Feasibility Analysis of Solar Powered Power plant in Sultanate of Oman

DOI : 10.17577/IJERTCONV6IS09001

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Feasibility Analysis of Solar Powered Power plant in Sultanate of Oman

Arun. S. Gopinath

Lecturer – Electrical Power Section Engineering dept., Shinas College of Technology

Shinas, Sultanate of Oman

Abstract Sultanate of Oman is Identified as one among the significant solar energy potential Zone. A preliminary study of options for the expansion of power generation capacity has identified solar energy development as potentially prospective The level of Solar Energy density in Oman is among the highest in the world . In this context , a feasibility analysis for solar powered technologies to be done. Taking into consideration of these facts , in this paper an attempt is done for the Feasibility analysis of Photo Voltaic & Concentrating Solar power(CSP)technologies in different regions of Sultanate of Oman.

Keywords RETscreen4 , GHG emission , Emission factor , Capacity factor , life cycle costing

  1. INTRODUCTION

    The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states i.e. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Oman are dependent on fossil fuel (the main cause of carbon emissions); and their economies are reliant on the oil, gas and petrochemical based industries. Electricity demand in Oman is increasing with industrialization. In this paper, the economic feasibility of the Solar Photo Voltaic and Concentrating Solar Power Power plant of 5MW capacity is analysed for different locations in Sultanate of Oman. The locations selected are ; Thumrait , Salalah , Sohar and Nizwa.

  2. RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES

    1. Requirement of Renewable Energy Technologies

      First, As on February 2011, 191 countries in the world have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change (UNFCC) with the goal of achieving stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations. Oman, as a member of UNFCC has agreed on January 2005 to contribute to combating global warming along with the rest of the world[1 To meet the future electricity demand, the government has recently announced to invest on upgradation and construction of the conventional diesel, gas and coal based power plants. This action will persist to enhance the emission of Greenhouse Gases (GHG). To diminish the ill effects of climate-sensitivities and to combat global warming problem, reduction of CO2 and other pollutants is inevitable. For these aspects use of Renewable energy technologies is the best option. The level of solar energy density in Oman is among the highest in the world. There is significant scope for

      developing both solar PV and Concentrating Solar Power throughout Oman. Solar energy systems can meet the Omans peak demand requirements and provide some electricity for export. High solar energy density is available in all regions of Oman.

    2. Solar Photo Voltaic Power Generation

      The solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is a well proven technology for producing Electricity. PV systems are either grid connected (with electricity fed directly into the grid system) or PV systems used in off-grid applications in small power systems in combination with diesel power gen-sets.. The potential for producing electricity using PV systems is highest during the summer which coincides with the period of peak electricity demand in Oman. The most parts of country bear clear sky (except some part of southern Oman) with annual average sunshine duration of 3708 hours per year [4].

    3. Concentrating Solar power(CSP)

      Suitable land availability and the direct solar radiation are the main essentialities for the CSP based power generation. These 2 factors are abundant in sultanate.CSP based on the troughs or tower concepts can be an option in Oman. Sultanate of Oman is blessed with a higher insolation rate of more than 4.5 to 6.1 kWh/m2/day for autonomy of 342 days throughout the year.

    4. RETSCREEN 4 for feasibility analysis

    RETScreen 4 is Canadian software which holds a complete database for any location in the world, optimised for using the best available data at each location from about 20 sources, the main ones being the WRDC and the NASA irradiance data. NASA and WRDC data are available free of cost. RETScreen International is a clean energy awareness, decision- support and capacity building tool.

    The core of the tool consists of standardised and integrated clean energy project analysis software that can be used world-wide to evaluate the energy production, life-cycle costs and greenhouse gas emission reductions for various types of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies (RETs).

    In this paper the feasibility analysis of 5MW Photovoltaic & CSP based power Generation in Oman are compared.

  3. GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS SELECTED FOR ANALYSIS

    For the analysis, 4 selected locations in Sultanate of Oman are (1)Sohar (2) Thumrait (3) Salalah (4) Nizwa

    Figure 1:Locations in Sultanate of Oman[11]

    1. Sohar

      Table 1. Geographical location Parameters ; Sohar

      Parameter

      Magnitude

      Unit

      Latitude

      24.5

      N

      Longitude

      56.6

      E

      Elevation

      4

      m

    2. Thumrait

      Table 2. Geographical location Parameters ; Thumrait

      Parameter

      Magnitude

      Unit

      Latitude

      23.6

      N

      Longitude

      58.3

      E

      Elevation

      10

      m

    3. Salalah

      Table 3. Geographical location Parameters ; Salalah

    4. Nizwa

Table 4. Geographical location Parameters ; Nizwa

Parameter

Magnitude

Unit

Latitude

22.9

N

Longitude

57.5

E

Elevation

383

m

Direct Solar radiation data for all the 4 geographical locations selected are given in Table 5. These datas are projected from the weather database of RETScreen 4.

