply–demand
matching. However, the wind-based system resulted in way bet-
ter economics (hydrogen cost of 1.082 USD per kg) while having
drastically lower capacities of the energy production and storage
sub-systems.
Based on a literature survey, two main research gaps can be
highlighted:
i. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, none of the stud-
ies available in the literature has considered or addressed
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al.
Fig. 1. A flow diagram showing the concept of the proposed hybrid system for producing electricity, thermal energy, and hydrogen fuel.
reaching 100% RE on a country scale while producing hy-
drogen using the excess energy produced by the RES and
also covering the thermal energy demand required for dis-
trict heating systems.
ii. Available studies are only focused on presenting the best
locations to install the RESs in terms of availability or quan-
tity of the resources, without looking at the possibility of
matching the demand by the RE sources while considering
TES as the energy storage system.
With the recent Russian–Ukrainian conflict and the disruption
of the gas supply to Europe, leading to extremely high gas and
energy prices worldwide, the need for energy dependence and
security became evident. Additionally, with the transition plans
for carbon-neutral energy sectors by 2050, the RE penetration in
electric grids is expected to increase dramatically over the next
decades. The objectives of the present study are:
a. To conceptualize and investigate the potential of country-
scale 100% RE trigeneration systems for covering the na-
tional demands for electricity and district heating, while
using the excess energy for producing hydrogen fuel.
b. To analyze the techno-economic feasibility of such a sys-
tem for a relatively small country with limited RE re-
sources, taking Estonia as a case study.
c. To compare three main system configurations based on the
RE sources, i.e., PV, wind, or hybrid PV-wind systems.
Estonia is a small country with weak renewable resources. Such
a cons combination usually makes it discouraging to install RES
systems for decarbonizing the energy sector, which affects the
country’s future green energy security and independence. This
is because relatively large installation capacities are required to
cover the demand, compared to a country with similar electrical
demand but high renewable resources, such as Jordan, which has
been investigated by the authors in earlier studies. This results
in a large amount of excess (waste) energy, which makes a
renewable energy grid appear not viable for real installation and
hence undesirable at first. With that in mind, the contributions
or the study and the significance of the proposed system can be
summarized as follows:
• We show that by using the proposed novel configuration
to match the electrical and thermal demands, as well as
utilizing the excess for green hydrogen production, not only
RES can be used in such regions of low resources, but the
large installation capacities and energy excess that is usu-
ally wasted will turn these countries into a leading ex-
porter of green hydrogen, the future energy carrier, and
puts them on top of the countries to consider RES systems
754
Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772
for decarbonizing of the energy sector, and possible future
transportation.
• The newly proposed hybrid system proved that the 100%
renewable plan of such countries is in fact feasible and
even highly favorable, given the large amounts of hydrogen
that can be produced in such cases, particularly with the
growing application and demand for hydrogen as the future
green energy carrier, which itself would be produced in
a zero-carbon-footprint manner according to our proposed
system.
• Aside from identifying optimal installation sites, we also
focused on the matching between electrical and thermal
demands and supplies, making the system able to work in a
low renewable-energy-resources environment, while being
feasible for real installation. This will encourage all countries
similar to Estonia to investigate their transitioning plan and
join the list of carbon-neutral countries by 2050.
2. Methodology
This section describes the numerical framework employed for
modeling the hybrid RES and optimizing its sizing. Section 2.1
demonstrates the proposed system for cogeneration. Sections 2.2
and 2.3 respectively describe the modeling of the PV and wind
systems. Next, Section 2.4 describes the energy dispatch method
for the produced electricity of the aforementioned systems. The
modeling of the hydrogen production system is given in Sec-
tion 2.5. Then, Section 2.7 provides definitions of the parameters
used for assessing the techno-economic aspects of the system,
whereas Section 2.8 demonstrates the process of optimizing the
system’s performance and economics. Finally, Section 2.9 de-
scribes the model inputs related to the case study considered
here, i.e., Estonia.
2.1. Proposed cogeneration system
As shown in Fig. 1, the proposed RES comprises solar pho-
tovoltaic (PV) and/or wind systems as the energy sources (the
figure shows the case of the hybrid system). The system has
three modes of operation regarding the consumption of produced
energy:
i The produced electric energy is first used to cover the
hourly electric energy demand completely and also to
charge the electric energy storage (EES) system in the form
of Lithium-Ion batteries, as explained in Section 2.4.
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al. Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772

Table 1 Hub, 2020; Huld et al., 2012). As wind speed is variable, the
Parametric values of the PV module adopted in this study (CandianSolar, 2020). generated electrical energy from wind turbines (WTs) fluctuates
Parameter Unit Value to a great extent. Wind
( )speed (uh ) at hub height (z) can be
ζ
ηPV ,Ref % 19.7 Z
βRef %/◦ C 0.36
calculated as uh = u1 Z1
based on the wind speed data (u1 ) at
TRef ,STC ◦
C 25 a height (z1 ) given the shear coefficient (ζ ).
◦
NOCT C 42 Afterward, the hourly electric energy produced from the wind
◦
TRef ,NOCT C 20
farm (EWT ,el ) is determined as
IRef W/m2 800
m2
⎨0, uh < uC or uh > uF
⎧
Am 1.85

EWT ,el = NWT × a + b (uh )ω , uc ≤ uh ≤ uR (3)

