Techno-Economic Operation and Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment of a Solar PV-Driven Islanded Microgrid

Abstract

Microgrids (MGs) are playing an important role in the maximum utilization of distributed energy resources. The optimal economic operation and low-carbon electricity generation can enhance MGs effectiveness. This paper presents the results of a solar-photovoltaic (PV)-driven islanded MG's technoeconomic optimization analysis and environmental life-cycle assessment (LCA) to achieve economical and environmentally superior performance. A net present cost (NPC)-based simulation for optimal sizing of the MG is proposed. A novel life-cycle inventory (LCI) is developed to evaluate the impacts of the MG under 21 midpoint indicators and three endpoint indicators by the ReCiPe 2016 method, metal particle releases by the Ecopoints approach, and the greenhouse-gas emissions by the IPCC method. The sensitivity analysis is carried out to verify the effects for three different batteries and five different PV modules for all of the considered impact indicators. The results reveal that the proposed MG offers a revenue of 29,520 US$/yr by routing excess energy to neighbors after fulfilling the prosumers' demand at an optimal net present cost of 364,906 US$. Furthermore, the outcomes obtained from the LCA analysis show that, among the MG components, batteries have the highest impact on human health (74%) and the ecosystem (78%) due to greater greenhouse-gas emissions (CO 2 -48%, CH 4 -37%, and N 2 0-48%).INDEX TERMS Microgrid, optimal design, life-cycle assessment, environmental impact, greenhouse-gas.

Optimal Energy Management and Techno-economic Analysis in Microgrid with Hybrid Renewable Energy Sources

“…In [6], the energy dispatching in grid connected microgrid with micro-turbine, fuel cell and battery energy storage devices was presented using mixed-integer quadratic programming to minimize operation cost. HOMER software was used in [7]- [19] to determine the optimal capacity of hybrid energy sources to quantify techno-economic benefits. Hybrid power system was simulated with hybrid energy sources in China [7], Nigeria [8], [13], Saudi Arabia [9], [19], Iran [11], Turkey [14], and India [10], [17] to evaluate technical-economic benefits.…”

“…HOMER software was used in [7]- [19] to determine the optimal capacity of hybrid energy sources to quantify techno-economic benefits. Hybrid power system was simulated with hybrid energy sources in China [7], Nigeria [8], [13], Saudi Arabia [9], [19], Iran [11], Turkey [14], and India [10], [17] to evaluate technical-economic benefits. The feasible solution was obtained based on the minimum cost of energy (COE) among different configurations of PV/battery energy storage system (BESS)/WT/fuel cell energy sources in Saudi Arabia [12].…”

“…In [18], PV+BESS, WT+ BESS, PV+WT+BESS, PV+fuel cell (FC), WT+FC and PV+ WT+FC systems were simulated to investigate techno-economic benefits in Saudi Arabia. In [19], the PV+BESS based standalone microgrid system was simulated to demonstrate techno-economic benefits. In [20], the optimal capacity of WT+DG+BESS system was determined using stochastic optimization in standalone power system.…”

“…Converter is required in AC/DC hybrid power systems. The rating of inverter is determined using (19) [33].…”

Eco-Cost Analysis of Split Air-Conditioner Using Activity-Based Costing Method

“…LCA was proposed in the early 1970s. Up to date, LCA method has been used in evaluation of various industrial products and engineering projects such as natural resource extraction [23]. Basically, LCA methods can be divided into PLCA, EIOLCA and hybrid life cycle assessment (HLCA) [24].…”