Suggestions on the Current Electricity Price Level and Policies in China

The State Council decided to raise the retail electricity price by 0.25 Yuan/kWh from July, 2008. This will, to some extent, relieve the conflicts between power supply and demand, and decrease the economic losses in

Quantifying social costs of coal-fired power plant generation

Coal has been dominating the electricity supply in Indonesia,especially in long-term power generation from fossil energy.This dominance is due to lower production costs in coal-fired power plant generation.However,this low price is only based on monetary costs and ignores the social costs.Therefore,this study aims to quantify the social costs of coal-fired generation.Using QUERI-AirPacts modeling,the present study quantifies the social costs resulting from the Tenayan Raya coal-fired generation in Riau,Indonesia.It includes the levelized cost of electricity and health costs into the generation costs.After that,this study calculates the net present value,internal rate return,and project payback period.The study found that as much as$50.22/MWh was the levelized cost of electricity.While$15.978/MWh or$0.015978/kWh was the social cost that was not included in the generating cost.At the electricity production level of 1,380,171.69 MWh per year,there is an expected extra cost of$22,052,383.30 uncounted when externalities are included.For instance,the net present value(NPV)is lower and even negative when external costs are included(-$24,062,274.19)compared to$176,108,091.52 when externalities are not considered.The internal rate of return(IRR)is much higher when the social costs are not considered.The payback period is also shorter when the social costs are excluded than when the externalities are included.This global number indicates that the inclusion of external costs would impact NPV,IRR,and the payback period.This result implies that the government should internalize the external cost to stimulate the electricity producers to conduct cost-benefit analyses.The cost-benefit analysis mechanism would lead the producers to be more efficient.

Development modes analysis of renewable energy power generation in North Africa

North African countries generally have strategic demands for energy transformation and sustainable development.Renewable energy development is important to achieve this goal.Considering three typical types of renewable energies—wind,photovoltaic(PV),and concentrating solar power(CSP)—an optimal planning model is established to minimize construction costs and power curtailment losses.The levelized cost of electricity is used as an index for assessing economic feasibility.In this study,wind and PV,wind/PV/CSP,and transnational interconnection modes are designed for Morocco,Egypt,and Tunisia.The installed capacities of renewable energy power generation are planned through the time sequence production simulation method for each country.The results show that renewable energy combined with power generation,including the CSP mode,can improve reliability of the power supply and reduce the power curtailment rate.The transnational interconnection mode can help realize mutual benefits of renewable energy power,while the apportionment of electricity prices and trading mechanisms are very important and are related to economic feasibility;thus,this mode is important for the future development of renewable energy in North Africa.

Capacity Configuration of Hybrid CSP/PV Plant for Economical Application of Solar Energy

Concentrating solar power(CSP)technology has received increasing attention in recent years because of its distinct advantage for dispatchable power generation from solar energy.However,owing to its highly levelized costs of electricity,CSP plants are less competitive than photovoltaic(PV)power plants.To overcome this drawback and suppress PV power fluctuations,the concept of a hybrid CSP/PV power plant is proposed and developed.A capacity configuration method based on filtering and checking is proposed to seek a relationship between the capacity configuration of a hybrid CSP/PV system and the cost of solar energy.Co-content hybrid systems with different ratios of CSP capacity and PV capacity are modeled,and their comprehensive performance is investigated.Simulations and comparisons with a standalone CSP system focused on annual energy generation,capacity factor,levelized cost of electricity,and possibility for loss of power supply show that the hybrid CSP/PV systems possess different features depending on their capacity configurations.The results indicate that the proposed method can supply a convenient and simple operation pattern that favors engineering utilization and extension.