Table 2
Parametric values of the wind turbine adopted in this study (Gamesa, 2014).
Parameter Unit
Pe,R MW
uR m/s
uC m/s
uF m/s
Z m
ii In the case of the availability of excess energy, a DC heater
is used to convert such excess energy to thermal energy,
which can be either supplied directly to district heating
systems or stored in the TES system for later use, de-
pending on the hourly load and state of charge of the TES
system.
iii When there is excess energy from RES after covering all
these demands, the produced electricity from the PV and/or
wind systems is used to drive a Polymer electrolyte mem-
brane (PEM) electrolyzer for producing hydrogen fuel.
2.2. Solar photovoltaic system
The PVGIS software (EU Science Hub, 2020; Huld et al., 2012)
was used in this study to generate the typical meteorological
year (TMY) data files for Estonia. The estimation of the total
solar radiation incident on the PV modules (IT ) based on the
data of PVGIS is detailed in Al-Ghussain et al. (2021b). For con-
ciseness, these standard calculations are not repeated here. The
specifications of CS3L-365 monocrystalline PV modules (shown
in Table 1) (CandianSolar, 2020), manufactured by CanadianSolar,
are adopted in this study.
The hourly energy production from a PV system (EPV ,el ) fluc-
tuates considerably and can be estimated as
EPV ,el = ηPV ,Ref 1 − βRef TPV − TRef ,STC
{ ( )}
IT Am Nm Ls
where Ls is the performance ratio (approximated as 0.85 Sadati
et al., 2015), which comprises the losses in wiring, shading, and
inverter. Also, ηPV ,Ref , βRef , TRef ,STC , Am , and Nm respectively rep-
resent the reference efficiency of the modules, the temperature
coefficient of the PV cell, the reference cell temperature at stan-
dard test conditions, the area of a single PV panel, and the number
of PV panels. The panel temperature (TPV ) can be estimated as
( ) IT
TPV = Tamb + NOCT − TRef ,NOCT
IRef
where Tamb is the operating ambient temperature, NOCT is the cell
temperature at the nominal operating conditions, TRef ,NOCT is the
reference cell temperature at nominal operating conditions, and
IRef is the reference irradiance at reference conditions.
2.3. Wind system
The specifications of G114-2.0 wind turbines (shown in
Table 2) (Gamesa, 2014) were employed in this study, alongside
the wind data extracted from the PVGIS software (EU Science
Pe,R , uR < uh ≤ uF
⎩
Value where NWT is the number of WTs, uC , uF , and uR are the cut-in,
2
cut-off, and rated wind speeds, and Pe,R is the rated WT power.
9 The coefficients a and b can be estimated using Eqs. (4) and (5),
2 respectively, while ω can be estimated using Eq. (6) following
21 Justus theory (Kumar and Gaddada, 2015).
140
(uC )ω
a = Pe,R (4)
(uC )ω − (uR )ω
Pe,R
b= (5)
(uR )ω − (uC )ω
ω = (std/u)−1.086 , 1 ≤ ω ≤ 10
{ }
(6)
2.4. Energy dispatching approach
As aforementioned, the RES utilizes Li-Ion batteries as an
electric energy storage system (ESS). In the present study, it is
assumed that the batteries have a 95% round-trip efficiency and
a 15% minimum allowable state of charge (Estmin ,el ), which is defined
as the minimum allowable state of charge (Al-Ghussain et al.,
2022b). It is also assumed that the batteries are replaced at a
frequency of 25 years (Al-Ghussain et al., 2022b; Zakeri and Syri,
2015). The produced electricity from the RES is directed mainly
to cover the electric energy demand of the country. The excess
energy after covering the demand is stored in the EES. Similarly,
the shortage in supplied electricity is resolved using a previously
charged EES system. Any additional energy after charging the
batteries is first used to cover the district heating load and then
for hydrogen production.
The exact energy dispatching approach is presented graph-
ically in Fig. 2. Five scenarios take place regarding the energy
supply from RES (Egt ) with respect to the electric energy demand
(Edt ,el ) and the state of charge in the battery system (Estt ,el ) at an
arbitrary hour (t) as follows:
(1)
1- The produced energy (Egt ) is lower than the electrical demand
(Edt ,el ), but the ESS is partially charged (i.e., the state of charge
(Estt ,el ) is larger than the minimum allowable state of charge
(Estmin
,el ) and the amount of stored energy is sufficient to compen-
sate for the shortage in supply. In this case, the stored energy
would be used so that the delivered energy by the entire RES-
t
ESS system (i.e., ERES ,el ) fully covers the demand. In this case,
t
there would be no excess energy for district heating (Eex ,h )
and also no need for external energy supply from conventional
(2) t
systems (EEG ,el ) to cover the electric energy demand.
2- The second scenario is similar to the first one, except that the
stored energy is not sufficient to compensate for the shortage
in supply. Hence, the ESS would be fully drained to reach Estmin
,el
and the rest of the demand will be covered using conventional
systems.
3- In the third scenario, the produced energy is still lower than
the demand, but the ESS is also fully drained and cannot
further contribute to covering the demand. So, the RES would
only deliver Egt and the rest would be covered using external
systems. This scenario and the former one are the only two
where an external electrical energy supply is required.
755
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al.
Fig. 2. Energy dispatch strategy of the RES-driven cogeneration system.
4- In the fourth scenario, the generated energy by RES is larger
than the demand, but the difference can be fully stored in ESS
without reaching the ESS’ maximum capacity (Estmax ,el ). Hence, the
demand is fully covered, but without excess energy.
5- The fifth scenario is similar to the fourth one, except that only
a fraction of the surplus in produced energy can be stored
in ESS, considering its maximum capacity. Instead of partially
t
deactivating the RES or dissipating this excess (Eex ,h ) as thermal
energy, it is used here for cogeneration.
Therefore, the fifth scenario is the only scenario where cogenera-
tion is feasible. Particularly, a heater is used for converting electric
t to DC power and vis versa, depending on the source (PV or wind)
energy to thermal energy. This energy (Eex ,h ) can be used directly
t
to cover the district heating demand (Ed,th ) or to charge the TES,
where Estt ,th , Estt +,th
1
respectively represent the status of charge in
TES at the past and present hours, and Estmax ,th is the maximum
capacity of TES. The thermal energy is dispatched in the same
manner through five scenarios (a to e), which are similar to sce-
narios 1 to 5, respectively, knowing that TES can be fully drained,
i.e., Estmin t the DC heater (to cover the thermal demand and/or fill the
,el = 0. In Fig. 2, ERES ,th is the thermal energy delivered by
t
the RES-TES system, EEG,th represent the shortage in covering the
district heating demand that would require an external thermal
energy source, and Eex t (or all) of the DC electricity from the PV system is converted
,f is the excess energy after fully covering
the demands for electricity and district heating. This occurs only
in the fifth scenario (e), and it is also the only case where there
is available energy for producing hydrogen fuel. Specifically, the
system is managed such that excess electric energy from RES
t
(Eex ,f ) is consumed by PEM in an hourly manner.
It should be noted that it is possible to enhance the system
performance and/or reduce the required system capacity through
advanced energy dispatch strategies. The main limitation of the
adopted rule/logic-based dispatch strategy is that it is determin-
istic. Using alternative approaches (e.g., fuzzy logic Meje et al.,
2020, linear programming López-Garza et al., 2022, model predic-
tive control Zhu et al., 2014, or data-driven approaches Boualem
et al., 2022) could result in better solutions, especially from
an economic standpoint, i.e., by tolerating deficits in demand
matching during extreme hours of very low RE resources in favor
756
Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772
of reducing the overall installed capacity of the system, as long
as the RES coverage of both types of demand is acceptable. On
the other hand, being deterministic, the presented approach has
significantly lower computational costs, which is the main ad-
vantage of this approach. Another advantage is that the resultant
solutions would be insensitive to the initialization of the model
and the set hyperparameters of some of the aforementioned
alternative approaches. The proposed approach is also common
in similar studies, such as Al-Ghussain et al. (2021a, 2022a).
Having AC and DC electric power sources and sinks requires
equipment (AC/DC converters and DC/AC inverters) to convert AC
and sink (application). Hence, it is important to develop a control
strategy that governs the dispatch of this power, which can be
summarized as follows:
a. AC electricity from the wind system is utilized first to cover
the AC electrical demand. Any excess is then converted to
DC electricity to be used for charging the battery, running
TES), or running the PEM.
b. If AC electricity from the wind system is not enough, part
to AC electricity to cover the deficit. The remaining (if any)
is kept in the DC form to charge the battery, run the DC
heater (to cover the thermal demand and/or fill the TES),
or run the PEM.
2.5. Hydrogen production system
In RESs, matching the production and consumption of energy
is a serious challenge as the load and production schedules may
not coincide. At some point, more energy is produced than can be
used. The solution may be to temporarily reduce the production
capacity, but it makes more economic sense to find ways to
increase or save excessive energy use. Efforts should be made
to sell electricity, but this may not be economically viable. This
study analyzes the utilization of excess energy to produce green
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al. Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772

hydrogen gas that could be stored or sold to other countries Gundogdu and Gladwin (2018). With that being said,
through natural gas infrastructure. the battery system in all three scenarios presented in
The produced hydrogen is stored in constructed storage that this study had low annual deep charging cycles (100
is sized according to the assumption that hydrogen is consumed cycles per year). Hence, the battery system is replaced
or exported every day. The size of the storage is based on the after 25 years as recommended by the manufacturer
maximum daily production of hydrogen (PRH2 ,daily ). The hydrogen (Al-Ghussain et al., 2022b).
production plant is sized based on the maximum hourly energy
surplus from the RES so that all the excess energy can be used to D. Thermal Energy Storage System
produce hydrogen. The hourly hydrogen production rate can be • Close-loop molten salt system is considered in this
estimated as study.
AMHt 2 = t
Eex /PEMel (7) • Heater efficiency is assumed to be 95% (Okazaki et al.,
,f
2015).
where AMHt is the amount of hydrogen produced per hour [kg], • The heat exchanger efficiency is assumed to be 95%
2
t
Eex,f is the excess energy [kWh] per hour, and PEM el is the rate of (Epp, 2018).
electricity consumption [kWh/kg]. Polymer electrolyte membrane • The TES has constant daily losses of 5% (Epp, 2018).
(PEM) electrolysis is expected to be more efficient for hydrogen • Thermal losses in the district heating distribution net-
production in 2050, which is the reason it is adopted here, and work are not included in the analysis.
PEMel is expected to be 45 kWh/kg based on IRENA (2020b).
E. Hydrogen System
2.6. Major assumptions • The produced hydrogen in Estonia will be transferred
via the existing gas infrastructure to be stored in
Several assumptions have been considered in this study, Latvia’s underground storage.
specifically in the modeling of different sub-systems, which can • The underground storage is sized to allocate the max-
be summarized as follows: imum daily hydrogen production, assuming that by
A. PV system the end of the day, the stored amount is either con-
sumed or sold and the storage is emptied.
• All the PV panels generate the same amount of en-
ergy, which is a valid assumption considering the 2.7. Assessment of the system’s techno-economic feasibility
same weather conditions (the PV system is assumed
to be installed on the same site) and the same spec- The techno-economics of RES and PEM systems are evaluated
ifications and installed orientation of the modules
separately. Two technical parameters, FRES and DSF , are used to
(Al-Ghussain et al., 2022b; Hassan et al., 2022b).
assess the correspondence between the electrical supply and the
• The estimation of the PV cell temperature ignores demand of RES. FRES is essentially the percentage of electrical
the effects of wind speed and relative humidity (Al-
demand covered by RES, whilst DSF index represents the time
Ghussain et al., 2022c).
autonomy of RES (Al-Ghussain et al., 2018). These two parameters
• The estimation of the energy output from the PV mod- are defined as follows (Al-Ghussain et al., 2021b)
ule neglects the effect of dust accumulation, assuming
8760 t
that frequent rain events would clean the PV modules ∑ Dmet ,el
(Tanesab et al., 2016). FRES = (8)
Dtel
t =1
B. Wind System ∑ 8760 t
t =1 t
• All wind turbines generate the same amount of en- DSF = (9)
8760
ergy, assuming proper separation between the wind
with
turbines in addition to proper direction control to re-
1, Dtmet ,el = Dtel
{
duce the effect of wakes on the wind turbines (How-
tt = (10)
land et al., 2019). This assumption is also reasonable 0, Dtmet ,el ̸ = Dtel
considering the single installation site of the wind
system (same level of wind resources) and the unified where Dtel and Dtmet ,el are respectively the actual electric demand
type of wind turbines (Al-Ghussain et al., 2022a). and the met electric demand at a time (t).
• Due to the lack of site-specific data, the wind shear Similar parameters are introduced to inspect the matching and
coefficient (ζ ) was assumed to be 1/7 (Al-Ghussain the autonomy of the system when covering the thermal energy
and Taylan, 2019). demand as follows
• Electrical losses are assumed to be negligible 8760 t
∑ Dmet ,th
(Madariaga et al., 2012). FRES ,th = (11)
Dtth
t =1
C. Battery Storage System ∑8760
t =1 tt
• The battery bank is modeled using a kinetic battery DSFth = (12)
8760
model assuming constant round-trip efficiency and
a minimum allowable state of charge (Sajed Sadati with
et al., 2018). 1, Dtmet ,th = Dtth
{
• It is assumed that the battery will have a lifespan of tt = (13)
0, Dtmet ,th ̸ = Dtth
10 × 103 h in 2050 (Few et al., 2018).
• The annual deep charging cycles of the battery sys- where FRES ,th and DSFth are respectively the RES fraction and the
tem were used to find the lifespan of the battery demand–supply fraction for a thermal demand of Dtth and a met
system in years using the methodology described in thermal demand of Dtmet ,th .
757
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al. Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772

of energy (COE) is introduced which can be calculated as

COE
∑8760 Dtmet ,th ∑8760 ∑8760
LCOE × t =1 (Dtmet ,el + ηH
) + GTth × t =1 Dtdef ,th + t =1 (Dtdef ,el × GTel )
= t
∑8760 t Dth
t =1 (Del + ηH )

