Abstract
High transportation costs make energy and food expensive in remote communities worldwide, especially in high-latitude Arctic climates. Past attempts to grow food indoors in these remote areas have proven uneconomical due to the need for expensive imported diesel for heating and electricity. This study aims to determine whether solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity can be used affordably to power container farms integrated with a remote Arctic community microgrid. A mixed-integer linear optimization model (FEWMORE: Food–Energy–Water Microgrid Optimization with Renewable Energy) has been developed to minimize the capital and maintenance costs of installing solar photovoltaics (PV) plus electricity storage and the operational costs of purchasing electricity from the community microgrid to power a container farm. FEWMORE expands upon previous models by simulating demand-side management of container farm loads. Its results are compared with those of another model (HOMER) for a test case. FEWMORE determined that 17 kW of solar PV was optimal to power the farm loads, resulting in a total annual cost decline of ~14% compared with a container farm currently operating in the Yukon. Managing specific loads appropriately can reduce total costs by ~18%. Thus, even in an Arctic climate, where the solar PV system supplies only ~7% of total load during the winter and ~25% of the load during the entire year, investing in solar PV reduces costs.
Highlights
Remote communities in Alaska pay some of the highest prices for electricity in the United States, often in excess of $1/kWh [1]
For over 70% of them, microgrids provide the best solution to addressing energy insecurity due to the logistical challenges of extending a centralized grid [2,3]
This paper provides an initial planning tool for Arctic communities interested in container farms to understand their overall energy use, as well as strategies to modify them appropriately for islanded renewable microgrids
Summary
Remote communities in Alaska pay some of the highest prices for electricity in the United States, often in excess of $1/kWh [1]. These high costs are due to the communities’ isolation from Alaska’s electric grid and its road system. Communities must instead operate and maintain their own diesel generators to provide electricity via a self-contained electric grid, known as an islanded microgrid. Alaskan remote communities are more similar to energy-insecure areas worldwide than they are to the rest of the United States [2]. For over 70% of them, microgrids provide the best solution to addressing energy insecurity due to the logistical challenges of extending a centralized grid [2,3]. Microgrids can help to reduce climate change damage, air pollution, and land degradation [4]
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