One of the challenges in electrifying the remote areas which is at distant from the national grids is the high impose of energy cost per kwh of energy both in generation and in customer bill payment. In the interest of reducing this cost, do you thing the electrical load demand amount play a role in this matter? or in other words, does the economics production theory (mass production) work here in reducing the final product cost ($/kwh)?
Dear Samuel
A prefeasibility study can help you answer your question. What are the components of your hybrid system (PV, Wind, Diesel Generator, CSP, Fuel cell, Hydro, Biomass, Hydrogene, storage,etc)? Which site are you considering? What is the profile of your electricity demand?.....
Yes Samuel the economics theory always works as you stated. Mass production means more consumers and the price in $/kW will definitely decrease but this will imply a high initial capital investment cost.
the production cost of electricity remains the same in the conventional generation..but it will increase in terms of renewable generation. It depends on the several factors such as location, what type of RES are used etc... load demand plays a vital role in case for hybrid generation. you will not be investing lot of money into hybrid power to meet a minimal load.
The electricity generated in Hybrid power plant needs to filtered and each component of power may be used for electricity. Yes Electricity demand side need to specify the Power factor.
On a very simplified basis, the total cost of the system will be close to
A + B * KW + C * KWH
Unit costs will be
A/KWH + B/(load factor)+ C
So, if you keep the load factor the same, the size of the system has little effect on the unit cost, other than allowing you to amortize the fixed start up cots over more and more energy.
The electrical load demand size will definitely affect component sizing which is cost oriented. Also for hybrid system the initial cost of investment will depend on the combination of your renewable energy system mix. A good feasibility study will be imperative.
Bro,
As far as the renewables (wind and PV) are concerned, the directly varying costs are almost zero ( fuel is free of cost).
But if you consider the initial costs, it is a different story with different sources.
In case of a wind turbine, the initial cost of the turbine will not vary directly with the capacity. The cost of a 1000 kW wind generator definitely will not be double of that of a 500 kW wind generator. Definitely it will be lesser.
But the story with the PV panels is different. The cost of 1000 kW panel is definitely double of that of 500 kW panel, as they are usually available in modules of kW.
The answer to your question is Yes. The demand decides the capacity of the microgrid and the capacity decides the cost of energy. But how the cost of energy varies with the capacity depends on the composition.
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