(21)
On the other hand, the economic feasibility of a hydrogen plant
can be assessed using the simple payback period (PBPH2 ) and the
net profit (ProfH2 ), according to Eqs. (22) and (23), respectively.
The net profit from the sale of hydrogen is currently equated to
the net profit, while the surplus electricity (Profel ) is sold directly
to neighboring countries (Eq. (24)).
CPEM CAPPEM + CH2 st
Fig. 3. Average hourly electricity tariff in Estonia in 2021.
PBPH2 = ∑8760 (22)
SCH2 t =1 AMHt
2
8760
)∑
AMHt 2
(
ProfH2 = SCH2 − PCH2 (23)
On the other hand, three economic parameters are employed,
t =1
namely the levelized cost of energy (LCOE), payback period (PBP),
8760
and net present value (NPV ), all defined in Eqs. (13)–(16), respec- ∑
tively (Al-Ghussain et al., 2021b). Profel = (SCel − LCOE ) t
Eex ,f (24)
t =1
∑LT My
Ccost + y=1 (1+dr)y
LCOE = (14) where CPEM is the capital cost of the PEM, CAPPEM is the capacity of
t
∑8760 t
D
met ,th the hydrogen plant [kW], and CH2 st is the cost of storing hydrogen
∑LT t =1 (Dmet ,el + ηH )
y=1 (1+dr) y [USD/kg]. In this study, it is assumed that the hydrogen is going
Ccost to be stored in underground storage (Elberry et al., 2021). SCH2 is
PBP = (15) the predicted selling price of hydrogen in 2050 [USD/kg], SCel is
Ry=1 the electricity selling tariff, and PCH2 is the hydrogen production
LT
∑ Ry cost from the RES system [USD/kg]. PCH2 can be calculated as
NPV = − Ccost (16)
(1 + dr)y ∑8760 t
y=1 CPEM CAPPEM + LCOEH2 LTPEM t =1 Eex + CH2 st PRH2 ,daily
PCH2 = ∑8760
with LTPEM t =1 AMHt
2

Ccost = CPV + CWT + CESS + CTES (17) (25)

where PRH2 ,daily is the amount of hydrogen production [kg/day],

My = MPV + MWT (18) and LTPEM is the lifespan of the PEM, calculated as follows
8760 8760
∑ ∑ HPEM
Ry=1 = GTth × Dtmet ,th + (Dtmet ,el × GTel ) LTPEM = ∑8760 (26)
t
t =1 t =1 t =1 Hp
8760
∑ with
+ (Dtex,el × LCOEH2 ) − My=1 (19) {
t =1 1, if Eex
t
,f > 0
Hpt = (27)
where Ccost is the capital cost of the system [USD], comprising the 0, Eex
t
,f = 0
capital costs of PV (CPV ), wind (CWT ), ESS (CESS ), and TES (CTES ) sub-
where HPEM is the rated operational hours of the electrolyzer.
systems. The total annual maintenance and operation costs (My )
The economic calculations of the described RES must also take
comprises the corresponding costs for both PV (MPV ) and wind
into account the lifespan of the equipment. It is assumed, that
(MWT ) systems. The terms LT , dr, and ηH respectively represent
the PEM estimated lifespan (LTPEM ) is about 25 years. However,
the lifespan of the system, discount rate, and heater’s efficiency,
if LTPEM < 25 years, the PEM system is supposed to be replaced
whereas y and t are two indices for the year and the hour of
after 12.5 years, i.e.,
the year. GTth is the average cost of thermal energy in Estonia,
LTPEM , if LTPEM < LT
{
and GTel is the average hourly electrical grid tariff in Estonia,
LTPEM = (28)
which was developed using the average hourly tariff profile of LT , if LTPEM > LT
the middle 8 days in each month obtained from the Nord Pool
market, multiplied by the average grid tariff in 2021, as shown in Table 3 summarizes the technical and economic parameters used
in the techno-economic assessment of the system.
Fig. 3 (Nord Pool, 2022). LCOEH2 is the price at which the excess
electricity is sold for the PEM plant, which can be estimated as
∑LT My 2.8. Optimization procedure
Ccost + y=1 (1+dr)y
LCOEH2 = ∑8760 (20)
t =1 Egen In this study, a multi-objective optimization (MOO) problem
∑LT
y=1 (1+dr)y
was solved to optimize three objective functions (FRES , FRES ,th ,
where Egen is the total energy generated by the proposed RES. and COE). The capacities of the PV (CAPPV ), wind (CAPWT ), ESS
To account for the thermal and electrical deficits (shortages in (CAPESS = Estmax max
,el ), and TES (CAPTES = Est ,th ) were tuned to maximize
supplied energy) in the economic assessment, a normalized cost the FRES and FRES ,th fractions of the electric and thermal energy
758
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al. Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772

demands, in addition to minimizing COE, as per Eq. (29). Table 3

Summary of the techno-economic parameters in 2050 adopted in this study.
Maximize : FRES = f1 (CAPPV , CAPWT , CAPESS , CAPTES ) Parameter Unit Value Reference(s)
Maximize : FRES ,th = f2 (CAPPV , CAPWT , CAPESS , CAPTES ) CPV USD/kWe 323 IRENA (2019) and U.S.
Minimize : COE = f3 (CAPPV , CAPWT , CAPESS , CAPTES ) (29) Energy Information
Administration (2020)
Subject to : COE ≤ GTel CWT USD/kWe 825 IRENA (2019) and U.S.
Energy Information
NPV ≥ 0 Administration (2020)
where FRES is the percentage of electrical demand covered by RES, CESS USD/kWhe 150 Cole and Frazier (2019)
CTES USD/kWhth 10 Parrado et al. (2016)
FRES ,th is the RES fraction for a thermal demand of Dtth , and COE is CPEM USD/kWe 150 IRENA (2020a)
used to account for the thermal and electrical deficits (shortages MPV USD/kWe 9.11 U.S. Energy Information
in supplied energy) in the economic assessment. In Eq. (29), f1 , Administration (2020)
f2 , and f3 stand for the three objective functions of the three MWT USD/kWe 15.73 U.S. Energy Information
Administration (2020)
aforementioned response variables (FRES , FRES ,th , and COE). The
GTth USD/kWhth 0.0715 –
values of these functions are determined based on Eqs. (8), (11), CH2 st USD/kg 1.23 Elberry et al. (2021)
and (21), respectively, which requires solving the entire afore- SCH2 USD/kg 3 Al-Ghussain et al.
described numerical framework. Maximizing the functions f1 and (2022a)
f2 would enrich the match between energy demand and the RES dr % 5.89 Lugo-Laguna et al.
(2021)
supply by tuning the capacities of the renewable energy systems, ηH % 95 Okazaki et al. (2015)
whilst minimizing the function f3 would guarantee to lower the HPEM Hours 120 × 103 Al-Ghussain et al.
deficits in the economic aspect. (2022a)
In this study, the ParetoSearch toolbox in MATLAB was utilized LT Years 25 Jaber et al. (2004), SAFT
(2013) and Sawle et al.
for optimization since it is cost-effective in terms of the com-
(2016)
putational burden (Madić and Radovanović, 2014; Wetter and
Wright, 2003). The studied area (Estonia) was gridded into 710
points, covering sub-areas with uniform intervals of latitude and
longitude, to find the optimal installation site of RES. This was September, the average air temperature is 12–18 ◦ C. Significant
done to find the optimal RES capacities for each point and each deviations from the norms (both cold and hot) are quite common.
RES configuration. For such a MOO, multiple optimal solutions Since the middle of the 20th century, the average air temperature
can be obtained in the form of a Pareto frontier. For each RES con- in Estonia has risen more than the world’s average. Fig. 4 shows
figuration (PV, wind, and PV/wind-driven trigeneration systems), the hourly temperature distribution in Estonia throughout the
one location with the optimal techno-economic feasibility was year. The number of snow-covered days has decreased, and the
determined using the LINMAP algorithm, explained in Abubakr precipitation has increased. Due to climate change, these trends
et al. (2020), with FRES being the most important parameter, are projected to continue (Lakson et al., 2019; Olt et al., 2013; Vau
followed by FRES ,th and COE, with normalized weights of 0.45, 0.35, et al., 2014).
and 0.2, respectively. The annual duration of sunshine in Estonia is between 1600
The aforementioned MOO is constrained such that the NPV and 1900 h Estonian Environment Agency (ILM) (2021). The total
must be >0. In other words, the optimizer was restricted to cloud cover is 7 points on an annual average (calculated on a 10-
solutions with CAPPV > 0 in the PV-driven system and the hybrid point scale). The sky is mostly cloudy in November and December
system, while being restricted to solutions with CAPWT > 0 in the (8–9 points) and becomes clearest from May to June (5–6 points).
wind-driven system and the hybrid system. Also, COE is restricted In the coastal zone, the cloud cover is lower, compared to inland
to values lower than or equal to the cost of electricity tariff in (Enno, 2011; Russak, 2009). As shown in Fig. 4, Estonia has
Estonia for economic attractiveness. This means finding system relatively low solar radiation levels, but it also has a good wind
configurations and capacities that make the 100% RE systems energy potential.
more economically viable, compared to conventional systems, in As aforementioned, the produced hydrogen is to be stored
Estonia by the year 2050. in underground storage. Estonia lacks such suitable geological
structures, but Latvia (specifically in Inčukalns) has a limestone
2.9. Case study quarry, located at a depth of 700 m and covered on both sides
by gas-tight rock layers with a storage capacity of 4.46 billion
The Republic of Estonia is a country in Northern Europe, on cubic meters. This underground storage, which is about 150 km
the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Estonia borders Finland in from the Estonian border, can be used to store the produced
the north across the Gulf of Finland, Sweden in the west across hydrogen, whereas the existing natural gas pipelines can be used
the Baltic Sea, Latvia in the south, and Russia in the east. Estonia for pumping the hydrogen from the production site in Estonia to
covers an area of 45,339 km2 and has a coastline of 3794 km. The the storage location in Latvia (Ansone et al., 2022; Ješkins et al.,
average altitude is 50 m above sea level and the population at the 2021; Zemite et al., 2018).
beginning of 2022 was 1.33 million citizens. Estonia is situated The largest producer of electricity and heat in Estonia is the
in the transition zone from a maritime climate to a continental state-owned Eesti Energia Ltd. The Estonian energy industry is
one. The local climate is affected by the Atlantic Ocean, and in based on local oil shale. About 90% of the electrical energy is
particular by the Gulf Stream. The weather of Estonia is much produced by burning oil shale, which is also used to produce
milder than the continental climate characteristic of the same heat. Natural gas and various local resources are also used to
latitude. Coasts and islands have milder weather than inland produce heat. This includes RE resources, as shown in Fig. 5, as
areas. The average annual air temperature is around 6 ◦ C or well as wood in rural areas, because ∼51.4% of the mainland is
slightly higher. The coldest month is usually February when the covered with mostly semi-natural forests. The use of various RE
average air temperature is about −4 ◦ C. In the winter months, sources, especially wind, has been growing rapidly in recent years
the average air temperature is about −3 ◦ C. The warmest month (Põllumäe and Lilleleht, 2019; Voormansik et al., 2014).
is July when the average air temperature is 18 ◦ C. From June to
759
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al. Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772

