Abstract
A climate-friendly and CO2-neutral energy supply for agricultural farms is the subject of investigation of this study. The supply concerns the internal economy (buildings and animal husbandry) as well as the production of synthetic fuels for outdoor work (cultivation of the fields). This energy is in demand with many customers, e.g., the dairy cooperative Arla Foods, whose goal is the production of cow’s milk with net-zero CO2 emissions by the year 2050. The operational energy system considered here included renewable electricity generation, covering electricity consumption in the cowshed, battery storage for times without electricity generation, the production of synthetic fuels and feeding into the public power grid. Fluctuations depending on the day and the season were taken into account for electricity at 15-min intervals and for fuel per calendar week for one year. The aim was to determine the necessary capacities of renewable energy (RE) generation systems and production systems for synthetic fuel, as well as an economic evaluation with the calculation of the energy costs per kWh and the break-evens for the capital expenses (CapEx). Two different scenarios were developed using the example of a survey dairy farm with an annual electricity consumption of approximately 80,000 kWh in the cowshed and an annual diesel consumption of 35,000 L, corresponding to 350,000 kWh for field work. To ensure the energy supply, Scenario 1 required a photovoltaic system (PV) on the roof with an output of 125 kWp, a 250 kW small wind turbine, a battery with a storage capacity of 2 kWh and synthetic fuel production with an output of 210 kW. Scenario 2 required a 200 kWp PV system on the roof and a 520 kWp PV system in the open fields, a battery with a 105 kWh storage capacity and a synthetic fuel production facility with an output of 385 kW to cover the farm’s energy needs. The results showed that a farm’s own electricity production is currently profitable; however, a farm’s production of synthetic fuel still has comparatively high costs and therefore is not yet profitable. Further technical advances, rising prices of fossil fuels and economies of scale, e.g., larger cooperatively-operated plants, could help new technology to make a breakthrough.
Highlights
In order to ensure the goal set by the European Union to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and limit global warming to 1.5–2 ◦C, according to the Paris Climate Protection Agreement of 2015 [1], most countries, including Germany, still make great efforts in the use of renewable energies (RE)
The results show the technical and economic differences between the two scenarios explained above: electricity production with wind turbines and photovoltaic system (PV) systems (Scenario 1) or production only with PV systems on the roofs and in open fields (Scenario 2)
In both scenarios, around 10,000 kWh (1.4% to 1.6% of total electricity) was drawn from the public power grid to cover the power consumption of the cowshed in times when there was no self-generation of renewable power
Summary
In order to ensure the goal set by the European Union to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and limit global warming to 1.5–2 ◦C, according to the Paris Climate Protection Agreement of 2015 [1], most countries, including Germany, still make great efforts in the use of renewable energies (RE). The challenge is to significantly increase renewable electricity production and to transfer it to the two sectors of heat and mobility in order to displace fossil fuels. Farms have good prerequisites for the production of RE, especially electricity, owing to their roofs (rooftop solar) and fields (offsite solar) for the construction of PV systems and wind turbines. The largest share of energy consumption in agricultural operations is the fuel requirement of fieldwork in the form of diesel. This raises the question of whether the drive energy for fieldwork can be generated again using renewable power to liquid, as was the case with oats for horses 80 years ago
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