Feasibility of innovative topography-based hybrid renewable electrical power system: A case study

Abstract

Recently, climate change has attracted significant intension globally. Accordingly, numerous initiatives are under action for reducing the consumption of fossil fuels and increasing the share of renewable energy sources. This research work proposes an eco-friendly and sustainable electrical power system that could fully or partially fulfill requirements of the local load of the system under concern. The proposed power has the merit of utilizing topography of the site under concern, Al- Jabal Al-Gharbi district, Libya, to exploit the locally available resources such as biomass and sewage plants. The availability of resources was first studied, concluding that 110.87 × 106 m3⁄year are available for generating biogas and electricity. Moreover, biogas is extracted from biomass fermentation plants with a capacity of 244,845 tons/year produced from agricultural, municipality organic, livestock, and sewage residues in the proposed system. The feasibility of the proposed system is validated via a comprehensive economic and environmental comparison of different types of fuels. Furthermore, a mathematical model is developed for the Environmental Damage Cost (EDC) of CO2 emission for three scenarios: 1) disposing wastes, 2) firing fuel plus disposing of wastes, and 3) firing fuel plus biogas. The proposed system would save about 57% and 86% of CO2 from diesel and natural gas-fired power stations. Moreover, the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) generated from the proposed system is about 3.5 ¢⁄kWh, which is much lower than the actual cost of electricity generation in Libya (12 ¢/kWh). The annual savings of EDC due to CO2 is $6,968,613. This study could act as a pivot for implementing eco-friendly and sustainable energy source projects in the site under concern and/or similar sites.