Fig. 4. Distributions of average hourly values of ambient temperature, direct normal irradiance (DNI), diffuse horizontal irradiance (DHI), and wind speed throughout
a typical year in Estonia.

Fig. 5. Distributions of hourly electrical energy production by installed RESs in Estonia in 2021 (top), Estonia’s forecasted electrical demand in 2050 (middle), and
Estonia’s forecasted thermal demand in 2050 (bottom).

After the closure of the Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithua-
nia, Estonia’s electricity exports to Latvia and Lithuania have
grown strongly due to their insufficient production volumes. Ex-
porting and importing electricity to and from Finland began in
2007 when the first connection of the Baltic States (Estlink) to
the Nordic electrical network was completed. At present, Estonia
exports about a third of all produced electricity. To cope with
environmental requirements, Eesti Energia will have to invest
heavily in production equipment in the coming years, as well as
expand electricity production in a more environmentally friendly
way (e.g., wind farms). At the same time, it is planned to build

760
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al. Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772

another stationary electrical connection with Finland and the Table 4

Nordic countries (Farsaei et al., 2022; Kurnitski et al., 2021). Location, capacity, and techno-economic parameters of the optimal PV-driven
system.
Estonia is considered the case study in this work, where the
Parameter Unit Value
objective is to explore the potential for cogeneration (i.e., pro-
◦
Longitude E 24.43194
ducing electricity, heat, and hydrogen fuel) when the system ◦
Latitude N 58.52222
is driven by PV, wind, or PV-wind systems. The currently used CAPPV GWe 343.93
conventional systems for power generation and district heating CAPESS GWhe 67.11
(using fossil fuels) will be mostly replaced by RE systems by CAPTES GWhth 268.44
2050. Only a fraction of the total needed capacity of conventional FRES % 99.59
FRES ,th % 99.64
systems will be maintained in the proposed transition plan to
DSF % 99.61
act as backup systems, or to compensate for the shortage in DSFth % 99.74
t t
delivered electricity (EEG,el ) or heat (EEG,th ) by the sized RES. Here, COE USD/kWh 0.0465
it is assumed that the current biomass systems will be used to PBP Years 10.48
cover the deficit in Estonia’s heating demand. The distributions of NPV ×109 USD 28.87

hourly values of total demands of electricity and heat in Estonia

for the year 2050 are shown in Fig. 5. These values are projected Table 5
from the corresponding monthly profiles for the year 2020 using Capacity and economic parameters of the PEM system required to utilize the
a simple linear regression model, similar to the one developed excess energy from the optimal PV-driven system in Estonia for hydrogen
production.
and verified earlier in Al-Ghussain et al. (2021b).
Parameter Unit Value

3. Results and discussion PEM capacity GWe 273.67

H2 Amount ×109 ton 6.45
H2 Profit ×109 USD 4.21
As aforementioned, this study examines three system configu- H2 Cost USD/kg 2.34
rations for Estonia that employ ESS and TES for electric and ther- H2 PBP Years 2.82
mal energy storage, respectively, while covering the electricity
demand, using excess energy for district heating, and producing
hydrogen fuel using any remaining fractions of the excess energy.
the average solar irradiance in Jordan and Estonia during two
The three systems differ only in terms of the driving/energy
representative days (sunny and cloudy) for each season of the
production system, i.e., PV, wind, or PV/wind power plants.
year, reveals this clearly. Summer days look very similar in the
two countries. However, during the other seasons, not only does
3.1. PV-driven system
Estonia have a much lower solar insolation, but also sunshine
hours are fewer. Moreover, it is clear that during cloudy days,
The techno-economic characteristics of the PV-driven systems
solar radiation is extremely low, especially during spring, fall, and
for various sites in Estonia are shown in Fig. 6. Depending on the
winter. As such, there is a need for larger PV and energy storage
location, the size of the PV and ESS systems required to supply
systems to compensate for the lower available solar resources.
the electrical demand varies dramatically. This ties back to the
Because of the large RES installation capacity, it is expected that
varying weather conditions at different sites and the inability
the system can have enormous excess energy at times of high
of certain sites to match the demand. Although this is usually
solar radiation, as shown in Fig. 8. It can be deduced from Fig. 8
the case for more intermittent resources, such as wind, in coun-
that the majority of the produced energy from the PV system
tries like Estonia, where cloudy conditions are prominent, the
exceeds both demands during the day except during the early
matching of demand–supply methodology initially presented in
morning periods of all sunny days and some cloudy days. This
Al-Ghussain et al. (2021b) becomes a powerful and important tool
enormous excess is caused by the mismatch between the demand
even with PV systems. In brief, this method focuses on surfing the
and supply. On the other hand, some cloudy days have small
sites with resource profiles that better match the demand, hence
excess energy especially during winter due to the low solar
increasing the RES’ grid share. More details about this technique
resources and as well as the blockage of solar radiation by clouds
can be found in Al-Ghussain et al. (2021b, 2022a).
which justifies the need for large PV and ESS capacities to meet
The results show that the system that could achieve the high-
100% of the demand. It is also clear from Fig. 8 that the produced
est demand–supply matching with the optimal configuration is
energy and hence the excess drops by almost five folds during
located in the country’s mid-western region, with a relatively
cloudy days.
large size of the PV system (343.93 GW) and an ESS capacity of
The RES excess energy can be feasibly utilized to produce
67.11 GWh (see Table 4). With the aid of the current biomass
hydrogen, which is widely considered the future green energy
system, this integration is able to cover 100% of the electric
carrier (Satyapal, 2017), and hydrogen plants running on excess
and thermal energy demands every hour throughout the year.
energy from RESs were shown to be feasible in Al-Ghussain
Since Estonia already has running biomass plants, this means no
et al. (2022a). Table 5 presents the corresponding PEM capacity
new installations are needed, and only the hours and amount
required to utilize the excess energy from the optimally sized
of thermal energy needed to fulfill the total demand need to be
PV-driven system in Estonia for hydrogen production, as well as
fed to those power plants for planning. Fig. 6 also shows that
the economic parameters of such a system. Again, the hydrogen
there are many available sites for the PV system installation with
production from the excess energy is shown to be feasible with
relatively equivalent characteristics to the optimal location. The
2.8 years return of investment period, and a unit production
techno-economic parameters in Table 4 deem the optimal system
cost of 2.34 USD/kg, which is a comparable value to what is
feasible for installation.
found in the literature (Gielen et al., 2019). The hourly amount
Although the demand is met by this system, the installation
of hydrogen that can be produced from the RES is plotted in
capacities required in Estonia, as shown in Table 4, are relatively
Fig. 9(a), whereas Fig. 9(b) presents the monthly net profits that
large compared to a country with similar electrical demand, such
can be made from selling the hydrogen, compared to selling the
as Jordan, which was investigated earlier in Al-Ghussain et al.
excess electricity from the optimal PV-driven system in Estonia to
(2021a), Kiwan and Al-Gharibeh (2020). Fig. 7, which shows
761
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al. Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772

Fig. 6. Mapping the characteristics of the optimal PV-driven system for Estonia: (a) PV capacity, (b) TES capacity, (c) ESS capacity, (d) electrical RES fraction, (e)
electrical DSF, (f) thermal RES fraction, (g) thermal DSF, (h) cost of energy, (i) payback period, and (j) net present value.

neighboring countries. With hydrogen being one of the foreseen from its production, strengthening the stance of the proposed
future green fuels, it is expected that more profit can be gained integration.

