Decarbonizing the Galapagos Islands: Techno-Economic Perspectives for the Hybrid Renewable Mini-Grid Baltra–Santa Cruz

Autor: Sarah Berendes, Andrea A. Eras-Almeida, Enrique García-Alcalde, Philipp Blechinger, Estefanía Caamaño, Miguel A. Egido-Aguilera
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
hybrid renewable mini-grid
020209 energy
Geography
Planning and Development
lcsh:TJ807-830
lcsh:Renewable energy sources
02 engineering and technology
010501 environmental sciences
Management
Monitoring
Policy and Law
Energy transition
01 natural sciences
techno-economic analysis
homer pro
galapagos islands
0202 electrical engineering
electronic engineering
information engineering
auctions
Energy supply
business models
Cost of electricity by source
lcsh:Environmental sciences
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
energy community model
lcsh:GE1-350
decarbonization
Renewable Energy
Sustainability and the Environment
business.industry
lcsh:Environmental effects of industries and plants
Environmental economics
renewable energy
Renewable energy
Electricity generation
lcsh:TD194-195
Distributed generation
Electricity
business
Efficient energy use
Zdroj: Sustainability, Vol 12, Iss 6, p 2282 (2020)
Sustainability
Volume 12
Issue 6
ISSN: 2071-1050
Popis: The fragile ecosystem of the Galapagos Islands is being affected by population growth, intensive tourism, the exploitation of local resources and the high consumption of imported fossil fuels. This unsustainable development model makes the provision of services such as electricity a challenge. This research investigates the hybrid renewable mini-grid Baltra&ndash
Santa Cruz, which represents 62% of the electricity generation mix of the archipelago. This study aims to support the Galapagos Zero Fossil Fuel Initiative and the Sustainable Development Goal 7 through the reduction in diesel consumption and electricity generation costs. To do so, HOMER Pro, a specialized hybrid renewable mini-grid planning tool, is used to perform several techno-economic assessments, focusing on different electricity demand scenarios. Therefore, multiple pathways are compared to identify the most reliable alternatives towards the progressive decarbonization of this hybrid system. The results indicate that installing 18.25 MWp of photovoltaic and 20.68 MWh of battery capacity could reduce the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) from 32.06 to 18.95 USc/kWh, increasing the renewable energy (RE) share from 18% to 39%. Additionally, the successful application of energy efficiency measures would even reduce the LCOE to 17.10 USc/kWh. What is more, distributed energy is considered the most attractive way to involve islanders in the energy transition process. Finally, this paper offers a comprehensive business model proposal to achieve a resilient energy supply, based on a combination of auctions and energy community models, which demands high political will, reliable and innovative regulations and social awareness about energy use.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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