IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i8p3350-d1631267.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Complementarity in Action: Modeling Incentives to Enhance Renewable Electricity Integration

Author

Listed:
  • Sofia Aristizabal

    (School of Engineering and Basic Sciences, Universidad EIA, Envigado 055428, Colombia)

  • Camila Ochoa

    (School of Engineering and Basic Sciences, Universidad EIA, Envigado 055428, Colombia)

Abstract

The integration of non-conventional renewable energy sources (NRES) into electricity systems introduces variability and intermittency, challenging power systems traditionally designed for stable and predictable generation. These challenges require policymakers to develop strategies aimed at maintaining reliability, affordability, and sustainability while increasing the share of NRES. One promising solution is leveraging the complementary nature of NRES to mitigate variability. However, the translation of this complementarity into effective policy and incentive structures remains underexplored in existing research. This study addresses this gap by employing system dynamics modeling to analyze the effects of incentivizing complementarity between NRES and electricity system availability. In contrast to traditional methods, which assess complementarity between two or more generation sources, this study evaluates how individual sources complement the system’s availability. The resulting complementarity values are used to guide the design of incentives for new NRES investments. The model is applied to a case study of the Colombian electricity market. The findings suggest that incentivizing complementarity can enhance grid stability, reduce dependence on thermal generation, and lower overall system costs. Future research should refine these metrics to better account for minimum availability and focus on short-term variations to further optimize system flexibility and resilience.