Energetic, economic, and environmental analysis of solid oxide fuel cell-based combined cooling, heating, and power system for cancer care hospital

In this study,energetic,economic,and environmental analysis of solid oxide fuel cell-based combined cooling,heating,and power(SOFC-CCHP)system is proposed for a cancer care hospital building.The energy required for the hospital power,cooling,and heating demands was obtained based on real and detailed field data,which could serve as a reference for future works in the field.These data with a 3D model for the hospital building are constructed and created in eQUEST software to precisely calculate the energy demands of the existing system(baseline case).Then,energetic,economic,and environmental models were developed to compare and assess the performance of the proposed SOFC-CCHP system.The results show that the proposed system can cover about 49% to 77% of the power demand of the hospital with an overall efficiency of 78.3%.Also,the results show that the levelized cost of electricity of the system and its payback period at the designed capacity of the SOFC is 0.087S/kWh and 10 years,respectively.Furthermore,compared to the baseline system of the hospital,the SOFC-CCHP reduces the CO_(2) emission by 89% over the year.The sensitivity analysis showed that a maximum SOFC efficiency of 52%and overall efficiency of 80%are achieved at cell operating temperature of 1027℃ and fuel utilization factor of 0.85.

Dynamic Comprehensive Assessment of Power Development Based on Provincial Data

Dynamic comprehensive assessment of regional power industry development levels is of paramount importance for understanding the development characteristics and potential of the local power industry.A tri-level evaluation index system is established,describing five aspects of the local power industry development level,specifically,the coordination degree between the power industry and economy/energy,power generation,power consumption,power supply and development potential.A combination of information entropy and the analytic hierarchy process(AHP)is used to establish a static evaluation model,and a blend of subjective opinions and objective data information is then realized.By aggregating the static evaluation model for each time period based on a time-ordered weighting vector calculated using time-ordered information entropy,a dynamic comprehensive evaluation model of power industry development level is established.By considering provincial data from China recorded during 2007 to 2016 as the sample set,through synchronic and diachronic comparisons of the evaluation results,the differences,characteristics and potential of local power industry development in China are explored.

Techno-economic analysis to develop the first wind farm in the Egyptian western desert at Elkharga Oasis

During the past few years,Egypt has increased the share of electricity generation from renewable energy sources to achieve the renewable-energy strategy.The Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy has set an ambitious target to increase the share of renewable energy among the total energy mix to be 20%by 2022 and 42%by 2035.This target will be achieved using several approved policies such as feed-in tariffs,build-own-operate and independent power producers under a merchant scheme.This paper presents a full analysis of wind-potential characteristics at Elkharga Oasis in Egypt based on an actual wind-measurement campaign taken by a met mast at two height levels of 10 and 25 m,respectively.The measurements show an average annual wind speed of 5.72 m/s at 10-m height and 6.53 m/s at>25-m height.The estimated wind speed,however,is 8.38 m/s at 120 m,which is technically convenient to generate electricity from wind energy.In this paper,the wind potential in the area is assessed using the statistical method of the Weibull probability density function.The different methods to estimate the Weibull distribution parameters are presented and the relevant accuracy is verified based on the root mean square error.A techno-economic assessment and selection of the optimal wind-turbine size with ideal micro-sitings are performed using the software package windPRO.Different cases of study for three typical wind-turbine models with various rotor diameters,power capacity,layout configuration and annual yield are assessed at the site.The selection of the most convenient wind turbine is determined based on the IEC 61400 standard criteria and the turbine that produces the lowest levelized cost of electricity.

Managing the lifecycle of perovskite solar cells: Addressing stability and environmental concerns from utilization to end-of-life

Perovskite solar cells(PSCs)have shown remarkable advancements and achieved impressive power conversion efficiencies since their initial introduction in 2012.However,challenges regarding stability,quality,and sustainability must be addressed for their successful commercial use.This review analyses the recent studies and challenges related to the operating life and end-of-life utilization of PSCs.Strategies to enhance the stability and mitigate the toxic Pb leakage in operational and recycling approaches of discarded PSCs post their end-of-life are examined to establish a viable and sustainable PSC industry.Additionally,future research directions are proposed for the advancements in the PSC industry.The goal is to ensure high efficiency as well as economic and environmental sustainability throughout the lifecycle of PSCs.