Spatio-temporal complementarity between solar and wind power in the Iberian Peninsula

This study addresses the task of identifying optimum locations for solar and wind power plants so that the wind-plus-solar power generation meets certain conditions of efficiency and stability, thus allowing to overcome the downside that the natural variability of these renewable resources represents. The method was based on a simulated annealing algorithm and applied over the Iberian Peninsula, a region whose commitment to renewable energy is growing relatively fast. Obtained results are encouraging since a number of different sensitivity experiments support the spatio-temporal complementarity between solar and wind power, at least at the monthly time-scale, in this region. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.