Feasibility study of a smart hybrid renewable energy system to supply the electricity and heat demand of Eram Campus, Shiraz University; simulation, optimization, and sensitivity analysis

Supplying the ever-increasing energy demand both economically viable and environmentally friendly is among the primary challenges of the present century. In this regard, the current research suggests a resilient smart hybrid renewable energy system to supply the electricity and heat demand of Eram Campus, Shiraz University. Pre-assessments are carried out to realize the energy demand, primary energy potentials, and geographical constraints of the Campus. In the present work, simulations, optimizations, and sensitivity analyses are performed to explore the feasibility of utilizing a unique integrated energy system to meet the load demand of the case study. The results indicate that the suggested energy system consists of a micro gas turbine with combined heat and power module, thermal boilers, converters, photovoltaic panels, pumped hydro storage units, and a predictive controller. To make use of the proposed power plant, $15 M is needed for initial capital cost. Levelized cost of electricity and net present cost of the system are 0.09$/kWh and $42.5 M, respectively. Based on the findings, using the suggested energy system reduces the annual carbon dioxide production of the Campus by 8000 megatonnes compared when using the national energy grid. Furthermore, the calculations reflected that the impacts of variations in financial parameters, carbon penalty, energy demand increase, and allowable capacity shortage on the characteristics of the energy system are considerable. In the most economical strategy, the capacities of the gas turbine, thermal boiler, photovoltaic panel, converter, and pumped hydro storage should be 2650 kW, 17 MW, 13754 kW, 4995 kW, and 70 units, respectively, to meet the increase of 50% in energy demand. By reducing the energy consumption in specific time steps by 1% of the total load, the net present cost and levelized cost of electricity significantly decline by 6% and 15%, respectively. The results of this study concern whatever the policymakers need to ensure the feasibility of implementing a smart integrated energy system to reach the first renewable-powered University Campus in Iran.

Automated summary

The study proposes a resilient smart hybrid renewable energy system to supply the electricity and heat demand of Eram Campus, Shiraz University. Simulations, optimizations, and sensitivity analyses show that the system can significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions and perform well economically.