A review of key environmental and energy performance indicators for the case of Renewable Energy Systems when integrated with storage solutions.

During the last years a variety of numerical tools and algorithms have been developed aiming at quantifying and measuring the environmental impact of multiple types of energy systems, as those based on Renewable Energy Sources. Plenty of studies have proposed the use of a Life Cycle Assessment methodology, to determine the environmental impact of renewable installations when coupled with storage solutions, based on a pre-selected repository of Key Performance Indicators. The main scope of this paper is to propose a limited number of best fitting, and at the same time easily adaptable to various configurations, list of KPIs for the case of renewable energy systems. This is done by capitalizing on the environmental and energy performance KPIs tracked in the open literature (e.g. “Global Warming Potential”, “Energy Payback Time”, “Battery Total Degradation”, “Energy Stored on Invested”, “Cumulative Energy Demand”) and/or other proposing new simple, scalable and adaptable ones, (e.g. “Embodied Energy for Infrastructure of Materials and for the building system”, “Life Cycle CO2 Emissions”, “Reduction of the Direct CO2 emissions”, “Avoided CO2 Emissions”, “CO2 equivalent Payback Time”). Moreover, the proposed KPIs are distributed according to the individual phases of the entire life-cycle of a related component of a renewable energy system, each time the environmental impact refers to, i.e. manufacturing, operational and end-of-life. Apart from that, the current paper presents a necessary base grounded approach, which can be followed for a holistic approach in environmental point of view of renewable-based technologies, by addressing the potential competing interests of the relevant stakeholders (e.g. profit for the market operator in contrast to low-cost services for the consumer). All in all, the scalar quantification of the environmental impact of multiple energy systems, through a list of proposed assessment criteria, being evaluated in terms of the selected repository of KPIs, enables the comparison on a fair basis of the available energy systems, irrespective if they are fossil-fuel or RES based ones. As a typical example, a simple standard model of a photovoltaic integrated with an electric battery is selected, for which indicative indicators are provide

CO2 capture and storage in Greece: A case study from komotini ngcc power plant

The aim of this paper is to examine the possibilities for the abatement of CO2 emissions in the Greek fossil fuel power generation sector. An overview of CO2 capture, transportation, and storage concepts, on which the R&D community is focused, is presented. The implementation of post-combustion CO2 capture options in an existing fossil fuel power plant is then examined and the consequences on the overall plant performance are determined. Finally, the possibilities of transportation and then underground storage of the pure CO2 stream are analyzed taking into account both technical and economical factors. The results of this analysis show that CO2 sequestration is technically feasible for existing fossil fuel fired power plants in Greece. However, substantial reduction in plant efficiency is observed due to increased energy demand of the technologies used as well as in electricity production cost due to capital and operation costs of capture, transport, and storage of CO2.