Levelized cost of electricity for photovoltaic/biogas power plant hybrid system with electrical energy storage degradation costs

Chun Sing Lai, Youwei Jia, Zhao Xu, Loi Lei Lai, Xuecong Li, Jun Cao, Malcolm D. McCulloch

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

96 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Due to the diurnal and intermittent nature of solar irradiance, the photovoltaic (PV) power plant can introduce generation and load power imbalance issue. Anaerobic digestion biogas power plant (AD) also has a part-load operation constraint that needs to be met. To overcome these issues, electrical energy storage (EES) such as Graphite/LiCoO2needs to be employed to provide generation flexibility. The research work provided in this paper is twofold. An optimal operating regime is devised for the PV-AD-EES hybrid system, followed by a study on the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). Degradation cost per kWh and degradation cost per cycle for EES are considered. 22 years (1994–2015) of irradiance data for Turkwel Gorge Dam, Kenya (1.90°N, 35.34°E) and the Kenya national load are used for the study. With the current technology costs and a discount rate at 8%, it is shown that the capital cost for LiCoO2needs to be reduced to 200 $/kWh to be economically competitive with dispatchable source such as AD biogas power plant by considering the EES degradation costs.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)34-47
Number of pages14
JournalEnergy Conversion and Management
Volume153
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2017

Keywords

  • Battery capacity degradation
  • LiCoO battery 2
  • Off-grid system
  • Photovoltaic system

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Nuclear Energy and Engineering
  • Fuel Technology
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology

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