Suggested Citation

  • Sofia Aristizabal & Camila Ochoa, 2025. "Complementarity in Action: Modeling Incentives to Enhance Renewable Electricity Integration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-24, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:8:p:3350-:d:1631267
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/8/3350/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/8/3350/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ochoa, Camila & van Ackere, Ann, 2015. "Does size matter? Simulating electricity market coupling between Colombia and Ecuador," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1108-1124.
    2. Delucchi, Mark A. & Jacobson, Mark Z., 2011. "Providing all global energy with wind, water, and solar power, Part II: Reliability, system and transmission costs, and policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1170-1190, March.
    3. Bernal-Agustín, José L. & Dufo-López, Rodolfo, 2009. "Simulation and optimization of stand-alone hybrid renewable energy systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(8), pages 2111-2118, October.
    4. Qudrat-Ullah, Hassan, 2013. "Understanding the dynamics of electricity generation capacity in Canada: A system dynamics approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 285-294.
    5. Zapata, Sebastian & Castaneda, Monica & Franco, Carlos Jaime & Dyner, Isaac, 2019. "Clean and secure power supply: A system dynamics based appraisal," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 9-21.
    6. Berger, Mathias & Radu, David & Fonteneau, Raphaël & Henry, Robin & Glavic, Mevludin & Fettweis, Xavier & Le Du, Marc & Panciatici, Patrick & Balea, Lucian & Ernst, Damien, 2020. "Critical time windows for renewable resource complementarity assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    7. Sinsel, Simon R. & Riemke, Rhea L. & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2020. "Challenges and solution technologies for the integration of variable renewable energy sources—a review," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 2271-2285.
    8. Zhang, Hengxu & Cao, Yongji & Zhang, Yi & Terzija, Vladimir, 2018. "Quantitative synergy assessment of regional wind-solar energy resources based on MERRA reanalysis data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 172-182.
    9. Cantão, Mauricio P. & Bessa, Marcelo R. & Bettega, Renê & Detzel, Daniel H.M. & Lima, João M., 2017. "Evaluation of hydro-wind complementarity in the Brazilian territory by means of correlation maps," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 1215-1225.
    10. Beluco, Alexandre & de Souza, Paulo Kroeff & Krenzinger, Arno, 2008. "A dimensionless index evaluating the time complementarity between solar and hydraulic energies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 2157-2165.
    11. Alfonso Risso & Alexandre Beluco & Rita De Cássia Marques Alves, 2018. "Complementarity Roses Evaluating Spatial Complementarity in Time between Energy Resources," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-14, July.
    12. Abdmouleh, Zeineb & Gastli, Adel & Ben-Brahim, Lazhar & Haouari, Mohamed & Al-Emadi, Nasser Ahmed, 2017. "Review of optimization techniques applied for the integration of distributed generation from renewable energy sources," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 266-280.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Canales, Fausto A. & Jurasz, Jakub & Beluco, Alexandre & Kies, Alexander, 2020. "Assessing temporal complementarity between three variable energy sources through correlation and compromise programming," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    2. Jani, Hardik K. & Kachhwaha, Surendra Singh & Nagababu, Garlapati & Das, Alok, 2022. "Temporal and spatial simultaneity assessment of wind-solar energy resources in India by statistical analysis and machine learning clustering approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    3. Zapata, Sebastian & Castaneda, Monica & Aristizabal, Andres J. & Dyner, Isaac, 2022. "Renewables for supporting supply adequacy in Colombia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PC).
    4. Pedruzzi, Rizzieri & Silva, Allan Rodrigues & Soares dos Santos, Thalyta & Araujo, Allan Cavalcante & Cotta Weyll, Arthur Lúcide & Lago Kitagawa, Yasmin Kaore & Nunes da Silva Ramos, Diogo & Milani de, 2023. "Review of mapping analysis and complementarity between solar and wind energy sources," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    5. Dehghan, Hamed & Amin-Naseri, Mohammad Reza & Nahavandi, Nasim, 2021. "A system dynamics model to analyze future electricity supply and demand in Iran under alternative pricing policies," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    6. Jurasz, Jakub & Beluco, Alexandre & Canales, Fausto A., 2018. "The impact of complementarity on power supply reliability of small scale hybrid energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 737-743.
    7. Jurasz, Jakub & Dąbek, Paweł B. & Kaźmierczak, Bartosz & Kies, Alexander & Wdowikowski, Marcin, 2018. "Large scale complementary solar and wind energy sources coupled with pumped-storage hydroelectricity for Lower Silesia (Poland)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 183-192.
    8. Karadöl, İsrafil & Yıldız, Ceyhun & Şekkeli, Mustafa, 2021. "Determining optimal spatial and temporal complementarity between wind and hydropower," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    9. Alfonso Risso & Alexandre Beluco & Rita De Cássia Marques Alves, 2018. "Complementarity Roses Evaluating Spatial Complementarity in Time between Energy Resources," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-14, July.
    10. Elkholy, M.H. & Senjyu, Tomonobu & Elymany, Mahmoud & Gamil, Mahmoud M. & Talaat, M. & Masrur, Hasan & Ueda, Soichiro & Lotfy, Mohammed Elsayed, 2024. "Optimal resilient operation and sustainable power management within an autonomous residential microgrid using African vultures optimization algorithm," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    11. Zhang, Yi & Cheng, Chuntian & Cao, Rui & Li, Gang & Shen, Jianjian & Wu, Xinyu, 2021. "Multivariate probabilistic forecasting and its performance’s impacts on long-term dispatch of hydro-wind hybrid systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    12. Doroodi, Maryam & Ostadi, Bakhtiar & Husseinzadeh Kashan, Ali & Zegordi, Seyed Hessameddin, 2024. "An integrated system dynamics model of electricity production, consumption, and export policy in Iran considering carbon emissions," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    13. Africa Lopez-Rey & Severo Campinez-Romero & Rosario Gil-Ortego & Antonio Colmenar-Santos, 2019. "Evaluation of Supply–Demand Adaptation of Photovoltaic–Wind Hybrid Plants Integrated into an Urban Environment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-24, May.
    14. Diana Cantor & Andrés Ochoa & Oscar Mesa, 2022. "Total Variation-Based Metrics for Assessing Complementarity in Energy Resources Time Series," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-15, July.
    15. Guerra, Omar J. & Tejada, Diego A. & Reklaitis, Gintaras V., 2019. "Climate change impacts and adaptation strategies for a hydro-dominated power system via stochastic optimization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233, pages 584-598.
    16. Adriana Grigorescu & Victor Raul Lopez Ruiz & Cristina Lincaru & Elena Condrea, 2023. "Specialization Patterns for the Development of Renewable Energy Generation Technologies across Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-26, October.
    17. Wang, Fengjuan & Xu, Jiuping & Wang, Qingchun, 2024. "Complementary operation based sizing and scheduling strategy for hybrid hydro-PV-wind generation systems connected to long-distance transmission lines," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 364(C).
    18. Wang, Zhenni & Wen, Xin & Tan, Qiaofeng & Fang, Guohua & Lei, Xiaohui & Wang, Hao & Yan, Jinyue, 2021. "Potential assessment of large-scale hydro-photovoltaic-wind hybrid systems on a global scale," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    19. Berger, Mathias & Radu, David & Fonteneau, Raphaël & Henry, Robin & Glavic, Mevludin & Fettweis, Xavier & Le Du, Marc & Panciatici, Patrick & Balea, Lucian & Ernst, Damien, 2020. "Critical time windows for renewable resource complementarity assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    20. Gonzalez-Salazar, Miguel & Poganietz, Witold Roger, 2021. "Evaluating the complementarity of solar, wind and hydropower to mitigate the impact of El Niño Southern Oscillation in Latin America," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 453-467.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:8:p:3350-:d:1631267. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.