762
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al. Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772

Fig. 7. Comparison between the profiles of global horizontal irradiance (GHI) in Estonia and Jordan during two representative days (sunny and cloudy) in each season
throughout the year.

Fig. 8. Produced and excess energy profiles from the optimal PV-driven system as well as the profiles of the electrical and thermal demands during two representative
days (sunny and cloudy) in each season throughout the year.

3.2. Wind-driven system
Next, we discuss the performance of the wind-driven sys-
tem. Again, the battery system is used to reallocate the energy
from the wind system to support the electrical demand while
the TES is used to cover the district heating demand only. The
supplementary biomass system only supports the unmet heating
demand. The techno-economic characteristics of the wind-driven
systems for various sites in the country are shown in Fig. 10.
As seen in this figure, the size of the wind-ESS system required
to supply the electrical demand varies dramatically from site to
site. As discussed in the previous section, given the intermittent
763
nature of the RE resources (Hassan et al., 2022a), the matching
of the demand–supply approach is powerful for assessing the
countries’ resources and ability to transition to an independent
renewable grid. The results show that the system that could
achieve the highest demand–supply matching with the lowest
cost is located in the country’s mid-eastern region, with a 106.5
GW wind system and a 25.17 GWh battery system (Table 6). With
the aid of the biomass system, this integration is also able to cover
100% of the electrical and thermal demand every hour during the
year. Fig. 10 also shows that there are many available sites for
wind system installation with relatively equivalent characteristics
to the optimal site. The techno-economic parameters in Table 6
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al. Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772

Fig. 9. (a) Distribution of the green hydrogen produced using the optimal PV-driven system, and (b) monthly net profits that can be made from selling the produced
hydrogen, compared to selling the excess electricity from the optimal PV-driven system directly to neighboring countries.

Table 6 Table 7
Location, capacity, and techno-economic parameters of the optimal wind-driven Capacity and economic parameters of the PEM system required to utilize the
system. excess energy from the optimal wind-driven system in Estonia for hydrogen
Parameter Unit Value production.

Longitude ◦
E 24.73194 Parameter Unit Value
◦
Latitude N 58.72222 PEM Capacity GWe 105.22
CAPWT GWe 106.50 H2 amount ×109 ton 6.99
CAPESS GWhe 25.17 H2 Profit ×109 USD 9.80
CAPTES GWhth 62.91 H2 Cost USD/kg 1.59
FRES % 99.50 H2 PBP Years 1.94
FRES ,th % 100.00
DSF % 99.53
DSFth % 99.99
COE USD/kWh 0.0290 such a system. Not only the hydrogen production from the excess
PBP Years 10.35
is shown to be feasible with a payback period of 1.94 years, but
NPV ×109 USD 22.87
the unit production cost is also equal to 1.59 USD/kg. The hourly
amount of hydrogen that can be produced from the RES excess is
plotted in Fig. 12(a), while Fig. 12(b) presents the monthly net
also deem the optimal wind system feasible for installation. As a profits that can be made from selling the hydrogen, compared
matter of fact, this investigation shows that in Estonia, the wind to selling the excess electricity directly. It is worth noting that
system has a much higher potential to support the transition to- in this case, the profit made by selling hydrogen fuel instead of
ward 100% RE, compared to the PV-driven system, with superior electricity is lower as compared to the previous system. Although
performance when comparing the techno-economic parameters the unit cost of producing hydrogen dropped to less than half that
of both systems. of the PV-driven system, so one would expect a higher profit,
Because of the fluctuating nature of the wind resources and the cost of energy in the wind system (Table 6) is much lower
the large RES installation capacities, the system produces a huge than that in the case of the PV system (Table 4). That said, the
excess compared to the electrical and thermal demands, as illus- profit from selling hydrogen is still higher, compared to selling
trated in Fig. 11. To make as much use as possible of the system, electricity, in addition to the fact that hydrogen will be used in
we use this excess to produce hydrogen once again. Table 7 the future as a clean fuel replacing the need for gas, and therefore
presents the corresponding PEM capacity required to utilize the will be in high demand.
excess energy from the optimal wind-driven system in Estonia
for hydrogen production, as well as the economic parameters of

764
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al. Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772

Fig. 10. Mapping the characteristics of the optimal wind-driven system for Estonia: (a) wind capacity, (b) TES capacity, (c) ESS capacity, (d) electrical RES fraction,
(e) electrical DSF, (f) thermal RES fraction, (g) thermal DSF, (h) cost of energy, (i) payback period and (j) net present value.

765
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al. Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772

Fig. 11. Produced and excess energy profiles from the optimal WT-driven system as well as the profiles of the electrical and thermal demands during four
representative days of the year, namely spring equinox, summer solstice, fall equinox, and winter solstice.

Fig. 12. (a) Distribution of the hourly produced hydrogen using the optimal wind-driven system, and (b) monthly net profits that can be made from selling the
produced hydrogen, compared to selling the excess electricity from the optimal wind-driven system directly to neighboring countries.

766
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al. Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772

Fig. 13. Mapping the characteristics of the optimal PV/wind-driven system for Estonia: (a) PV capacity, (b) wind capacity, (c) TES capacity, (d) ESS capacity, (e)
electrical RES fraction, (f) electrical DSF, (g) thermal RES fraction, (h) thermal DSF, (i) cost of energy, (j) payback period, and (k) net present value.

3.3. Hybrid/PV/ wind-driven system
Now that we have discussed standalone PV- and wind-driven
systems, we examine the performance of a hybrid PV/wind-
driven system integrated with TES and ESS. To ensure that the
optimizer generates a true hybrid system (i.e., not a pure PV or
a pure wind system), the optimization of this third configuration
was further constrained to solutions with CAPPV > 0 and CAPWT >
0. The techno-economic characteristics of the PV/Wind-driven
system for various sites in the country are shown in Fig. 13.
The results suggest that the system with the highest demand–
supply matching and the lowest cost is located in the country’s
south-western region, with approximately 194 GW total capacity,
coming almost entirely from the wind system, and a 14.32 GWh
battery system (Table 8). The electrical and thermal demands are
fully met at all times of the year using this hybrid integration
of PV and wind systems. Once again, Fig. 13 shows that there
are various potential sites for the system to be installed with
relatively equivalent characteristics to the optimal one presented
in Table 8.
Because of the larger RES installation capacities, compared to
the wind system, it is expected that the system has larger excess
at times of high available resources, as shown in Fig. 14. This
means that greater amounts of hydrogen could be produced from

767
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al. Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772

Fig. 14. Produced and excess energy profiles from the optimal PV/WT-driven system as well as the profiles of the electrical and thermal demands during four
representative days of the year, namely spring equinox, summer solstice, fall equinox, and winter solstice.

Fig. 15. (a) Distribution of the hourly produced hydrogen using the optimal PV/wind-driven system, and (b) monthly net profits that can be made from selling the
produced hydrogen, compared to selling the excess electricity from the optimal PV/wind-driven system directly to neighboring countries.

768
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al. Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772