Table 5: Average Monthly Solar Radiation in KWh/m²/day of different Locations

For further discussions location considered will be Thumrait as it is having the highest average monthly solar radiation. In this paper, 2 case studies of Solar PV and solar thermal technologies power plant of 5MW capacity are considered.. Major conventional power plants in Oman are working with natural gas as fuel. So comparison will be with Natural gas run Gas turbine based power plants. Transmission and Distribution losses are taken as 14 %.The feasibility analysis is done in RETscreen in 3 stages.

Stage -1 Energy Modelling Stage -2 Emission Analysis Stage -3 Financial Analysis

IV SOLAR PV GRID CONNECTED POWER PLANT 5MW

Parameter

Magnitude

Unit

Latitude

17.0

N

Longitude

54.1

E

Elevation

23

m

Solar PV System is analysed in RETscreen under 2 cases schematic is as shown in Figure 2;

  1. PV system without Green House Gas reduction credits

.

Figure 2: Electrical schematic model for PV Powered powerplant

  1. Energy Modeling of PV Powered RO

    Table 6: Specifications of Solar PV parameters used in Energy model of RETscreen Analysis

    Parameter

    Specification/Rating

    Capacity of installation

    5MW

    Type of PV module used

    Mono crystalline Si

    Manufacturer/model

    BP/ Mono-Si BP5170S

    Capacity Factor

    20%

    No of Modules

    29416units

    Total MWh to Grid

    8761.3

    Electricity Export rate

    78$/MWh

  2. Emission Analysis of PV Powered RO

    Conventional power generation in Oman is the natural gas based combined cycle power generation. Annual Greenhouse gas (GHG)emission for the natural gas based power plants are calculated by the RETscreen as 7591Tonnes of carbon dioxide (tCO2) while generating 8761MWh of electricity to grid. Proposed PV based desalination has zero GHG emission and net annual GHG emission reduction is 7591 tCO2 which is equivalent to 17654 barrels of crude oil not consumed. A clear cut policy for the carbon credit scheme is not approved in GCC countries. So we adopted literatures for the carbon credit Mechanisms [10]. A Transmission & Distribution loss for this system is 14% [7].

    Table 7: Inputs for the Emission Analysis of PV Powered RO

    Base Line System in Oman

    Natural gas based

    Power generation

    T&D Losses

    14%

    GHG Emission factor

    0.866 tCO2/MWh

    Electricity exported to grid

    8761MWh

    GHG reduction Calculation Inputs

    GHG reduction credit rate

    30 $/ tCO2

    GHG Reduction credit duration

    15Year

    GHG reduction credit escalation rate

    2%

    Table 8: Calculated GHG Emission reduction for PV Powered RO Systems by

    RETscreen

    GHG Emission

    Base line Case

    7591 tCO2

    Proposed case

    0 tCO2

    Gross annual GHG emission reduction

    7591 tCO2

    Equivalent Crude oil consumed for NET annual GHG emission reduction

    17654Barrels of Crude oil

    Gross GH Gas emission reduction credit rate is 30$/tCO2

    [10] and its credit duration is 15 years. GHG reduction credit escalation rate is 2%. This data will be carried on for the next stage of financial analysis in RETscreen.

  3. Financial Analysis of PV Power Plant

Financially, the project will be feasible or not can be observed from its payback period calculation. Inflation rate of Oman is observed to be 4%[11]. The initial cost for the PV installation and its accessories is taken as 2333332.48$/MW[9]. Annual Maintenance cost of the unit is taken 10% of its initial capital cost [12].

Table 9: Inputs for the Financial Analysis of PV Powered RO

Inflation Rate

4%

Project Life

25 years

Initial cost of system

2333332.48$/MW

Operating cost

10% of capital cost annually

Electricity export income

78$/MWh

GHG Reduction income

30 $/ tCO2

Table 9: Results of the Financial Analysis of PV Power Plant

Figure 3: Cumulative Cash flow graphs of case a&b of Solar PV power plant

  1. SOLAR THERMAL BASED POWER PLANT(CSP)

    Solar Thermal System based power plant is analysed in RETscreen under 3 cases;

    1. Solar CSP system for RO without Energy storage (ES) and Green House Gas reduction credits

    2. Solar CSP system for RO with Energy storage and Without Green House Gas reduction credits

    3. Solar CSP system for RO with Energy storage and Green House Gas reduction credits

      Figure 4: Block diagram model adopted for Solar Thermal Powered

      power plant

      1. Energy Modeling for CSP powered power plant

        Table10: Specifications of Solar CSP module used in RET screen Analysis

        Parameter

        Specification/Rating

        Capacity of installation

        5MW

        Type of Thermal module

        CSP

        Manufacturer/model

        Solargenix Energy/LS2

        Capacity Factor

        20%

        Total MWh to Grid

        8760MWh

        Since the power generation will be 3 times that of the power generation of CSP without energy storage medium[10], capacity factor for the CSP with energy storage medium was considered 60% in the case b and c.

