IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i5p2111-d1350626.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Toward a Renewable and Sustainable Energy Pattern in Non-Interconnected Rural Monasteries: A Case Study for the Xenofontos Monastery, Mount Athos

Author

Listed:
  • Dimitris Al. Katsaprakakis

    (Power Plant Synthesis Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 71410 Heraklion, Greece)

Abstract

The scope of this article is to study and propose optimized electricity production plants powered by renewable energy sources, in the frame of energy transition in non-interconnected, rural monasteries. Energy transition, namely, the transition from fossil fuels to renewables and rational use of energy, constitutes a major component of sustainability. In particular, monasteries constitute a special and unique category of rural communities, given their size and the scale of the electricity demand. As a case study, this work focuses on the Xenofontos Monastery, in Mount Athos. Mount Athos, practically a mountainous peninsula at the North Aegean Sea (central-south Macedonia, Greece), is an independent and self-governed community of 20 different monasteries, with no electrical interconnection between them. The electrification of these monasteries started in the 1980s, with the installation of autonomous small diesel generators. Since 2010, an attempt has been initiated to replace these generators with power production and storage technologies based on renewable energy sources, aiming to approach a more energy-independent and sustainable pattern in the peninsula. The article examines two alternative systems, with small wind turbines and photovoltaic panels as the power production units and small pumped hydro storage or electrochemical batteries as storage technologies. New operation algorithms were developed and the sizing of the systems was accomplished through the computational simulation of the examined plants’ annual operations, aiming at full coverage of the power demand. The article proves that 100% power demand coverage from hydro power plants is possible with the support of pumped storage, achieving a Levelized Cost Of Electricity in the range of 0.22 EUR/kWh. This feature can be reduced at 0.11 EUR/kWh with the support of lithium-ion batteries, yet with annual power demand coverage at 90%.

