Techno-economic analysis of remote microgrid and high voltage interconnected grid development in isolated area

Abstract

Seram Island is one of the thousand islands in Indonesia. Due to geographical condition, the power system in Seram Island is currently remain isolated. However, based on Electricity Power Supply Business Plan (RUPTL) 2019-2028, there are power system development plan including 150 kV interconnected grid and several medium-sized power plant in this island. Unfortunately, as demand growth is low, reserve margin in related system tend to be very high, with the average of 182% from year 2019 to 2028. With this circumstance, the development plan based on RUPTL 2019-2028 will not be viable both technically and economically. This study will analyze remote microgrid development as an alternative to high voltage interconnected grid in order to perceive optimum configuration for Seram Island. These two alternatives will be compared both technically and economically. Technical analysis will be conducted using software ETAP 12.6 to investigate power quality and system stability. For economical analysis, several economics parameter will be evaluated as well as Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) to perceive the most economically viable alternative. The result shows that remote microgrid is economically more beneficial to be developed in Seram Island, as well as complying the minimum technical requirement of local grid code.