Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v34y2009i4p1134-1144.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Case study feasibility analysis of renewable energy supply options for small to medium-sized tourist accommodations

Author

Listed:
  • Dalton, G.J.
  • Lockington, D.A.
  • Baldock, T.E.
Abstract
This paper outlines a feasibility analysis of renewable energy supply (RES) for small to medium-scale tourist operations (less than 100 beds) dependent on stand-alone supplies. The analysis utilised the power load data from three accommodation case studies that had RES/hybrids already installed. The accommodation sites, chosen from diverse locations within Australia, varied in both climatic and geographic characteristics. The assessment criteria for the analysis were net present cost (NPC), renewable factor (RF) and payback time. The specific operational characteristics of the tourism accommodation sector, such as 24-h operation, comfort provision and low tolerance for failure, necessitates a separate assessment of RES viability for this sector, rather than relying on similar assessments from other commercial and domestic sectors, which may not be representative. This study utilised RES assessment software, HOMER (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, US) in order to compare the present RES/hybrid configuration to diesel generator-only (genset-only), RES-only and optimised RES/hybrid configurations. Analysis of both actual data and modeling results demonstrated that RES can adequately and reliably meet the power demand for stand-alone small to medium-scale tourist accommodations. Optimisation, achieved by further addition of RES to the existing configurations, reduced NPC in the majority of cases, with the added benefit of increased RF. Furthermore, NPC for these optimised RES/hybrid configurations were comparable to the optimised genset-only configurations. Modeling of conversions to RES-only configurations demonstrated this option as uneconomical unless existing RF was already high. Results indicated that wind energy conversion systems (WECS), rather than photovoltaics, were the most economical RES for sampled hybrid systems. For example, the payback time of the WECS/hybrids was approximately 3–4 years compared to PV/hybrids at 6–7 years. Hydrogen fuel cells and storage systems, whilst technically feasible, were not economically viable for the case studies due to the present high cost of components, especially compared to gensets. Modeling future potential increase in diesel fuel prices and implementation of carbon taxes shows a significant increase in NPC for genset-only configurations compared to RES/hybrid configurations in the sample. Carbon taxes of $50/ton increases NPC by 10% for genset-only systems but increases NPC less than half that amount for RES/hybrid systems. The data and subsequent modeling demonstrate that RES is both technically feasible and economically viable compared to diesel energy supply, for the small to medium-scale tourist operations sampled, dependent on stand-alone power supplies.

