IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v80y2015icp85-100.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of a Thai Island's diesel/PV/wind hybrid microgrid

Author

Listed:
  • Smith, Cameron
  • Burrows, John
  • Scheier, Eric
  • Young, Amberli
  • Smith, Jessica
  • Young, Tiffany
  • Gheewala, Shabbir H.

Abstract

Hybrid microgrid systems are an emerging tool for rural electrification due in part to their purported environmental benefits. This study uses Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to compare the environmental impacts of a diesel/PV/wind hybrid microgrid on the island of Koh Jig, Thailand with the electrification alternatives of grid extension and home diesel generators. The impact categories evaluated are: acidification potential (kg SO2 eq), global warming potential (kg CO2 eq), human toxicity potential (kg 1.4 DCB eq), and abiotic resource depletion potential (kg Sb eq). The results show that the microgrid system has the lowest global warming and abiotic resource depletion potentials of all three electrification scenarios. The use phase of the diesel generator and the extraction of copper are shown to significantly contribute to the microgrid's environmental impacts. The relative environmental impacts of the grid extension scenario are found to be proportional to the distance required for grid extension. Across all categories except acidification potential, the impacts from the home diesel generators are the largest. Sensitivity analyses show that maximizing the renewable energy fraction does not necessarily produce a more environmentally sustainable electrification scenario and that the diesel generator provides versatility to the system by allowing power production to be scaled significantly before more technology is needed to meet demand. While the environmental benefits of the microgrid increase as the installation community becomes more isolated, the choice of electrification scenario requires assigning relative importance to each impact category and considering social and economic factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Smith, Cameron & Burrows, John & Scheier, Eric & Young, Amberli & Smith, Jessica & Young, Tiffany & Gheewala, Shabbir H., 2015. "Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of a Thai Island's diesel/PV/wind hybrid microgrid," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 85-100.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:80:y:2015:i:c:p:85-100
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2015.01.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148115000105
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2015.01.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Phuangpornpitak, N. & Kumar, S., 2011. "User acceptance of diesel/PV hybrid system in an island community," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 125-131.
    2. del Río, Pablo & Burguillo, Mercedes, 2009. "An empirical analysis of the impact of renewable energy deployment on local sustainability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(6-7), pages 1314-1325, August.
    3. Green, Donna, 2004. "Thailand's solar white elephants: an analysis of 15 yr of solar battery charging programmes in northern Thailand," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 747-760, April.
    4. Chaurey, Akanksha & Kandpal, Tara Chandra, 2010. "Assessment and evaluation of PV based decentralized rural electrification: An overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(8), pages 2266-2278, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. T. Chamarande & S. Mathy & B. Hingray, 2022. "The least cost design of 100% solar power microgrids in Africa: sensitivity to meteorological and economic drivers and possibility for simple pre-sizing rules," Post-Print hal-03740059, HAL.
    2. Kockel, Christina & Nolting, Lars & Goldbeck, Rafael & Wulf, Christina & De Doncker, Rik W. & Praktiknjo, Aaron, 2022. "A scalable life cycle assessment of alternating and direct current microgrids in office buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    3. Guangqian, Du & Bekhrad, Kaveh & Azarikhah, Pouria & Maleki, Akbar, 2018. "A hybrid algorithm based optimization on modeling of grid independent biodiesel-based hybrid solar/wind systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 551-560.
    4. Wang, Richard & Lam, Chor-Man & Hsu, Shu-Chien & Chen, Jieh-Haur, 2019. "Life cycle assessment and energy payback time of a standalone hybrid renewable energy commercial microgrid: A case study of Town Island in Hong Kong," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C), pages 760-775.
    5. Wouter Schram & Atse Louwen & Ioannis Lampropoulos & Wilfried van Sark, 2019. "Comparison of the Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Potential of Energy Communities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-23, November.
    6. Das, Sayan & De, Souvanik & Dutta, Risav & De, Sudipta, 2024. "Multi-criteria decision-making for techno-economic and environmentally sustainable decentralized hybrid power and green hydrogen cogeneration system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    7. Jacquetta Lee, 2021. "Environmental Hotspot Assessment for a PV Mini-Grid Design: A Case Study for Malawi," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-19, July.
