Techno-Economic Analysis on Zero- Emission Electricity Supply for Remote Communities in Western Australia (WA)

Rowel De Paz

The current existing power systems in remote areas, such as single-wire earth return (SWER) system rural electrification networks, have adverse environmental impacts, are prone to bushfires, are prone to environmental factors (e.g., lightning, vegetation, bird and animal contact, wind, and others), have significant overall costs and are unreliable sources of electricity. To save a significant amount of CAPEX budget for pole and wire replacement and to remove the extremely large amount of annual OPEX budget for the service provider's O&M cost for the SWER powerlines, fringe-of-grid (FOG) areas need to be decommissioned by criteria and replaced with stand-alone power systems (SPS) to supply electricity to the remote and isolated area. The main focus of this paper is to identify the gap landscape, issues and solution options for the SPS. This study includes selecting cost-effective, reliable, and resilient to climate disruption SPS options for remote off-grids in Western Australia. This paper analysed the Western Power SPS Site 1, located in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia and referred to as Site 1, utilising the HOMER Pro software to determine the supply system's optimal design, cost-benefits and environmental benefits. Additionally, qualitative and quantitative data, collected using a survey of SPS experts, was analysed to identify and develop recommendations on technical, economic, social, political, legal and environmental issues, challenges and problems of renewable energy (RE) based SPS in remote communities in Western Australia. The Western Power SPS Site 1 is the current existing Western Power SPS with PV-BESS-DG configuration, and it is included in an analysis of different SPS configuration scenarios. The technical performance of the existing utility SPS at Site 1 is analysed using real demand data, actual size of components, and technical specifications for this site. In addition, economic (using net present cost) and sensitivity analyses were carried out for Site 1. This research paper also analysed Western Power SPS Site 2, located in the Mid-West region of Western Australia. It used the root cause analysis (RCA) fishbone diagram to identify the root cause of complex technical issues on this site. A case study of the WP SPS sites found that those SPS with undersized components, installed in extremely hot weather locations, or with changing load demand conditions (due to e.g., sensitive appliances/equipment, farming harvesting seasons, etc.) had technical complication issues (e.g., faulty battery, ETU tripping, etc.). This thesis reveals that the HOMER Pro optimal solution for the same customer load demand of SPS Site 1 was the existing configuration of PV-BESS-DG. This configuration had a lower total NPC of AUD223,741.20, LCOE of AUD2.55/kWh, and Operating Cost of AUD7,685.88 than the SPS with PV-BESS, which had a total NPC of AUD254,703.12, LCOE of AUD2.90/kWh, and Operating Cost of AUD9,968.54. However, this study recommends using the PV-BESS configuration or a zero-emission source electricity supply in order support the sustainable growth and adoption of SPS in Western Australia, ensuring long-term environmental and economic benefits, as the price of diesel fuel continues to rise.

Techno-Economic Analysis on Zero- Emission Electricity Supply for Remote Communities in Western Australia (WA)

Files and links (1)

Abstract

Details

Metrics