Suggested Citation

  • Dalton, G.J. & Lockington, D.A. & Baldock, T.E., 2009. "Case study feasibility analysis of renewable energy supply options for small to medium-sized tourist accommodations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 1134-1144.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:34:y:2009:i:4:p:1134-1144
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2008.06.018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148108002619
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2008.06.018?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rehman, Shafiqur & Bader, Maher A. & Al-Moallem, Said A., 2007. "Cost of solar energy generated using PV panels," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 11(8), pages 1843-1857, October.
    2. Zoulias, E.I. & Lymberopoulos, N., 2007. "Techno-economic analysis of the integration of hydrogen energy technologies in renewable energy-based stand-alone power systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 680-696.
    3. Bernal-Agustín, José L. & Dufo-López, Rodolfo, 2006. "Economical and environmental analysis of grid connected photovoltaic systems in Spain," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 1107-1128.
    4. Dalton, G.J. & Lockington, D.A. & Baldock, T.E., 2008. "A survey of tourist attitudes to renewable energy supply in Australian hotel accommodation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 2174-2185.
    5. Wang, Yan, 2006. "Renewable electricity in Sweden: an analysis of policy and regulations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 1209-1220, July.
    6. Sauter, Raphael & Watson, Jim, 2007. "Strategies for the deployment of micro-generation: Implications for social acceptance," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 2770-2779, May.
    7. Khan, M.J. & Iqbal, M.T., 2005. "Pre-feasibility study of stand-alone hybrid energy systems for applications in Newfoundland," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 835-854.
    8. Zhang, ZhongXiang, 2001. "An assessment of the EU proposal for ceilings on the use of Kyoto flexibility mechanisms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 53-69, April.
    9. Akella, A.K. & Sharma, M.P. & Saini, R.P., 2007. "Optimum utilization of renewable energy sources in a remote area," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 11(5), pages 894-908, June.
    10. Dalton, G.J. & Lockington, D.A. & Baldock, T.E., 2008. "Feasibility analysis of stand-alone renewable energy supply options for a large hotel," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1475-1490.
    11. Jorgenson, Dale W. & Wilcoxen, Peter J., 1993. "Reducing U.S. carbon dioxide emissions: an assessment of different instruments," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 15(5-6), pages 491-520.
    12. Bernal-Agustín, José L. & Dufo-López, Rodolfo & Rivas-Ascaso, David M., 2006. "Design of isolated hybrid systems minimizing costs and pollutant emissions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(14), pages 2227-2244.
    13. Lowe, David & Lloyd, C.R, 2001. "Renewable energy systems for remote areas in Australia," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 369-378.
    14. Paul Ekins & Stefan Speck, 1999. "Competitiveness and Exemptions From Environmental Taxes in Europe," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 13(4), pages 369-396, June.
    15. Fernández-Infantes, Alberto & Contreras, Javier & Bernal-Agustín, José L., 2006. "Design of grid connected PV systems considering electrical, economical and environmental aspects: A practical case," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(13), pages 2042-2062.
    16. Dalton, G.J. & Lockington, D.A. & Baldock, T.E., 2007. "A survey of tourist operator attitudes to renewable energy supply in Queensland, Australia," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 567-586.
    17. Iqbal, M.T., 2004. "A feasibility study of a zero energy home in Newfoundland," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 277-289.
    18. Ahmad, G.E. & El Shenawy, E.T., 2006. "Optimized photovoltiac system for hydrogen production," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 1043-1054.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dalton, G.J. & Lockington, D.A. & Baldock, T.E., 2009. "Feasibility analysis of renewable energy supply options for a grid-connected large hotel," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 955-964.
    2. Dalton, G.J. & Lockington, D.A. & Baldock, T.E., 2008. "Feasibility analysis of stand-alone renewable energy supply options for a large hotel," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1475-1490.
    3. Erdinc, O. & Uzunoglu, M., 2012. "Optimum design of hybrid renewable energy systems: Overview of different approaches," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 1412-1425.
    4. Kaundinya, Deepak Paramashivan & Balachandra, P. & Ravindranath, N.H., 2009. "Grid-connected versus stand-alone energy systems for decentralized power--A review of literature," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(8), pages 2041-2050, October.
    5. Bazmi, Aqeel Ahmed & Zahedi, Gholamreza & Hashim, Haslenda, 2011. "Progress and challenges in utilization of palm oil biomass as fuel for decentralized electricity generation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 574-583, January.
    6. Zhou, Wei & Lou, Chengzhi & Li, Zhongshi & Lu, Lin & Yang, Hongxing, 2010. "Current status of research on optimum sizing of stand-alone hybrid solar-wind power generation systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 380-389, February.
    7. Bazmi, Aqeel Ahmed & Zahedi, Gholamreza, 2011. "Sustainable energy systems: Role of optimization modeling techniques in power generation and supply—A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(8), pages 3480-3500.
    8. Bahramara, S. & Moghaddam, M. Parsa & Haghifam, M.R., 2016. "Optimal planning of hybrid renewable energy systems using HOMER: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 609-620.
    9. Sinha, Sunanda & Chandel, S.S., 2014. "Review of software tools for hybrid renewable energy systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 192-205.
    10. Padrón, Isidro & Avila, Deivis & Marichal, Graciliano N. & Rodríguez, José A., 2019. "Assessment of Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems to supplied energy to Autonomous Desalination Systems in two islands of the Canary Archipelago," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 221-230.
    11. Manfren, Massimiliano & Caputo, Paola & Costa, Gaia, 2011. "Paradigm shift in urban energy systems through distributed generation: Methods and models," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(4), pages 1032-1048, April.
    12. Tezer, Tuba & Yaman, Ramazan & Yaman, Gülşen, 2017. "Evaluation of approaches used for optimization of stand-alone hybrid renewable energy systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 840-853.
    13. Bernal-Agustín, José L. & Dufo-López, Rodolfo, 2009. "Simulation and optimization of stand-alone hybrid renewable energy systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(8), pages 2111-2118, October.
    14. Türkay, Belgin Emre & Telli, Ali Yasin, 2011. "Economic analysis of standalone and grid connected hybrid energy systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 1931-1943.
    15. William E., Lilley & Luke J., Reedman & Liam D., Wagner & Colin F., Alie & Anthony R., Szatow, 2012. "An economic evaluation of the potential for distributed energy in Australia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 277-289.
    16. Dalton, G.J. & Alcorn, R. & Lewis, T., 2010. "Case study feasibility analysis of the Pelamis wave energy convertor in Ireland, Portugal and North America," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 443-455.
    17. Chauhan, Anurag & Saini, R.P., 2014. "A review on Integrated Renewable Energy System based power generation for stand-alone applications: Configurations, storage options, sizing methodologies and control," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 99-120.
    18. Perera, A.T.D. & Attalage, R.A. & Perera, K.K.C.K. & Dassanayake, V.P.C., 2013. "Designing standalone hybrid energy systems minimizing initial investment, life cycle cost and pollutant emission," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 220-230.
    19. Lacko, R. & Drobnič, B. & Mori, M. & Sekavčnik, M. & Vidmar, M., 2014. "Stand-alone renewable combined heat and power system with hydrogen technologies for household application," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 164-170.
    20. Allan, Grant & Eromenko, Igor & Gilmartin, Michelle & Kockar, Ivana & McGregor, Peter, 2015. "The economics of distributed energy generation: A literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 543-556.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:34:y:2009:i:4:p:1134-1144. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.