    8. Richard Wallsgrove & Jisuk Woo & Jae-Hyup Lee & Lorraine Akiba, 2021. "The Emerging Potential of Microgrids in the Transition to 100% Renewable Energy Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-28, March.
    9. Rafique, M. Mujahid & Rehman, S. & Alhems, Luai M., 2018. "Developing zero energy and sustainable villages – A case study for communities of the future," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 565-574.
    10. Mérida García, A. & Gallagher, J. & McNabola, A. & Camacho Poyato, E. & Montesinos Barrios, P. & Rodríguez Díaz, J.A., 2019. "Comparing the environmental and economic impacts of on- or off-grid solar photovoltaics with traditional energy sources for rural irrigation systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 895-904.
    11. Zhao, Bo & Chen, Jian & Zhang, Leiqi & Zhang, Xuesong & Qin, Ruwen & Lin, Xiangning, 2018. "Three representative island microgrids in the East China Sea: Key technologies and experiences," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 262-274.
    12. Fang, Xinli & Yang, Qiang & Dong, Wei, 2018. "Fuzzy decision based energy dispatch in offshore industrial microgrid with desalination process and multi-type DGs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 744-755.
    13. Aberilla, Jhud Mikhail & Gallego-Schmid, Alejandro & Azapagic, Adisa, 2019. "Environmental sustainability of small-scale biomass power technologies for agricultural communities in developing countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 493-506.
    14. Jordi Cravioto & Hideaki Ohgaki & Hang Seng Che & ChiaKwang Tan & Satoru Kobayashi & Hla Toe & Bun Long & Eth Oudaya & Nasrudin Abd Rahim & Hooman Farzeneh, 2020. "The Effects of Rural Electrification on Quality of Life: A Southeast Asian Perspective," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-28, May.
    15. Heydari, Ali & Askarzadeh, Alireza, 2016. "Optimization of a biomass-based photovoltaic power plant for an off-grid application subject to loss of power supply probability concept," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 601-611.
    16. Papageorgiou, Asterios & Ashok, Archana & Hashemi Farzad, Tabassom & Sundberg, Cecilia, 2020. "Climate change impact of integrating a solar microgrid system into the Swedish electricity grid," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    17. Mohammad Shafiey Dehaj & Hassan Hajabdollahi, 2021. "Multi-objective optimization of hybrid solar/wind/diesel/battery system for different climates of Iran," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(7), pages 10910-10936, July.
    18. Kittner, Noah & Gheewala, Shabbir H. & Kammen, Daniel M., 2016. "Energy return on investment (EROI) of mini-hydro and solar PV systems designed for a mini-grid," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 410-419.
    19. Li, Mengyu & Zhang, Xiongwen & Li, Guojun & Jiang, Chaoyang, 2016. "A feasibility study of microgrids for reducing energy use and GHG emissions in an industrial application," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 138-148.
    20. Thomas Sachs & Anna Gründler & Milos Rusic & Gilbert Fridgen, 2019. "Framing Microgrid Design from a Business and Information Systems Engineering Perspective," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 61(6), pages 729-744, December.
    21. Aberilla, Jhud Mikhail & Gallego-Schmid, Alejandro & Stamford, Laurence & Azapagic, Adisa, 2020. "Design and environmental sustainability assessment of small-scale off-grid energy systems for remote rural communities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    22. Maria Christina Gudrun Hart & Michael Hans Breitner, 2022. "Fostering Energy Resilience in the Rural Thai Power System—A Case Study in Nakhon Phanom," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-20, October.
    23. Kinally, Christopher & Antonanzas-Torres, Fernando & Podd, Frank & Gallego-Schmid, Alejandro, 2024. "Life cycle assessment of solar home system informal waste management practices in Malawi," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 364(C).
    24. Mitja Mori & Manuel Gutiérrez & Mihael Sekavčnik & Boštjan Drobnič, 2021. "Modelling and Environmental Assessment of a Stand-Alone Micro-Grid System in a Mountain Hut Using Renewables," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-21, December.