Table 8 such as wars, this work serves as a guideline for policymakers

Location, capacity, and techno-economic parameters of the optimal PV/wind- on what each system is able to provide.
driven system.
Parameter Unit Value
◦
3.4. Limitations of the study and recommendations for future works
Longitude E 25.63194
◦
Latitude N 58.12222
CAPPV GWe 0.27 A key limitation of this research is that it does not account for
CAPWT GWe 193.58 low inertia and frequency support issues in the case of increasing
CAPESS GWhe 14.32 the share of renewable to a high level or even 100% level in
CAPTES GWhth 33.56
the electrical network. The stochastic behavior with renewables
FRES % 99.53
FRES ,th % 100.00 causes problems in electrical network stabilities, especially when
DSF % 99.37 the share of renewable is high. Variations in frequency may result
DSFth % 100.00 in blackouts or even damage to equipment (Akram and Khalid,
COE USD/kWh 0.0259 2018). We do not foresee in this work the use of oil shale or coal
PBP Years 10.23
power plants, which was the main frequency-keeping issue in the
NPV ×109 USD 42.73
Estonian network in the recent past. There are other possibilities
to control frequency in the network, which are covered as low
Table 9 inertia issues. Surviving CHPs have some frequency regulation
Capacity and economic parameters of the PEM system required to utilize the
issues. The next is the capability of EstLink-2 to keep frequency,
excess energy from the optimal PV/wind-driven system in Estonia for hydrogen
production. but this is not sufficient. Other factors should be considered as
Parameter Unit Value well, such as the influence of the neighboring electrical net-
works, deployed frequency compensators, supercapacitor-based
PEM Capacity GWe 192.51
H2 amount ×109 ton 15.05 frequency regulators, and the capability for regulating the load
H2 Profit ×109 USD 23.73 in the network when the system is installed. Shortly solving
H2 Cost USD/kg 1.42 frequency control in an electrical network is not a state-of-art
H2 PBP Years 1.67 energetics question of one type of equipment, but is a mix of
measures. Hence, further efforts and investments are required for
such a transition plan.
this excess to meet the demand in other sectors, e.g., modern The main recommendations that can be directed to policymak-
transportation or hydrogen-based power plants. Table 9 presents ers can be summarized as follows:
the corresponding PEM capacity required to utilize the excess • Offer incentives for investors to encourage them to invest in
energy from the optimal PV/wind-driven system for hydrogen large-scale wind parks.
production. The hydrogen production from the excess energy, • Offer incentives to encourage household owners to install
in this case, has 1.67 years return of investment period and a rooftop PV systems and small wind systems with storage
unit production cost of 1.42 USD/kg, which is less than the two systems.
corresponding values of the individual PV and wind systems. • Adopt the transition to the use of hydrogen in the trans-
The hourly amount of hydrogen that can be produced from portation sector.
the RES excess energy is plotted in Fig. 15(a), with Fig. 15(b) • Discuss the potential for neighbor countries to import hy-
presenting the monthly net profits from selling the hydrogen or drogen from Estonia, which would increase the feasibility
selling the excess electricity directly. The difference in the gains of hydrogen production.
is not as profound as in the PV-driven system, but closer to the
wind-driven, which should be expected, because the installation In this context, further work needs to be done to ensure the tran-
capacity ratio of the PV to wind in this scenario is weighted sition to a 100% renewable energy grid which can be summarized
closer to the wind system, making the available excess, cost of as follows:
electricity and other techno-economic parameters closer to those
• Investigating the effect of the large-scale installation of PV
of the wind-driven system as well.
and wind parks on the vegetation in Estonia.
Finally, by examining tables Tables 5 to 9 side by side for
• Studying the potential for increasing the share of biomass
the three systems, it is clearly evident that the wind- and hy-
and hydropower in the energy mix, along with wind and
brid PV/wind-driven systems perform better than the PV-driven
solar energy systems.
system in Estonia. For the PV, wind, and PV/wind systems, the
average overall system efficiencies are 16.43, 34.13, and 14.33%,
• Exploring the use of large-scale cheap energy storage sys-
tems, such as thermal energy storage, instead of batteries.
respectively. Nevertheless, the decision to adopt the second or
third scenarios will depend on many factors and not only the
• Examining the use of seasonal hydrogen storage, alongside
fuel cells, instead of batteries.
techno-economic parameters. For example, how much hydro-
gen is needed in the future depends on factors, such as the
• Investigating in detail the effect of 100% RES on the national
grid and how to overcome stability issues.
advancement of different technologies relying on it as a fuel
source. Also, the future demands for electricity and hydrogen
in Europe will determine the feasible capacities of the needed 4. Conclusions
PEM system, and which system is more favorable. The optimal
economic mix between conventional and renewable generation The objective of this study was to examine the applicability
is 100% in favor of renewables. Fig. 13(e) and (g) show that the and potential of moving toward 100% renewable energy systems
electrical and thermal RES share is optimally 100% in the whole in 2050 for Estonia, not only to cover the local electricity demand
prevailing territory of Estonia. In conclusion, although the choice but also to use the excess energy for district heating and hydrogen
of the system will depend on the aforementioned considerations, fuel production. Cogeneration systems driven by PV, wind, or PV-
policies, international relations, and unexpected circumstances, wind power systems and equipped with thermal battery storage
have been examined. The main findings of the study can be
briefed as follows:
769
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al.
• The optimal installation locations of the three systems are
in the mid-western, mid-eastern, and south-western re-
gions of Estonia, respectively. However, plenty of alternative
locations with the same features could be adopted as well.
• All three systems show the capacity to nearly fully cover
the electricity and thermal energy demands of the country,
but they highly differ in the required capacities and system
economics.
• The optimal PV-driven system requires larger capacities of
PV (343.93 GW) and Li-Ion batteries (67.11 GWh) due to the
limited resources in the winter months. Hence, it also results
in the largest magnitude of excess energy.
• The optimal wind-driven system reduces the required ca-
pacities of wind and battery storage to only 106.5 GW
and 25.17 GWh, respectively, resulting in better system
economics, mainly due to the abundant wind resources in
Estonia.
• The hybrid system shows a total capacity (PV and wind) of
194 GW, most of which belong to the wind system, but it
also requires a smaller storage system of 14.32 GWh. Hence,
it has closer characteristics to the pure wind-driven system.
• The three systems demonstrate the advantage of selling
produced hydrogen instead of selling the excess electricity
to neighboring countries directly.
• The hybrid system excels in terms of the produced amount
of hydrogen (15.05 × 109 tons) and the cost of hydrogen
production, which is only 1.42 USD/kg.
Overall, the study deems such country-scale cogeneration sys-
tems feasible for Estonia, which should assist policymakers in
planning future large-scale green energy systems while determin-
ing the optimal installation locations. For that, it is worth inves-
tigating the same concept in countries with other levels of solar
and wind resources, or other similar applications, such as water
desalination and district cooling. It is also worth noting that in
relatively small-area countries, such as Estonia, the solar radiation
level across the country is almost constant, and the optimal loca-
tion of the hybrid system is mostly influenced by the wind profile
across the country, which can differ more from one location to an-
other. As such, remote hybrid configuration was not addressed in
this study. However, in order to optimize the required installation
capacities of the RESs, such a configuration is worth investigating
in future works, because the superposition of the energy profiles
from multiple sites maximizes demand matching. In addition,
an advanced energy dispatch strategy could be developed and
employed to potentially reduce the required system capacity.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Loiy Al-Ghussain: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software,
Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data cu-
ration, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Supervision,
Project administration. Adnan Darwish Ahmad: Conceptualiza-
tion, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writ-
ing – review & editing. Ahmad M. Abubaker: Conceptualization,
Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Külli Hovi:
Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review &
editing. Muhammed A. Hassan: Conceptualization, Visualization,
Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Andres
Annuk: Conceptualization, Investigation, Resources, Supervision,
Funding acquisition, Writing – review & editing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
770
Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Acknowledgments
This research article was supported by European Union, Eu-
ropean Regional Development Fund, Estonian University of Life
Sciences ASTRA project ‘‘Value-chain based bio-economy’’ and,
the authors would like to thank the Estonian Centre of Excel-
lence in Zero Energy and Resource Efficient Smart Buildings and
Districts, ZEBE, grant TK146, funded by the European Regional
Development Fund to support this research.
References
Abubakr, M., Amein, H., Akoush, B.M., El-Bakry, M.M., Hassan, M.A., 2020. An
intuitive framework for optimizing energetic and exergetic performances of
parabolic trough solar collectors operating with nanofluids. Renew. Energy
157, 130–149. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.04.160.
Ahmad, A.D., Abubaker, A.M., Najjar, Y.S., Manaserh, Y.M.A., 2020. Power boosting
of a combined cycle power plant in Jordan: An integration of hybrid inlet
cooling & solar systems. Energy Convers. Manage. 214, 112894.
Ahmed, N.A., Miyatake, M., Al-Othman, A., 2008. Power fluctuations suppression
of stand-alone hybrid generation combining solar photovoltaic/wind turbine
and fuel cell systems. Energy Convers. Manage. 49 (10), 2711–2719.
Akram, U., Khalid, M., 2018. A coordinated frequency regulation framework
based on hybrid battery-ultracapacitor energy storage technologies. IEEE
Access 6, 7310–7320. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/access.2017.2786283.
Al-Falahi, M.D., Jayasinghe, S., Enshaei, H., 2017. A review on recent size
optimization methodologies for standalone solar and wind hybrid renewable
energy system. Energy Convers. Manage. 143, 252–274.
Al-Ghussain, L., Abubaker, A.M., Ahmad, A.D., 2021a. Superposition of renewable-
energy supply from multiple sites maximizes demand-matching: Towards
100% renewable grids in 2050. Appl. Energy 284, 116402.
Al-Ghussain, L., Ahmad, A.D., Abubaker, A.M., Abujubbeh, M., Almalaq, A.,
Mohamed, M.A., 2021b. A demand-supply matching-based approach for
mapping renewable resources towards 100% renewable grids in 2050. IEEE
Access 9, 58634–58651.
Al-Ghussain, L., Ahmad, A.D., Abubaker, A.M., Hassan, M.A., 2022a. Exploring the
feasibility of green hydrogen production using excess energy from a country-
scale 100% solar-wind renewable energy system. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 47
(51), 21613–21633. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2022.04.289.
Al-Ghussain, L., Ahmed, H., Haneef, F., 2018. Optimization of hybrid PV-wind sys-
tem: Case study Al-Tafilah cement factory, Jordan. Sustain. Energy Technol.
Assess. 30, 24–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2018.08.008.
Al-Ghussain, L., Darwish Ahmad, A., Abubaker, A.M., Hassan, M.A., 2022b.
Techno-economic feasibility of thermal storage systems for the transition
to 100% renewable grids. Renew. Energy 189, 800–812. http://dx.doi.org/10.
1016/j.renene.2022.03.054.
Al-Ghussain, L., Subaih, M.A., Annuk, A., 2022c. Evaluation of the accuracy of
different PV estimation models and the effect of dust cleaning: Case study
a 103 MW pv plant in Jordan. Sustainability 14 (2), 982.
Al-Ghussain, L., Taylan, O., 2019. Sizing methodology of a PV/wind hybrid
system: Case study in cyprus. Environ. Prog. Sustain. Energy 38 (3), e13052.
Al-Nimr, M.d., Kiwan, S., Sharadga, H., 2018. A hybrid TEG/wind system using
concentrated solar energy and chimney effect. Int. J. Energy Res. 42 (7),
2548–2563.
Ansone, A., Jansons, L., Bode, I., Dzelzitis, E., Zemite, L., Broks, A., 2022. Study on
potential role and benefits of liquified natural gas import terminal in Latvia.
Latvian J. Phys. Tech. Sci. 59 (2), 37–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/lpts-2022-
0010.
Bauer, T., Odenthal, C., Bonk, A., 2021. Molten salt storage for power generation.
Chem. Ing. Tech. 93 (4), 534–546.
Bhandari, B., Lee, K.-T., Lee, C.S., Song, C.-K., Maskey, R.K., Ahn, S.-H., 2014. A
novel off-grid hybrid power system comprised of solar photovoltaic, wind,
and hydro energy sources. Appl. Energy 133, 236–242.
Boualem, S., Kraa, O., Benmeddour, M., Kermadi, M., Maamir, M., Cherif, H.,
2022. Power management strategy based on elman neural network for grid-
connected photovoltaic-wind-battery hybrid system. Comput. Electr. Eng.
(99), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compeleceng.2022.107823.
Bozgeyik, A., Altay, L., Hepbasli, A., 2022. A parametric study of a renewable
energy based multigeneration system using PEM for hydrogen production
with and without once-through MSF desalination. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy
