Techno-Economic Analysis of a Sustainable Coal, Wind, and Nuclear Hybrid Energy System

Abstract

The availability of cheap electricity is one of the biggest factors for improving quality of life. The push for large-scale renewable sources of energy has met problems with regards to energy storage and availability. The proposed coal, wind, and nuclear hybrid energy system would combine a renewable energy source, wind, with the traditional and stable energy sources coal and nuclear to create an integrated, resilient, and sustainable system. A next generation small modular nuclear reactor is considered together with a pressurized circulating fluidized bed coal combustion system which also utilizes biomass as a feedstock. This system employs a coelectrolysis unit for utilization of carbon dioxide as a feedstock for the production of synthetic gas and subsequently fuels and chemicals. A techno-economic analysis of the proposed system was performed along with a thermodynamic analysis of overall efficiency and sustainability.