    25. Cao, Yijia & Wang, Xifan & Li, Yong & Tan, Yi & Xing, Jianbo & Fan, Ruixiang, 2016. "A comprehensive study on low-carbon impact of distributed generations on regional power grids: A case of Jiangxi provincial power grid in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 766-778.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Haider Al-Rubaye & Joseph D. Smith & Mohammed H. S. Zangana & Prashant Nagapurkar & Yishu Zhou & Greg Gelles, 2022. "Advances in Energy Hybridization for Resilient Supply: A Sustainable Approach to the Growing World Demand," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-13, August.
    2. Elizabeth Baldwin & Jennifer N. Brass & Sanya Carley & Lauren M. MacLean, 2015. "Electrification and rural development: issues of scale in distributed generation," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(2), pages 196-211, March.
    3. Andreea Ileana Zamfir, 2011. "Management Of Renewable Energy And Regional Development: European Experiences And Steps Forward," Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 6(3), pages 35-42, August.
    4. Niranjan Rao Deevela & Bhim Singh & Tara C. Kandpal, 2021. "Techno-economics of solar PV array-based hybrid systems for powering telecom towers," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(11), pages 17003-17029, November.
    5. Andreea ZAMFIR & Ilinca HOTARAN, 2011. "Public-Private Partnership for Regional Development of Renewable Energy," Risk in Contemporary Economy, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, pages 209-213.
    6. Giulio Allesina & Simone Pedrazzi, 2021. "Barriers to Success: A Technical Review on the Limits and Possible Future Roles of Small Scale Gasifiers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-23, October.
    7. Ana Paula Coelho Clauberg & Renato de Mello & Flávio José Simioni & Simone Sehnem, 2021. "System for assessing the sustainability conditions of small hydro plants by fuzzy logic," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 300-317, March.
    8. Mostafa Shaaban & Jürgen Scheffran & Jürgen Böhner & Mohamed S. Elsobki, 2018. "Sustainability Assessment of Electricity Generation Technologies in Egypt Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-25, May.
    9. Paul Bertheau & Catherina Cader & Hendrik Huyskens & Philipp Blechinger, 2015. "The Influence of Diesel Fuel Subsidies and Taxes on the Potential for Solar-Powered Hybrid Systems in Africa," Resources, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-19, August.
    10. Ebers Broughel, Anna, 2019. "On the ground in sunny Mexico: A case study of consumer perceptions and willingness to pay for solar-powered devices," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 1-1.
    11. Díaz, P. & Peña, R. & Muñoz, J. & Arias, C.A. & Sandoval, D., 2011. "Field analysis of solar PV-based collective systems for rural electrification," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 2509-2516.
    12. Quirapas, M.A.J.R. & Taeihagh, A., 2021. "Ocean renewable energy development in Southeast Asia: Opportunities, risks and unintended consequences," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    13. Sanya Carley & Sara Lawrence, 2014. "Energy-Based Economic Development," Springer Books, Springer, edition 127, number 978-1-4471-6341-1, July.
    14. Lahimer, A.A. & Alghoul, M.A. & Yousif, Fadhil & Razykov, T.M. & Amin, N. & Sopian, K., 2013. "Research and development aspects on decentralized electrification options for rural household," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 314-324.
    15. Joshi, Lalita & Choudhary, Deepak & Kumar, Praveen & Venkateswaran, Jayendran & Solanki, Chetan S., 2019. "Does involvement of local community ensure sustained energy access? A critical review of a solar PV technology intervention in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 272-281.
    16. Hirmer, Stephanie & Cruickshank, Heather, 2014. "Making the deployment of pico-PV more sustainable along the value chain," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 401-411.
    17. Copena, Damián & Simón, Xavier, 2018. "Wind farms and payments to landowners: Opportunities for rural development for the case of Galicia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 38-47.
    18. Ramachandra, T.V. & Jain, Rishabh & Krishnadas, Gautham, 2011. "Hotspots of solar potential in India," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 3178-3186, August.
    19. Lema, Rasmus & Bhamidipati, Padmasai Lakshmi & Gregersen, Cecilia & Hansen, Ulrich Elmer & Kirchherr, Julian, 2021. "China’s investments in renewable energy in Africa: Creating co-benefits or just cashing-in?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    20. Manel Kamoun & Ines Abdelkafi & Abdelfetah Ghorbel, 2019. "The Impact of Renewable Energy on Sustainable Growth: Evidence from a Panel of OECD Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(1), pages 221-237, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:80:y:2015:i:c:p:85-100. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.