Renewable energy portfolio standards (RPS) and achieving the optimal mix of renewable energy

Global development in terms of increased attention to environmental protection and the finite nature of fossil resources have accelerated the use of renewable energies. Renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS), is a government policy to promote the use of renewable energy in the energy consumption basket.  The RPS stipulates the minimum amount of renewable energy that each electricity supplier should produce.  This policy has been widely studied in different countries, but so far no such studies have been undertaken in Iran. This study introduces the experience of countries that have been successful in their RPS policies.  We then use linear programming techniques to study an RPS policy that requires regional power supply companies to produce at least 10 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources. We focus on identifying the optimal combination of different renewable energy sources to meet the RPS.  The results indicate the maximum production of electricity from renewable sources is about 13/65559 TWh.  The optimal ratio of each renewable energy source is respectively 4.29, 9.19, 8.5, 30.9, 19.337 and 30.34 percent for solar energy, biomass, geothermal, wind, hydroelectric and tidal energy.