Abstract
Due to the increasing installed power of the intermittent renewable energy sources in the European Union, increasing the operation flexibility of the generating units in the system is necessary. This is particularly important for systems with relatively large installed power of wind and solar. Plasma technologies can be used for that purpose. Nonetheless, the wide implementation of such technology should be economically justified. This paper shows that the use of plasma systems for increasing the flexibility of power units can be economically feasible, based on the results of a net present value analysis. The cost of the installation itself had a marginal effect on the results of the net present value analysis. Based on the performed analysis, the ability to lower the technical minimum of the power unit and the relationship between such a technical minimum and the installed power of a plasma system can be considered decisive factors influencing the economics of the investment for such an installation. Further research on better means of prediction of the minimum attainable load, which would allow determining the influence of implementation of a plasma system, is recommended. This will be the decisive factor behind future decisions regarding investing in such systems.
Highlights
Due to the concerns regarding the impact of anthropogenic CO2 emissions on the climate, renewable energy sources are becoming increasing popular
The period of one year was assumed in all of the return rate on net present value (NPV) was examined for the variant with the technical minimum of 30% and Y = 1
For the considered case the project becomes profitable (NPV > 0) two years earlier when the expected rate of return is changed from 15% to 6%
Summary
Due to the concerns regarding the impact of anthropogenic CO2 emissions on the climate, renewable energy sources are becoming increasing popular. Because of the increasing installed capacity of the intermittent renewable energy sources (RES) connected to the electric power systems in European Union countries (including Poland), it seems necessary to increase the flexibility of operation of the generating units in the system and thereby minimize the necessity of their frequent shutdowns. This is important when due to the inflow of large quantities of wind and solar energy, a power generation unit would have to operate below its technical minimum, creating serious electric energy supply reliability. This is especially relevant as a large number of these units belong to the distributed belong to the distributed generation (DG), and distribution systems were not originally designed to generation (DG), and distribution systems were not originally designed to accommodate such amounts accommodate such amounts of DG units [11]
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