      2. Emission Analysis of CSP powered Power plant

        Table 11: Inputs for the Emission Analysis of CSP Powered power plant

        Base Line System in Oman

        Natural gas based

        Power generation

        T&D Losses

        14%

        GHG Emission factor

        0.866 tCO2/MWh

        Electricity exported to grid by CSP without

        Energy storage

        8761MWh

        Electricity exported to grid by CSP with Energy storage

        26280MWh

        GHG reduction Calculation Inputs

        GHG reduction credit rate

        30 $/ tCO2

        GHG Reduction credit duration

        15Year

        GHG reduction credit escalation rate

        2%

        Table 12: Calculated GHG Emission reduction for CSP Powered power plant by RETscreen

        GHG Emission

        Base Line system comparing with CSP

        without storage

        7591 tCO2

        Base Line system comparing with CSP with

        storage

        22769.8 tCO2

        Proposed case CSP with or without energy

        storage

        0 tCO2

        Gross annual GHG emission reduction for

        CSP without energy storage

        7591 tCO2

        Gross annual GHG emission reduction for

        CSP with Energy storage

        22769.8 tCO2

        Equivalent Crude oil consumed for NET annual GHG emission reduction comparing

        to CSP without storage

        17654Barrels of Crude oil

        Equivalent Crude oil consumed for NET

        annual GHG emission reduction comparing to CSP with storage

        52953 Barrels of Crude oil

      3. Financial Analysis of CSP powered Power plant

    When Energy storage facility added to the basic CSP module ,the initial cost as well as the maintenance cost of the system will increase but at the same time the output power is also increasing . Inflation rate of Oman is 4% [11].

    Table13 : Inputs for the Financial Analysis of CSP Powered RO

    Inflation Rate

    4%

    Project Life

    25 years

    Initial cost of CSP system without

    storage

    2588996 $/MW [9]

    Initial cost of CSP system with

    storage

    3721683 $/MW [9]

    Operating cost

    10% of initial cost annually

    Electricity export income

    78$/MWh

    GHG Reduction income

    30 $/ tCO2

    Figure 5: Cumulative Cash flow graphs of case a,b &C of Solar CSP powered Power plant

    Table14 : Comparison of pay back periods in 3 cases of CSP Powered Power plant.

  2. CONCLUSIONS

Among the solar technologies considered in this RETscreen analysis for Power plants in Oman, Concentrating solar power(CSP) with energy storage systems seems to be a viable option in Thumrait with GHG reduction credits.

REFERENCES

  1. Bachellerie, I. J. (2012) Renewable energy in GCC countries resources, potential, and prospects. Gulf Research Centre. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

  2. Qader, M. (2009) Electricity Consumption and GHG Emissions in GCC Countries, Energies, 2, pp: 1201-1213.

  3. Dziuban, M. (2011) Scarcity and strategy in the GCC. Center for Strategic International Studies.

  4. UNEP-Regional Officer of West Asia (ROWA). (2005) Environmental impacts of the arab oil and gas sector, Arab regional conference on energy for sustainability development, Cairo, Egypt.

  5. Oman Power and Water Procurement Co. (2012) OPWPs 7- years statement (2012-2018).

  6. Oman Power and Water Procurement Co. (2011) OPWPs 2011 annual report.

  7. Authority for Electricity Regulation. (2008) Study on renewable energy resources, Oman.

  8. Shatat, M, Riffat, S. B. (2012) Water desalination technologies utilizing conventional and renewable resources, International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies, 0, pp: 1- 19.

  9. Explanatory memorandum for benchmark capital cost Norms for Solar PV Power Projects and Solar Thermal Power Projects to be applicable For the year 2011-12 CERC, India (2010)

  10. Capacity Development for the Clean Development Mechanism (CD4CDM), UNEP,) CD4CDM, 2010.

  11. CIA Facts File 2012-13.

  12. Ali AlKaraghouli ,LL Kazmerski (2009)Renewable Energy Opportunities in water desalination Desalination Trends and Technologies, 177 pp; 149-180

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