Consumos eléctricos de la ciudad de Loja - Ecuador y la incidencia del parque eólico Villonaco

Resumen

Urban energy systems are an essential part of cities, which require a reliable and abundant supply of electricity and other services (such as water, fuel for transportation or food). On the other hand, the double crisis related to the use of fossil fuels, the availability crisis and the pollution crisis, require the prompt implementation of a renewable energy transition. The analysis of urban electrical uses and their relation with the resources of the territory, the economy and the environment yields very valuable information to plan the renewable energy transition in urban environments. The present work contributes to the field of energy transitions with a methodology based on two concepts: Energy Hub (EH) and Virtual Power Plant (VPP). This methodological contribution allows us to analyse the renewable energy flows (intermittent and random) from the top and bottom approaches (Top Down & Bottom Up), in order to diagnose an urban energy system in an integral way. A simple and inexpensive tool was developed in order to help public utilities perform an efficient data collection and treatment in order to diagnose and manage renewable urban energy system in a geo-referenced environment according to the proposed methodology. This methodology is applied to Loja, a city of about 200,000 inhabitants located in southern Ecuador, to obtain the relation between its electricity use and the generation from the neighbouring Villonaco Wind Power Plant, the first wind farm in continental Ecuador with a power rating of 16.5 MW. The city is electrically relatively isolated, at the end of a branch of the National Interconnected System (SNI), which entails a certain vulnerability. The integration of the wind farm reduces this vulnerability, as it provides an energy autonomy that ranges from 40% to 60% on a yearly average, and cuts down greenhouse gas emissions by 25,000 MgCO2/year from the previous 62,000 MgCO2/year. The electric flows of Loja are analysed for a period of one year using measured data. The results of this analysis lead to a proposal to optimise the electricity network using the infrastructure of the National Interconnected System as an equivalent storage system to manage the generation surpluses. Additionally, the tool is used to study the effect of two expansion scenarios of the Wind Power Plant (28 MW and 33 MW) on the energy grid and autonomy of Loja. Demand response strategies for the industrial sector are also considered in order to reduce peak load and the need for storage or energy imports. This strategy could be extended to commercial and residential users. Finally, several future research lines are proposed: Integration of urban decentralized generation and storage systems; Experimentation with tools of monitoring and control in real time; Proactive management of energy resources for distribution networks with Virtual Generation Plants; Identification of barriers and engines for the diffusion of new renewable energy services.