47 (74), 31742–31754. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2022.02.186.
Camargo, L.R., Valdes, J., Macia, Y.M., Dorner, W., 2019. Assessment of on-site
steady electricity generation from hybrid renewable energy systems in Chile.
Appl. Energy 250, 1548–1558.
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al.
CandianSolar, 2020. Hiku super high power poly perc module. Retrieved 26-
12-2021 from https://www.canadiansolar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/
Canadian_Solar-Datasheet-HiKu_CS3W-P_EN-2.pdf.
Cole, W.J., Frazier, A., 2019. Cost Projections for Utility-Scale Battery Storage.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO, USA.
Derakhshan, F., 2011. On Sustainability in Local Energy Planning. Lund University,
Lund, Sweden.
El-Sayed, M.A., Kreusel, J., 1995. Substitution potential of solar thermal power
stations in electrical energy systems. Renew. Energy 6 (7), 849–854.
Elberry, A.M., Thakur, J., Santasalo-Aarnio, A., Larmi, M., 2021. Large-scale com-
pressed hydrogen storage as part of renewable electricity storage systems.
Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 46 (29), 15671–15690. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
ijhydene.2021.02.080.
Enno, S.E., 2011. A climatology of cloud-to-ground lightning over Estonia, 2005–
2009. Atmos. Res. 100 (4), 310–317. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.
2010.08.024.
Epp, B., 2018. Molten salt storage 33 times cheaper than lithium-ion batteries.
Solar Therm. (12).
Estonian Environment Agency (ILM), 2021. Sunshine duration. Retrieved
16/9/2022 from https://www.ilmateenistus.ee/kliima/paikesepaiste-kestus/
?lang=en.
EU Science Hub, 2020. PVGIS photovoltaic geographical information system.
Retrieved 1/7/2022 from https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/pvgis-
photovoltaic-geographical-information-system_en.
Farsaei, A., Olkkonen, V., Kan, X., Syri, S., 2022. Electricity market impacts of low-
carbon energy transition in the nordic-baltic region. J. Sustain. Dev. Energy
Water Environ. Syst. 10 (3), 1–23.
Few, S., Schmidt, O., Offer, G.J., Brandon, N., Nelson, J., Gambhir, A., 2018.
Prospective improvements in cost and cycle life of off-grid lithium-ion
battery packs: An analysis informed by expert elicitations. Energy Policy 114,
578–590.
Forsberg, C.W., 2007. Future hydrogen markets for large-scale hydrogen produc-
tion systems. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 32 (4), 431–439. http://dx.doi.org/10.
1016/j.ijhydene.2006.06.059.
Gamesa, 2014. Greater Energy Produced from Low and Medium Wind Sites:
G114-2.0 MW. Zamudio, Spain.
Ghosh, S., Dincer, I., 2014. Development and analysis of a new integrated
solar-wind-geothermal energy system. Sol. Energy 107, 728–745.
Gielen, D., Taibi, E., Miranda, R., 2019. Hydrogen: A Renewable Energy
Perspective. International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi.
Gundogdu, B., Gladwin, D.T., 2018. A fast battery cycle counting method for
grid-tied battery energy storage system subjected to microcycles. In: 2018
International Electrical Engineering Congress. IEECON.
Hansen, K., Mathiesen, B.V., Skov, I.R., 2019. Full energy system transition
towards 100% renewable energy in Germany in 2050. Renew. Sustain. Energy
Rev. 102, 1–13.
Hassan, M.A., Al-Ghussain, L., Ahmad, A.D., Abubaker, A.M., Khalil, A., 2022a. Ag-
gregated independent forecasters of half-hourly global horizontal irradiance.
Renew. Energy 181, 365–383. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2021.09.060.
Hassan, M.A., Al-Ghussain, L., Khalil, A., Kaseb, S.A., 2022b. Self-calibrated hybrid
weather forecasters for solar thermal and photovoltaic power plants. Renew.
Energy 188, 1120–1140. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2022.02.098.
Holladay, J.D., Hu, J., King, D.L., Wang, Y., 2009. An overview of hydrogen
production technologies. Catal. Today 139 (4), 244–260. http://dx.doi.org/10.
1016/j.cattod.2008.08.039.
Howland, M.F., Lele, S.K., Dabiri, J.O., 2019. Wind farm power optimization
through wake steering. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 116 (29), 14495–14500.
Huld, T., Müller, R., Gambardella, A., 2012. A new solar radiation database
for estimating PV performance in Europe and Africa. Sol. Energy 86 (6),
1803–1815.
IRENA, 2019. Future of Solar Photovoltaic: Deployment, Investment, Technol-
ogy, Grid Integration and Socio-Economic Aspects. International Renewable
Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi, UAE, (978-92-9260-156-0).
IRENA, 2020a. Green Hydrogen Cost Reduction: Scaling Up Electrolysers to Meet
the 1.5 ◦ C Climate Goal. A. D. International Renewable Energy Agency, UAE.
IRENA, 2020b. Green Hydrogen Cost Reduction: Scaling Up Electrolysers to Meet
the 1.5 ◦ C Climate Goal. International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi,
UAE, I. R. E. Agency.
Jaber, J., Al-Sarkhi, A., Akash, B., Mohsen, M., 2004. Medium-range planning
economics of future electrical-power generation options. Energy Policy 32
(3), 357–366.
Ješkins, J., Zandersons, V., Poršn, ovs, D., Lamsters, K., Karušs, J., 2021. Geophysical
mapping of residual pollution at the remediated inčukalns acid tar lagoon,
Latvia. Estonian J. Earth Sci. 70 (3), 140. http://dx.doi.org/10.3176/earth.2021.
10.
Kahen, G., 1998. Integrating energy planning and techno-economic development:
A solid basis for the assessment and transfer of energy technology to
developing countries. Energy Sources 20 (4–5), 343–361.
Kapoor, D., Sodhi, P., Deb, D., 2012. A novel control strategy to simulate
solar panels. In: 2012 International Conference on Signal Processing and
Communications (SPCOM), Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
771
Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772
Kiwan, S., Al-Gharibeh, E., 2020. Jordan toward a 100% renewable electricity
system. Renew. Energy 147, 423–436.
Kumar, K.S.P., Gaddada, S., 2015. Statistical scrutiny of Weibull parameters for
wind energy potential appraisal in the area of northern Ethiopia. Renew.:
Wind Water Solar 2 (1), 14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40807-015-0014-0.
Kurnitski, J., Tamm, M., Ortiz, J., Pascual, J., Kurnitski, J., Thalfeldt, M., Salom, J.,
Thalfeldt, M., 2021. Primary energy balance driven integrated energy design
process of positive energy building. E3S Web Conf. 246 (13001), http://dx.
doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202124613001.
Lakson, M., Post, P., Sepp, M., 2019. The impact of atmospheric circulation on
air temperature rise in Estonia. Front. Earth Sci. 7 (131).
López-Garza, E., Domínguez-Cruz, R.F., Martell-Chávez, F., Salgado-Tránsito, I.,
2022. Fuzzy logic and linear programming-based power grid-enhanced
economical dispatch for sustainable and stable grid operation in eastern
Mexico. Energies 15 (11), http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/en15114069.
Lugo-Laguna, D., Arcos-Vargas, A., Nuñez-Hernandez, F., 2021. A European
assessment of the solar energy cost: Key factors and optimal technology.
Sustainability 13 (6), 3238.
Lund, H., Mathiesen, B.V., 2009. Energy system analysis of 100% renewable
energy systems—The case of Denmark in years 2030 and 2050. Energy 34
(5), 524–531.
Madariaga, A., de Ilarduya, C.M., Ceballos, S., de Alegría, I.M., Martin, J., 2012.
Electrical losses in multi-MW wind energy conversion systems. Renew.
Energy Power QJ 1 (10), 305–306.
Madić, M., Radovanović, M., 2014. Optimization of machining processes using
pattern search algorithm. Int. J. Ind. Eng. Comput. 5 (2), 223–234.
Meje, K., Bokopane, L., Kusakana, K., Siti, M., 2020. Optimal power dispatch in
a multisource system using fuzzy logic control. Energy Rep. 6, 1443–1449.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2020.11.004.
Mottaeva, A., Poljanskihh, A., Levina, A., Dubgorn, A., Melović, B., 2018. Invest-
ment in renewable energy: practical case in Estonia. MATEC Web Conf. 193
(05065), http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201819305065.
Nguyen, T.A., Mikami, M., 2013. Effect of hydrogen addition to intake air on
combustion noise from a diesel engine. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 38 (10),
4153–4162. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2013.01.082.
Nord Pool, 2022. Europe’s leading power market. Retrieved 1/7/2022 from https:
//www.nordpoolgroup.com/en/Market-data1/#/nordic/map.
Okazaki, T., Shirai, Y., Nakamura, T., 2015. Concept study of wind power utilizing
direct thermal energy conversion and thermal energy storage. Renew. Energy
83, 332–338.
Olt, J., Toom, K., Tammoja, H., Uiga, J., Prikk, P., Allik, A., Annuk, A., 2013.
Increasing renewable fraction by smoothing consumer power charts in grid-
connected wind-solar hybrid systems. Oil Shale 30 (2S), 257–267. http:
//dx.doi.org/10.3176/oil.2013.2S.06.
Parrado, C., Marzo, A., Fuentealba, E., Fernández, A., 2016. 2050 LCOE improve-
ment using new molten salts for thermal energy storage in CSP plants.
Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 57, 505–514.
Põllumäe, P., Lilleleht, A., 2019. Measuring forest owners’ environmental re-
sponsibility: Quantifying a theoretical approach based on a case study from
south-eastern Estonia. Small-Scale Forestry 18 (3), 335–351. http://dx.doi.
org/10.1007/s11842-019-09419-3.
Rezaei, M., Khalilpour, K.R., Mohamed, M.A., 2021. Co-production of electricity
and hydrogen from wind: A comprehensive scenario-based techno-economic
analysis. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 46 (35), 18242–18256.
Russak, V., 2009. Changes in solar radiation and their influence on temperature
trend in Estonia (1955–2007). J. Geophys. Res. 114 (D10), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1029/2008jd010613.
Sadati, S., Jahani, E., Taylan, O., 2015. Technical and economic analyses for
sizing PV power plant with storage system for METU NCC. In: ASME 2015
International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Houston,
Texas, USA.
SAFT, 2013. A range of ready-to-install containerised energy storage for
renewable energies and grid management. Paris, France.
Sajed Sadati, S.M., Jahani, E., Taylan, O., Baker, D.K., 2018. Sizing of photovoltaic-
wind-battery hybrid system for a Mediterranean island community based on
estimated and measured meteorological data. J. Solar Energy Eng. 140 (1),
011006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/1.4038466.
Satyapal, S., 2017. Hydrogen: A Clean, Flexible Energy Carrier. US Department
of Energy, Retrieved 27-1-2022 from https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/
hydrogen-clean-flexible-energy-carrier.
Sawle, Y., Gupta, S., Bohre, A.Kumar., 2016. PV-wind hybrid system: A review
with case study. Cogent Eng. 3 (1), 1189305.
Seck, G.S., Krakowski, V., Assoumou, E., Maïzi, N., Mazauric, V., 2020. Embedding
power system’s reliability within a long-term energy system optimization
model: Linking high renewable energy integration and future grid stability
for France by 2050. Appl. Energy 257, 114037.
Sediqi, M.M., Ibrahimi, A.M., Danish, M.S.S., Senjyu, T., Chakraborty, S., Mandal, P.,
2018. An optimization analysis of cross-border electricity trading between
Afghanistan and its neighbor countries. IFAC-PapersOnLine 51 (28), 25–30.
L. Al-Ghussain, A.D. Ahmad, A.M. Abubaker et al.
Tanesab, J., Parlevliet, D., Whale, J., Urmee, T., 2016. Dust effect and its economic
analysis on PV modules deployed in a temperate climate zone. Energy
Procedia 100, 65–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2016.10.154.
The European Commission, 2014. The European Commission’s Work Programme
2015: Energy and Transport. Europe, https://www.cov.com/~/media/
files/corporate/publications/2014/12/the_european_commissions_work_
programme_2015_energy_and_transport.pdf.
United Nations, 2015. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Paris Agreement, https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/paris-agreement.
U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2015. Energy indicators for Estonia. Re-
trieved 1/7/2022 from https://www.eia.gov/international/overview/country/
EST.
U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2020. Alternative renewables cost as-
sumptions in AEO2020 annual energy outlook 2020 with projections to 2050.
www.eia.gov.
Vau, I., Sula, E.M., Spirina, N., Keevallik, S., 2014. Statistics of different public
forecast products of temperature and precipitation in Estonia. Proc. Est. Acad.
Sci. 63 (2), 174–182. http://dx.doi.org/10.3176/proc.2014.2.07.
Voormansik, K., Praks, J., Antropov, O., Jagomägi, J., Zalite, K., 2014. Flood
mapping with TerraSAR-X in forested regions in Estonia. IEEE J. Sel. Top.
Appl. Earth Obs. Remote Sens. 7 (2), 562–577. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/
JSTARS.2013.2283340.
772
Energy Reports 9 (2023) 752–772
Wetter, M., Wright, J., 2003. Comparison of a generalized pattern search and
a genetic algorithm optimization method. In: Eighth International IBPSA
Conference, Eindhoven, Netherlands.
Yao, X., Yi, B., Yu, Y., Fan, Y., Zhu, L., 2020. Economic analysis of grid integration
of variable solar and wind power with conventional power system. Appl.
Energy 264, 114706.
Yoon, G.C., Shin, K.-S., Gupta, M.K., Lee, K.Y., Lee, J.-H., Wang, Z.L., Kim, S.-
W., 2015. High-performance hybrid cell based on an organic photovoltaic
device and a direct current piezoelectric nanogenerator. Nano Energy 12,
547–555.
Zakeri, B., Syri, S., 2015. Electrical energy storage systems: A comparative life
cycle cost analysis. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 42, 569–596. http://dx.doi.
org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.10.011.
Zemite, L., Kutjuns, A., Bode, I., Kunickis, M., Zeltins, N., 2018. Risk treatment
and system recovery analysis of gas system of gas and electricity network
of Latvia. Latv. J. Phys. Tech. Sci. 55 (5), 3–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/lpts-
2018-0031.
Zhu, B., Tazvinga, H., Xia, X., 2014. Model predictive control for energy dispatch
of a photovoltaic-diesel-battery hybrid power system. IFAC Proc. Vol. 47 (3),
11135–11140. http://dx.doi.org/10.3182/20140824-6-za-1003.00943.
 Update
Energy Reports
Volume 10, Issue , November 2023, Page 894

