A Geospatial Comparison of Distributed Solar Heat and Power in Europe and the US

The global trends for the rapid growth of distributed solar heat and power in the last decade will likely continue as the levelized cost of production for these technologies continues to decline. To be able to compare the economic potential of solar technologies one must first quantify the types and amount of solar resource that each technology can utilize; second, estimate the technological performance potential based on that resource; and third, compare the costs of each technology across regions. In this analysis, we have performed the first two steps in this process. We use physical and empirically validated models of a total of 8 representative solar system types: non-tracking photovoltaics, 2d-tracking photovoltaics, high concentration photovoltaics, flat-plate thermal, evacuated tube thermal, concentrating trough thermal, concentrating solar combined heat and power, and hybrid concentrating photovoltaic/thermal. These models are integrated into a simulation that uses typical meteorological year weather data to create a yearly time series of heat and electricity production for each system over 12,846 locations in Europe and 1,020 locations in the United States. Through this simulation, systems composed of various permutations of collector-types and technologies can be compared geospatially and temporally in terms of their typical production in each location. For example, we see that silicon solar cells show a significant advantage in yearly electricity production over thin-film cells in the colder climatic regions, but that advantage is lessened in regions that have high average irradiance. In general, the results lead to the conclusion that comparing solar technologies across technology classes simply on cost per peak watt, as is usually done, misses these often significant regional differences in annual performance. These results have implications for both solar power development and energy systems modeling of future pathways of the electricity system

Cost-Effectiveness of Carbon Emission Abatement Strategies for a Local Multi-Energy System - A Case Study of Chalmers University of Technology Campus

This paper investigates the cost-effectiveness of operation strategies which can be used to abate CO2\ua0emissions in a local multi-energy system. A case study is carried out using data from a real energy system that integrates district heating, district cooling, and electricity networks at Chalmers University of Technology. Operation strategies are developed using a mixed integer linear programming multi-objective optimization model with a short foresight rolling horizon and a year of data. The cost-effectiveness of different strategies is evaluated across different carbon prices. The results provide insights into developing abatement strategies for local multi-energy systems that could be used by utilities, building owners, and authorities. The optimized abatement strategies include: increased usage of biomass boilers, substitution of district heating and absorption chillers with heat pumps, and higher utilization of storage units. The results show that, by utilizing all the strategies, a 20.8% emission reduction can be achieved with a 2.2% cost increase for the campus area. The emission abatement cost of all strategies is 36.6–100.2 (€/tCO2\ua0), which is aligned with estimated carbon prices if the Paris agreement target is to be achieved. It is higher, however, than average European Emission Trading System prices and Sweden’s carbon tax in 2019

ASSESSMENT OF COMBINED HEAT AND POWER SYSTEM "PREMIUM POWER" APPLICATIONS IN CALIFORNIA

The effectiveness of combined heat and power (CHP) systems for power interruption intolerant, "premium power," facilities is the focus of this study. Through three real-world case studies and economic cost minimization modeling, the economic and environmental performance of "premium power" CHP is analyzed. The results of the analysis for a brewery, data center, and hospital lead to some interesting conclusions about CHP limited to the specific CHP technologies installed at those sites. Firstly, facilities with high heating loads prove to be the most appropriate for CHP installations from a purely economic standpoint. Secondly, waste heat driven thermal cooling systems are only economically attractive if the technology for these chillers can increase above the current best system efficiency. Thirdly, if the reliability of CHP systems proves to be as high as diesel generators they could replace these generators at little or no additional cost if the thermal to electric (relative) load of those facilities was already high enough to economically justify a CHP system. Lastly, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the modeled CHP systems provide some degree of decreased emissions, estimated at approximately 10percent for the hospital, the application with the highest relative thermal load in this cas

ASSESSMENT OF COMBINED HEAT AND POWER SYSTEM "PREMIUM POWER" APPLICATIONS IN CALIFORNIA

The effectiveness of combined heat and power (CHP) systems for power interruption intolerant, "premium power," facilities is the focus of this study. Through three real-world case studies and economic cost minimization modeling, the economic and environmental performance of "premium power" CHP is analyzed. The results of the analysis for a brewery, data center, and hospital lead to some interesting conclusions about CHP limited to the specific CHP technologies installed at those sites. Firstly, facilities with high heating loads prove to be the most appropriate for CHP installations from a purely economic standpoint. Secondly, waste heat driven thermal cooling systems are only economically attractive if the technology for these chillers can increase above the current best system efficiency. Thirdly, if the reliability of CHP systems proves to be as high as diesel generators they could replace these generators at little or no additional cost if the thermal to electric (relative) load of those facilities was already high enough to economically justify a CHP system. Lastly, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the modeled CHP systems provide some degree of decreased emissions, estimated at approximately 10percent for the hospital, the application with the highest relative thermal load in this cas

Life cycle analysis of distributed concentrating solar combined heat and power: economics, global warming potential and water Life cycle analysis of distributed concentrating solar combined heat and power: economics, global warming potential and water

Abstract We report on life cycle assessment (LCA) of the economics, global warming potential and water (both for desalination and water use in operation) for a distributed concentrating solar combined heat and power (DCS-CHP) system. Detailed simulation of system performance across 1020 sites in the US combined with a sensible cost allocation scheme informs this LCA. We forecast a levelized cost of $0.25 kWh −1 electricity and$0.03 kWh −1 thermal, for a system with a life cycle global warming potential of ∼80 gCO 2 eq kWh −1 of electricity and ∼10 gCO 2 eq kWh −1 thermal, sited in Oakland, California. On the basis of the economics shown for air cooling, and the fact that any combined heat and power system reduces the need for cooling while at the same time boosting the overall solar efficiency of the system, DCS-CHP compares favorably to other electric power generation systems in terms of minimization of water use in the maintenance and operation of the plant. The outlook for water desalination coupled with distributed concentrating solar combined heat and power is less favorable. At a projected cost of $1.40 m −3 , water desalination with DCS-CHP would be economical and practical only in areas where water is very scarce or moderately expensive, primarily available through the informal sector, and where contaminated or salt water is easily available as feed-water. It is also interesting to note that$0.40-$1.90 m −3 is the range of water prices in the developed world, so DCS-CHP desalination systems could also be an economical solution there under some conditions

Life cycle analysis of distributed concentrating solar combined heat and power: economics, global warming potential and water

We report on life cycle assessment (LCA) of the economics, global warming potential and water (both for desalination and water use in operation) for a distributed concentrating solar combined heat and power (DCS-CHP) system. Detailed simulation of system performance across 1020 sites in the US combined with a sensible cost allocation scheme informs this LCA. We forecast a levelized cost of $0.25 kWh ^−1 electricity and$0.03 kWh ^−1 thermal, for a system with a life cycle global warming potential of ∼80 gCO _2 eq kWh ^−1 of electricity and ∼10 gCO _2 eq kWh ^−1 thermal, sited in Oakland, California. On the basis of the economics shown for air cooling, and the fact that any combined heat and power system reduces the need for cooling while at the same time boosting the overall solar efficiency of the system, DCS-CHP compares favorably to other electric power generation systems in terms of minimization of water use in the maintenance and operation of the plant. The outlook for water desalination coupled with distributed concentrating solar combined heat and power is less favorable. At a projected cost of $1.40 m ^−3 , water desalination with DCS-CHP would be economical and practical only in areas where water is very scarce or moderately expensive, primarily available through the informal sector, and where contaminated or salt water is easily available as feed-water. It is also interesting to note that$0.40–$1.90 m ^−3 is the range of water prices in the developed world, so DCS-CHP desalination systems could also be an economical solution there under some conditions