Energy Storage Benefits Assessment Using Multiple-Choice Criteria: The Case of Drini River Cascade, Albania
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Certainly, the material presented in the manuscript fits the profile of the journal. The research results are presented in an interesting way, the methodology is clear. The work has an unusual layout, incl. labor motivation chapter. I have not found a specific main goal and specific work goals. The conclusions do not present what is the result of the conducted scientific research and how the presented manuscript can be applied by other researchers in other areas. The text presented in this chapter is a commentary on regional conditions.
Author Response
(Reviewer 1)
Certainly, the material presented in the manuscript fits the profile of the journal. The research results are presented in an interesting way, the methodology is clear. The work has an unusual layout, incl. labor motivation chapter. I have not found a specific main goal and specific work goals. The conclusions do not present what is the result of the conducted scientific research and how the presented manuscript can be applied by other researchers in other areas. The text presented in this chapter is a commentary on regional conditions.
Reply: Thank you for your encuraging comments! This paper aims to illuminate the many economically viable opportunities for storage inclusion in Albanian power systems in the bulk chain.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
I suggest an introduction to be re-writen or re-structure the content as for now it miss the good connection and flow of concepts between paragraph and hence the reader loose the track.
Author Response
(Reviewer 2)
I suggest an introduction to be re-writen or re-structure the content as for now it miss the good connection and flow of concepts between paragraph and hence the reader loose the track.
Reply: Thank you for your comments! We have rewritten several parts of the introduction, please check the revised version of the manuscript.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Energy Storage Systems Benefits Assessment using Multiple Choice Criteria: the Case of Drini River Cascade, Albania
Abstract
"The electricity sector in Albania lacks Energy Storages Systems (ESS); hence large quantities of electrical energy during off-peak time cannot be stored."
This is very common in most of the developing countries, therefore, there is a potential of looking at the paper as an interesting one.
However, your work and the results are not clear enough in the abstract. Can you work on the presentation of them?
Introduction
Can you clearly say the research gap and how you have achieved in the last paragraph?
You have higher turnitin scores (29%) which can lead to reject your paper. Can you please work on them and reduce them to 20%. I have attached the file for your reference.
Get the motivation for the study into the introduction.
However, you need to do rephrasing.
Figure 1 - can you draw the catchment? using GIS?
Can you explain 2010 in Figure 2? This is interesting...
Can you explain the rationale behind table 1 a bit more.
Correctly present the equations.
Can you write a small paragraph for overall methodology?
Results are interesting; however, P-hydro is dominant, isn't it? any thoughts?
Can you combine results and discussions? This will give the readership a better understanding.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
(Reviewer 3)
Abstract
"The electricity sector in Albania lacks Energy Storages Systems (ESS); hence large quantities of electrical energy during off-peak time cannot be stored."
Reply: Thank you for your comments! We have improved it accordingly as following:
"The electricity sector in Albania lacks Energy Storages Systems (ESS); hence large quantities of electrical energy during the off-peak time or excess cannot be stored."
This is very common in most of the developing countries, therefore, there is a potential of looking at the paper as an interesting one.
However, your work and the results are not clear enough in the abstract. Can you work on the presentation of them?
Reply: Thank you for your comments! We have improved the abstract further as per your suggestions, please check the revised manuscript.
Introduction
Can you clearly say the research gap and how you have achieved in the last paragraph?
Reply: Thank you for your comments! We have mentioned the research gaps in the revised manuscript.
You have higher turnitin scores (29%) which can lead to reject your paper. Can you please work on them and reduce them to 20%. I have attached the file for your reference.
Reply: Thank you for your comments! We edited the entire manuscript and also rephrased several paragraphs. We don’t have plagiarism software to check the similarity index, we hope that similarity index in the revised manuscript has reached the required percentage.
Get the motivation for the study into the introduction.
Reply: Thank you for your comments! We moved the motivation for the study into the introduction.
However, you need to do rephrasing.
Reply: Thank you for your comments! Yes, we rephrased many parts.
Figure 1 - can you draw the catchment? using GIS?
Reply: Thank you for your comments! We have presented all rivers basins in the map of Albania, please check the revised manuscript.
Can you explain 2010 in Figure 2? This is interesting...
Reply: Thank you for your comments we have explained it in the revised version as following;
As shown in Figure 2, considering an electricity export rate of €50/MWh up to €70/MWh (i.e., off-peak energy or excess), it can bring a considerable monetary benefit to KESH. Hence, electricity storage can be used to avoid congestion-related costs and charges, especially if the costs become onerous due to significant transmission system congestion. In this application service, storage systems would be installed at locations electrically downstream from the congested portion of the transmission system. Energy would be stored when there is no transmission congestion. It would be released (i.e., during on-peak demand periods) to reduce peak transmission capacity requirements. The storage is recharged when the feeder load reduces in the late evening. Alternatively, the storage can be recharged during the late-night as long as it is available to serve the peak load that the transformer is likely to see the following day (s). Transmission upgrade deferral involves delaying – and in some cases avoiding entirely – utility investments in transmission system upgrades by using relatively small amounts of storage. Notably, for most nodes within a transmission system, the highest loads occur on just a few days per year, for just a few hours per year [32,33]. Often, the highest annual load occurs on one specific day, with a peak somewhat higher than any other day. One important implication is that storage used for this application can provide significant benefits with limited or no need to discharge.
Can you explain the rationale behind table 1 a bit more.
