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Economics of renewable energy integration and energy storage via low load diesel application
Citation
Hamilton, J and Negnevitsky, M and Wang, X, Economics of renewable energy integration and energy storage via low load diesel application, Energies, 18 Article 1080. ISSN 1996-1073 (2018) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/en11051080
Abstract
One-quarter of the world’s population lives without access to electricity. Unfortunately, the generation technology most commonly employed to advance rural electrification, diesel generation, carries considerable commercial and ecological risks. One approach used to address both the cost and pollution of diesel generation is renewable energy (RE) integration. However, to successfully integrate RE, both the stochastic nature of the RE resource and the operating characteristics of diesel generation require careful consideration. Typically, diesel generation is configured to run heavily loaded, achieving peak efficiencies within 70–80% of rated capacity. Diesel generation is also commonly sized to peak demand. These characteristics serve to constrain the possible RE penetration. While energy storage can relieve the constraint, this adds cost and complexity to the system. This paper identifies an alternative approach, redefining the low load capability of diesel generation. Low load diesel (LLD) allows a diesel engine to operate across its full capacity in support of improved RE utilization. LLD uses existing diesel assets, resulting in a reduced-cost, low-complexity substitute. This paper presents an economic analysis of LLD, with results compared to conventional energy storage applications. The results identify a novel pathway for consumers to transition from low to medium levels of RE penetration, without additional cost or system complexity.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | isolated power system, microgrid, off-grid solutions, renewable energy, low load diesel |
| Research Division: | Engineering |
| Research Group: | Electrical engineering |
| Research Field: | Electrical energy generation (incl. renewables, excl. photovoltaics) |
| Objective Division: | Energy |
| Objective Group: | Renewable energy |
| Objective Field: | Renewable energy not elsewhere classified |
| UTAS Author: | Hamilton, J (Mr James Hamilton) |
| UTAS Author: | Negnevitsky, M (Professor Michael Negnevitsky) |
| UTAS Author: | Wang, X (Professor Xiaolin Wang) |
| ID Code: | 125778 |
| Year Published: | 2018 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 6 |
| Deposited By: | Engineering |
| Deposited On: | 2018-05-04 |
| Last Modified: | 2018-08-24 |
| Downloads: | 45 View Download Statistics |
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