Suggested Citation

  • Dimitris Al. Katsaprakakis, 2024. "Toward a Renewable and Sustainable Energy Pattern in Non-Interconnected Rural Monasteries: A Case Study for the Xenofontos Monastery, Mount Athos," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-32, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:5:p:2111-:d:1350626
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/5/2111/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/5/2111/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hyrzyński, Rafał & Ziółkowski, Paweł & Gotzman, Sylwia & Kraszewski, Bartosz & Ochrymiuk, Tomasz & Badur, Janusz, 2021. "Comprehensive thermodynamic analysis of the CAES system coupled with the underground thermal energy storage taking into account global, central and local level of energy conversion," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 379-403.
    2. Graça Gomes, João & Jiang, Juan & Chong, Cheng Tung & Telhada, João & Zhang, Xu & Sammarchi, Sergio & Wang, Shuyang & Lin, Yu & Li, Jialong, 2023. "Hybrid solar PV-wind-battery system bidding optimisation: A case study for the Iberian and Italian liberalised electricity markets," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PD).
    3. Katsaprakakis, Dimitris Al. & Dakanali, Irini & Condaxakis, Constantinos & Christakis, Dimitris G., 2019. "Comparing electricity storage technologies for small insular grids," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Takele Ferede Agajie & Armand Fopah-Lele & Ahmed Ali & Isaac Amoussou & Baseem Khan & Mahmoud Elsisi & Om Prakash Mahela & Roberto Marcelo Álvarez & Emmanuel Tanyi, 2023. "Optimal Sizing and Power System Control of Hybrid Solar PV-Biogas Generator with Energy Storage System Power Plant," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-26, March.
    5. Pradhan, Anish & Marence, Miroslav & Franca, Mário J., 2021. "The adoption of Seawater Pump Storage Hydropower Systems increases the share of renewable energy production in Small Island Developing States," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 448-460.
    6. Shilpa Sambhi & Himanshu Sharma & Vikas Bhadoria & Pankaj Kumar & Ravi Chaurasia & Georgios Fotis & Vasiliki Vita, 2023. "Technical and Economic Analysis of Solar PV/Diesel Generator Smart Hybrid Power Plant Using Different Battery Storage Technologies for SRM IST, Delhi-NCR Campus," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-23, February.
    7. Karaca, Ali Erdogan & Dincer, Ibrahim & Nitefor, Michael, 2023. "A new renewable energy system integrated with compressed air energy storage and multistage desalination," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    8. Mahfoud, Rabea Jamil & Alkayem, Nizar Faisal & Zhang, Yuquan & Zheng, Yuan & Sun, Yonghui & Alhelou, Hassan Haes, 2023. "Optimal operation of pumped hydro storage-based energy systems: A compendium of current challenges and future perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Georgios E. Arnaoutakis & Dimitris A. Katsaprakakis, 2024. "Energy Yield of Spectral Splitting Concentrated Solar Power Photovoltaic Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-12, January.
    2. Xu, Lianchen & Kan, Kan & Zheng, Yuan & Liu, Demin & Binama, Maxime & Xu, Zhe & Yan, Xiaotong & Guo, Mengqi & Chen, Huixiang, 2024. "Rotating stall mechanism of pump-turbine in hump region: An insight into vortex evolution," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    3. Yurter, Gulin & Nadar, Emre & Kocaman, Ayse Selin, 2024. "The impact of pumped hydro energy storage configurations on investment planning of hybrid systems with renewables," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    4. Juan Carlos Lozano Medina & Sebastian Perez-Baez & Federico Leon-Zerpa & Carlos A. Mendieta-Pino, 2024. "Alternatives for the Optimization and Reduction in the Carbon Footprint in Island Electricity Systems (IESs)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-17, January.
    5. Zhang, Weifeng & Ding, Jialu & Yin, Suzhen & Zhang, Fangyuan & Zhang, Yao & Liu, Zhan, 2024. "Thermo-economic optimization of an artificial cavern compressed air energy storage with CO2 pressure stabilizing unit," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    6. Dongdong Zhang & Cunhao Rong & Hui Hwang Goh & Hui Liu & Xiang Li & Hongyu Zhu & Thomas Wu, 2023. "Reform of Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Teaching and the Curriculum System in the Context of the Energy Internet," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-37, March.
    7. Pompodakis, Evangelos E. & Kryonidis, Georgios C. & Karapidakis, Emmanuel S., 2023. "Volt/Var control and energy management in non-interconnected insular networks with multiple hybrid power plants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    8. Kaczmarczyk, Michał & Mukti, Mentari & Ghaffour, Noreddine & Soukane, Sofiane & Bundschuh, Jochen & Tomaszewska, Barbara, 2024. "Renewable energy-driven membrane distillation in the context of life cycle assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    9. Pei, Ji & Shen, Jiawei & Wang, Wenjie & Yuan, Shouqi & Zhao, Jiantao, 2024. "Evaluating hydraulic dissipation in a reversible mixed-flow pump for micro-pumped hydro storage based on entropy production theory," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    10. Emanuela Privitera & Riccardo Caponetto & Fabio Matera & Salvatore Vasta, 2022. "Impact of Geometry on a Thermal-Energy Storage Finned Tube during the Discharging Process," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-22, October.
    11. Rusin, Krzysztof & Ochmann, Jakub & Bartela, Łukasz & Rulik, Sebastian & Stanek, Bartosz & Jurczyk, Michał & Waniczek, Sebastian, 2022. "Influence of geometrical dimensions and particle diameter on exergy performance of packed-bed thermal energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    12. Witanowski, Łukasz & Ziółkowski, Paweł & Klonowicz, Piotr & Lampart, Piotr, 2023. "A hybrid approach to optimization of radial inflow turbine with principal component analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    13. Ansorena Ruiz, R. & de Vilder, L.H. & Prasasti, E.B. & Aouad, M. & De Luca, A. & Geisseler, B. & Terheiden, K. & Scanu, S. & Miccoli, A. & Roeber, V. & Marence, M. & Moll, R. & Bricker, J.D. & Goseber, 2022. "Low-head pumped hydro storage: A review on civil structure designs, legal and environmental aspects to make its realization feasible in seawater," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    14. Georgios E. Arnaoutakis & Georgia Kefala & Eirini Dakanali & Dimitris Al. Katsaprakakis, 2022. "Combined Operation of Wind-Pumped Hydro Storage Plant with a Concentrating Solar Power Plant for Insular Systems: A Case Study for the Island of Rhodes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-23, September.
    15. Kruk-Gotzman, Sylwia & Ziółkowski, Paweł & Iliev, Iliya & Negreanu, Gabriel-Paul & Badur, Janusz, 2023. "Techno-economic evaluation of combined cycle gas turbine and a diabatic compressed air energy storage integration concept," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    16. Isaac Amoussou & Emmanuel Tanyi & Ahmed Ali & Takele Ferede Agajie & Baseem Khan & Julien Brito Ballester & Wirnkar Basil Nsanyuy, 2023. "Optimal Modeling and Feasibility Analysis of Grid-Interfaced Solar PV/Wind/Pumped Hydro Energy Storage Based Hybrid System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-30, January.
    17. Dimitris Al. Katsaprakakis & Apostolos Michopoulos & Vasiliki Skoulou & Eirini Dakanali & Aggeliki Maragkaki & Stavroula Pappa & Ioannis Antonakakis & Dimitris Christakis & Constantinos Condaxakis, 2022. "A Multidisciplinary Approach for an Effective and Rational Energy Transition in Crete Island, Greece," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-49, April.
    18. Bashar Hammad & Sameer Al-Dahidi & Yousef Aldahouk & Daniel Majrouh & Suhib Al-Remawi, 2024. "Technical, Economic, and Environmental Investigation of Pumped Hydroelectric Energy Storage Integrated with Photovoltaic Systems in Jordan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-26, February.
    19. Li, Hang & Ma, Hongling & Liu, Jiang & Zhu, Shijie & Zhao, Kai & Zheng, Zhuyan & Zeng, Zhen & Yang, Chunhe, 2023. "Large-scale CAES in bedded rock salt: A case study in Jiangsu Province, China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    20. Liu, Changchun & Su, Xu & Yin, Zhao & Sheng, Yong & Zhou, Xuezhi & Xu, Yujie & Wang, Xudong & Chen, Haisheng, 2024. "Experimental study on the feasibility of isobaric compressed air energy storage as wind power side energy storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 364(C).

    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:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:5:p:2111-:d:1350626. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.