Reply: Table 1 lists the various applications considered for the analysis and their priority in the respective ESSs for the selected location. Since the use of renewable energy is still an early stage in the region, the parameters associated with it have got lower priority for the time being. The importance was given to present aspects to provide transmission congestion relief and upgrade deferral at 10% in a most economical way
Correctly present the equations.
Reply: Thank you for your comments! Corrected.
Can you write a small paragraph for overall methodology?
Reply: Thank you for your comments! We have improved it accordingly as following:
Results are interesting; however, P-hydro is dominant, isn't it? any thoughts?
Reply: Yes, Hydro is dominant, but it faces some restrictions. It requires that the reservoir be less than 10 km away from the HPP.
CAES-c is a very good option as the caverns exist
Can you combine results and discussions? This will give the readership a better understanding.
Reply: Thank you for your comments! However, we believe that it is better to keep those to section separate because the Results part it mainly shows the main findings while the Discussion section summarize and discusses the manuscript's main finding (s) in the context of the broader scientific literature.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 4 Report
In this paper, the authors used multiple choice criteria to assess the benefits of energy storage systems for the drini river cascade in albania. The research topic is interesting and meaningful. The main problems in this paper are as follows:
Comments:
(1) At the end of Section 1, a paragraph should be used to describe the main research content of this paper.
(2) Please supplement the schematic diagram of the integrated energy storage system and describe it accordingly.
(3) Please clarify the innovation of this paper.
(4) It is suggested to modify the conclusion. In the conclusion, there is no need to introduce the research background, but to condense the method selection and research results.
(5) The format of formula number is inconsistent.
(6) It is suggested to add a NOMENCLATURE table for easy reading.
Author Response
(Reviewer 4)
In this paper, the authors used multiple choice criteria to assess the benefits of energy storage systems for the drini river cascade in albania. The research topic is interesting and meaningful. The main problems in this paper are as follows:
Comments:
(1) At the end of Section 1, a paragraph should be used to describe the main research content of this paper.
Reply: Thank you for your comments! We have improved it accordingly as following:
This research paper deeply analyzes the integration of ESS into the existing transmission system using multiple choice criteria based on the chosen application's list level in Albania. Hence, two important aspects must be considered.
Moreover, secondly, in terms of meeting the ALCM (application list, location cost, and maturity) criteria given in the methodology section below. Regardless of the currently available technologies, the existing national energy strategy 2018-2030 and most regulatory frameworks in Albania do not consider either reflect the role or the value that energy storage can provide
(2) Please supplement the schematic diagram of the integrated energy storage system and describe it accordingly.
Reply: Thank you for your comments! We have improved it accordingly as following:
During low power demand, the surplus electricity can be used to drive a reversible motor/generator unit to run a train of coaxial compressors to put air into a deposit, either an underground cavern or gas well, mine tunnel, or overground tanks. When the power generation cannot meet the load demand, the stored compressed air is given and heated by passing into heat exchangers (H.E) devices, a heat source that can be provided from fossil fuel combustion, or the heat recovered from the heat the compression process. The waste heat from the exhaust can be recycled by a recuperator unit (red box H.E). The compressed air energy is finally captured by the turbines producing back electricity. CAES systems work under similar principles as conventional gas turbines, although in the case of CAES systems, the compression and expansion phases are decoupled instead of simultaneous. The energy is stored in high-pressure air, typically at a pressure of between 40 (bar) to 80 (bar).
(3) Please clarify the innovation of this paper.
Reply: Thank you for your comments! We have highlighted the innovation of this paper further in the Introduction section.
(4) It is suggested to modify the conclusion. In the conclusion, there is no need to introduce the research background, but to condense the method selection and research results.
Reply: Thank you for your comments! We improved the conclusion section further, please the revised manuscript
(5) The format of formula number is inconsistent.
Reply: Thank you for your comments! Corrected.
(6) It is suggested to add a NOMENCLATURE table for easy reading.
Reply: Thank you for your comments! Nomenclature added.
|
|
NOMENCLATURE |
|
ALCM |
Application, Location, Cost and Maturity |
|
ESS |
Energy Storage System |
|
CAES |
Compressed Air Energy System |
|
PHES |
Pump Hydro Energy Storage |
|
RES |
Renewable Energy Storage |
|
T&D |
Transmission & Distribution |
|
MES |
Multi-Energy Systems |
|
DMG |
Distributed Multi-Generation |
|
VPP |
Virtual Power Plants |
|
PV |
Photovoltaic |
|
HPP |
Hydro Power Plant |
|
CAES-c |
Compressed Air Energy System of Cavern |
|
LMP |
Locational Marginal Pricing |
|
KESH |
Korporata Electro Energjitike Shqiptare |
|
LCOE |
Levelized Cost of Energy |
|
NPV |
Net Present Value |
|
DCF |
Discounted Cash Flow |
|
SPP |
Simple Payback Period |
|
dod |
Depth of Discharge |
|
IRENA |
International Renewable Energy Agency |
|
IEA |
International Energy Agency |
|
App |
Application |
|
TCR |
Transmission Congestion Relief |
|
ETSH |
Energy Time Shift |
|
TUD |
Transmission Upgrade Deferral |
|
SES |
Solar Energy Smoothing |
|
SESTSH |
Solar Energy Time Shift |
|
WETSH |
Wind Energy Time Shift |
|
H.E |
Heat Exchangers |
|
|
|
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
Revisions are acknowledged.
