Feasibility and economic analysis of a renewable energy powered special town in China

Abstract

The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) is a relatively isolated special zone in the northwest region of China. The potential risk to the energy supply security and the pressure of national greenhouse gas emissions reduction clearly indicates the JSLC's need to lower its dependency on imported fossil fuels and electricity. This article presents a feasibility analysis on the available hybrid energy system based on the renewable energy availability and local electricity demand estimation in 2020 through HOMER model. The simulation results indicate that cost of energy (COE) of the three proposed options are 0.127, 0.033 and 0.123$/kWh, respectively. It also shows that the proposed hybrid renewable energy systems can reduce carbon emissions by 40–70% compared to electricity from the existing power grid. A sensitivity analysis reveals that the COE has a significant positive relationship with carbon price and discount rate, whereas carbon price shows a significantly distinct impact on the COE for different options considered. The optimization results also show that a grid-connected renewable power system comprised of wind power and natural gas power plant is the most economic and environment-friendly energy supply option for JSLC. However, a hybrid RE system with a local energy storage facility can better guarantee the energy supply safety considering the special function and security needs of the JSLC. This study verified that constructing new coal fired power plants is not a suitable choice from both the cost effectiveness and environmental protection perspectives.