French overseas territories such as La Réunion, Mayotte, Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana sit on considerable solar and wind resources - a tremendous asset for their energy transition. But their insularity and isolation pose specific challenges: their networks are limited in size and not interconnected at regional level. The intermittency of solar and wind generation is therefore more difficult to control.
Faced with this challenge, the French energy regulator, the Commission de Régulation de l'Energie, has been encouraging the coupling of renewable electricity generation plants with storage systems for the past ten years. This gives island grids greater flexibility, enabling them to intelligently balance electricity supply and demand.
Back in 2014, Naldeo embarked on the development of an essential technological building block for integrating renewable energies into local grids: ENERBIRD® EMS (Energy Management System). This software solution optimizes, controls and supervises the production of hybrid power plants and storage applications. For example, it enables production planning and revenue to be managed according to weather forecasts. ENERBIRD® automatically communicates production schedules to the grid operator, and pilots power plants in real time to meet production commitments made to the grid operator.
The ENERBIRD® solution equips some sixty solar and wind power plants in the French overseas territories, with a total capacity of +180 megawatts-peak. Adopted by many local energy providers, it is contributing to the transition and energy autonomy of these regions.
The Naldeo group is a leading engineering and consulting firm specializing in the climatic and environmental transition of industries and local communities.