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2023.07.034
 Energy Reports 10 (2023) 894

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy Reports
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/egyr

Corrigendum to ‘‘Techno-economic feasibility of hybrid

PV/wind/battery/thermal storage trigeneration system: Toward 100%
energy independency and green hydrogen production’’ [Energy
Reports, 9 (2023) 752–772/December]
∗
Loiy Al-Ghussain a,b , , Adnan Darwish Ahmad c , Ahmad M. Abubaker d , Külli Hovi e ,
Muhammed A. Hassan f,g , Andres Annuk e
a
Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA
b
Energy Conversion and Storage Systems Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 15013 Denver West Parkway, Golden, CO 80401, USA
c
Institute of Research for Technology Development (IR4TD), University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA
d
Mechanical Engineering Department, Villanova University, PA, USA
e
Institute of Forestry and Engineering, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, 51006, Estonia
f
Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, 12613, Giza, Egypt
g
Universite de Pau et des Paysdel’Adour, E2S UPPA, LaTEP, Pau, France

article info

Article history:
Available online 31 July 2023

The authors regret to inform that in the reference list pre-
sented, the referred article:
‘‘Olt, J., Toom, K., Tammoja, H., Uiga, J., Prikk, P., Allik, A.,
Annuk, A., 2013. Increasing renewable fraction by smoothing con-
sumer power charts in grid connected wind-solar hybrid systems.
Oil Shale 30(2S), 257–267’’. authors order is wrong, it must be
Andres Annuk, Alo Allik, Prrit Pikk, Jaanus Uiga, Heiki Tammoja,
Kaupo Toom, Jüri Olt, the DOI of this reference is: http://dx.doi.
org/10.3176/oil.2013.2S.06, in page 759 on right column under
the table 8th row instead of ‘‘Olt et al. 2013’’ place ‘‘Annuk et al.
2013’’>.
The authors would like to apologize for any inconvenience
caused.

DOI of original article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2022.12.034.

∗ Corresponding author at: Mechanical Engineering Department, University
of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA.
E-mail address: Loiy.Al-Ghussain@uky.edu (L. Al-Ghussain).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2023.07.034
2352-4847/Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).