Sustainable Energy

Assignment - Techno-economic Assessment of Local Energy Systems

1. Assess and compare the renewable energy potential of multiple locations.
2. Buildload profiles and deduce their effecton the economics of localenergy systems.
3. Analyse the performance and economics of a local energy system.
4. Identify trend in data and make informed inferences from this.
5. Appreciate the factors consideredin the design of sustainable energy systems.
6. Produce a well-written report appropriate for postgraduate level.

Overview
You are a consultant at a reputableDe Montfort University spin-off company that specialises in renewable energy solutions. Your client is a multinational property developer on the verge of moving into the UK property market. They are looking to build two estates, one each in Scotland and England. Your client has no specific location in mind but is looking to meet all or part of the estate's electricity needs through photovoltaic energy generation, if economically viable.

Table 1: Estate appliances and their nominal power ratings

Table 2: PV system performance as a function of estate demand satisfied

Tasks

1. Based on photovoltaic energy generation alone, choosea suitable location (providelongitudes and latitudes) for the estates. Using an appropriately annotated map, justify your choices.

2. Using the "Load Analysis" sheet of PvSA2.0 (the Photovoltaic (PV) system modelling tool developed for this course) and Table 1, develop the summer and winter load profiles for one estate. You can adopt a realistic consumption profile of your choiceand assume the summer and winterconsumption profiles are similar to the autumn and spring consumption profiles, respectively. However, the annual energy demand should be between 360MWh and 367MWh. Provide the following in your report:
i. Your final summer and winter load tables.
ii. The seasonal load summary table, showing the average daily daytime and night-time consumption and peak load for each season, as calculated by PvSA2.0.
iii. The annual load summary table, showing the average daily consumption and peak load.
iv. Summary plots for the average daily consumption and peak load.

3. Using the load profile derived in Task 2, for each estate, designthe most economical solar farm for each of the demands listed in Table 2 (± 0.03%) and complete the table (one for each estate). You can assume that the solar farm is IPP-operated and that the IPP incurs a penalty for not meeting the contracted demand. The IPP charges the estates12.75 p/kWh consumed while the grid operator charges 15p/kwh. Both tariffs increase by 2.6% annually. Take 169.67g/kWh as the carbon intensity of grid electricity and 85g/kWh as the carbon intensity of electricity from solar.

4. With the aid of suitable graphs, compare and contrast the techno-economic performances of the solar farmsat the two estates, providing a reasonable explanation for your observations.

5. Discuss three strategies for improving the financial return from the solar farms.

6. Based on the outcome of Task 3, what are the sizes of the optimal solar farms for each estate and what proportion of estate demand do they satisfy?

Prepare an assessment report for your client outlining your findings. Your report should clearly and logically summarise the outcomes of Tasks 1 to 6 with sufficient information to justify your findings and recommendations. Also detail the steps, as well as any assumptions used to obtain these findings, in order to allow your client to assess their appropriateness. Note that the spreadsheet itself cannot be submitted; all information must be in the report.

Additional Information

Use PvSA2.0, the PV system modelling tool developed for this course, to design and analyse your systems. For PV module, inverter, and battery costs, see the "Detailed Design" sheet of PvSA2.0. Assume the following:
i. A one-off installation cost of £100/kW of installed PV capacity, an annual O&M cost of £17/kW of PV capacity, and an annual battery storage maintenance cost of £15/kWh of storage.
ii. All investments are initially funded through a loan spread over the life of the project.
iii. 2% cable losses and no near shading.

It is impossible for any two systems to have the same coordinates and load profiles, and therefore, the same techno-economic indicators. Any two systems deemed to be the same will be flagged as an Academic Practice Offense.

Report Format

The report must not be longer than 1500 words in total, including the title page and references, and there should be no appendices. Use a style appropriate to a technical report (i.e. formal, factual and to the point). Use portrait A4 format with a single columnand include page numbers in the footer. You should use Calibri or Times New Roman with font of size no less than 11 points. Your report must include the following(including your own headings), in the order depicted:
• Title page (include your name, course code, module name, month and year of submission)
• Executive summary (150 words max.)
• Introduction (250 words max.)
• [your chosen headings]
• Conclusions (400 words max.)
• References (no more than 10 references)
You do not need a table of contents, list of figures, or list of tables. All tables and figures must benumbered as they appear(e.g., Table 1, Table 2, Fig. 1, Fig. 2etc.) and referred to in the text. It is best to do this in Word using ‘insert caption' and ‘insert cross reference' when referring to these in the text, from the References tab. Tables must be editable and not images and the "Conclusions" should summarise your findings and recommendations.