Conditions for economic competitiveness of pumped storage hydroelectric power plants in Egypt

Diaa Abdellatif,Ahmed M Ibrahim,Essam Abu El-Zahab,Rameen Abdelhady

doi:10.1186/s40807-018-0048-1

Abstract

Pumped storage hydroelectric power plants are one of the most applicable energy storage technologies on large-scale capacity generation due to many technical considerations such as their maturity, frequency control and higher ramp rates, thus maintaining following loads in case of high penetration of renewables in the electrical grid. Economic viability of PSHPPs is still questionable when compared with other electricity generation technologies. In this manuscript, the key factors that affect the viability of constructing PSHPP in Attaqa Mountain, Egypt, are defined. An economic comparison between PSHPPs and simple cycle gas turbine power plants has been carried out to identify the conditions at which PSHPPs will have competitiveness as an on-peak solution, over traditional SCGT power plants. This assessment is based on calculating levelized cost of electricity taking into account different scenarios for PSHPP pumping cost and capital cost, and different scenarios for SCGT fuel prices. The results showed the key factors of the best case at which PSHPPs have the highest economic competitiveness over SCGT power plants when fuel prices are non-subsidized. This is only valid provided that the PSHPP’s capital cost should not exceed 4180 $/kW at zero pumping cost.

Highlights

Energy strategic planning is one of the world’s main concerns to cover the fast-growing energy demand taking into account the wise use of available energy resources to achieve the optimum electricity generation mix
To obtain the values of investment cost at which pumped storage hydroelectric power plants (PSHPPs) is competitive to simple cycle gas turbine (SCGT), the relationships have been expressed as a linear function through application of regression technique (Table 2)
Pumping cost scenario 1 Adopting the case that pumping cost is equal to the price of buying electricity from the Egyptian Unified Grid at off-peak time, when substituting by values in Table 3 with the corresponding regression equation in Table 2 it is found that PSHPP has competitiveness over SCGT power plants only in the escalated international fuel costs fuel scenario at r 8, 10 and 12%, provided that the capital cost for PSHPP should not exceed 2680.95, 2415.298 and 2211.146 $/kW, respectively

Summary

Introduction

Energy strategic planning is one of the world’s main concerns to cover the fast-growing energy demand taking into account the wise use of available energy resources to achieve the optimum electricity generation mix. One of the main difficulties of energy planning for any country is selecting the most compatible alternative to fulfill its requirements, as the selected alternative will have a long-term impact on its economy and the utilization of the available resources. The on-peak electricity demand is a challenge for grid operators because it requires special generating power plants that can directly follow the increase in demand and maintain its balance with the supply. Reservoir hydropower plants (HPPs) and PSHPPs supply primary control power. It is not the case for the Egyptian National Grid. In Egypt, the daily on-peak periods are met with peaking units, especially simple cycle gas turbine (SCGT) (specific), or using electrical interconnection between neighboring countries

Methods

Results

Conclusion