Techno-economic assessment of a bioenergy driven Cogeneration system for rural applications
Biomass energy systems have gained popularity due to their environmentally friendly approach to harmful greenhouse gases and low biomass costs.
Background:
In emerging countries, fossil fuels have been the primary energy source for covering electricity demands in remote rural areas while mostly firewood and rarely LPG have served to cover the demands of gas for cooking and thermal services. However, rising energy service prices and the harmful emissions of fossil fuels into the atmosphere are prompting a growth in the use of local renewable energy sources for covering the mentioned services.
Biomass energy systems have gained popularity due to their environmentally friendly approach to harmful greenhouse gases and low biomass costs. These technologies, i.e., biomass driven cogeneration systems, have the potential to address environmental issues (since fossil fuel use is displaced) while still being capable of meeting electricity and thermal demands of a growing rural population.
Introduction:
Despite the recent popularity of Bolivian environmental legislation that aims to promote the adoption of renewable energy systems, relatively limited techno-economic assessments of these technologies in rural Bolivian contexts have been performed. As economic and technological variables are connected with project location, it is important to consider the relation between system costs and location without neglecting the energy services demand.
A typical Bolivian rural village will be considered for studying the techno-economic feasibility of applying a cogeneration system. This energy system should be able to meet the electricity demand, and the potential thermal services required (e.g., for house heating, water heating, drying systems or other uses). The cogeneration system consists of PV panels, a combined cycle—externally fueled micro turbine, and a Stirling engine. The electrical and thermal service demands of the selected village along with the use of available tools (models and techniques) will be used for finding the optimal size of the main system components.
This work's goal is to apply a techno-economic optimization tool in a proposed cogeneration system (for a rural village in Bolivia) and analyze the main factors that can result in the feasibility of the energy solution.
Starting date:
September 14th, 2022
Project Partners:
KTH
Work Plan proposal
KTH Supervisors:
Examiner :