Abstract
Industry, which forms the lifeblood of South Africa’s economy, is under threat as a result of increased electricity pricing and unstable supply. Wheeling of energy, which is a method to transport electricity generated from an Independent Power Producer (IPP) to an industrial consumer via the utility’s network, could potentially address this problem. This paper presents a technical and economic evaluation to determine the viability of wheeling 16MW wind or solar energy between an industrial consumer and an IPP via the utility’s network in a regulated electricity market. Using DIgSILENT PowerFactory and HOMER Energy, the viability has been evaluated based on levelized cost of electricity (LCOE); net present cost (NPC); distributed generation (DG) technology; DG distance from the load; available renewable resources and impact on network parameters. The results of the study show that (i) wind energy is the most viable economic option, (ii) the voltage profile at the point of common coupling (POC) increases as the distance between the load and DG increase, which has to be mitigated by using voltage control measures. Based on the results, wheeling of renewable energy could be a solution to address the electricity demands of industrial consumers.
Published Version
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