SpringerLink
Log in

Techno-economic and environmental analysis of utility-scale hybrid renewable energy system integrating waste-to-energy plant to complement an unreliable grid operation

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Energy, Ecology and Environment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

While there are growing interests in the design and analysis of hybrid power systems fueled by solar, wind, and diesel resources, the integration of municipal solid wastes into the energy mix is rarely reported. Given this, the present study conducted a techno-economic and environmental feasibility analysis of hybrid wind–solar energy systems incorporating municipal solid waste-fueled power plants to complement an unreliable grid wheeling electricity to a district in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. A hybrid optimization model for electric renewables was employed to explore various design options. According to the results, the optimal system ranked based on the lowest net present cost comprised solar photovoltaic panels of 20,000 kW, waste-to-energy plants of 500 kW, a power converter of 5000 kW, grid power of 999,999 kW and 25,000 strings of battery energy storage system. The operating cost, levelized cost of energy, and net present cost of this system are lower by 55%, 68%, and 85%, respectively, compared to using grid/diesel generator architecture. Similarly, the environment will be saved from the emission of carbon dioxide of 7148 tons/year, sulfur dioxides of 21.57 tons/year, nitrogen oxides of 34.75 tons/year, carbon monoxide of 35.30 tons/year, unburned hydrocarbons of 1.53 tons/year, and particulate matter of 0.80 tons/year if the proposed model were to be implemented. This study, therefore, concludes that municipal solid waste is a viable candidate to offset carbon-intensive diesel in hybrid renewable energy systems operations.

Graphical abstract

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

HRES:

Hybrid renewable energy systems

PV:

Photovoltaic

WT:

Wind turbine

BG:

Biogas generator

DG:

Diesel generator

CO2 :

Carbon dioxide

NPC:

Net present cost

LCOE:

Levelized cost of energy

RF:

Renewable fraction

GHG:

Greenhouse gas emission

HOMER:

Hybrid optimization model for electric renewables

ASC:

Annualized system cost

BBBC:

Big-bang–big-crunch

GA:

Genetic algorithms

MSW:

Municipal solid waste

SDG:

Sustainable development goals

MOPSO:

Multi-objective particle swarm optimization

iHOGA:

Improved hybrid optimization by genetic algorithms

DC:

Direct current

AC:

Alternating current

AEDC:

Abuja Electricity Distribution Company Plc

NASA:

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

GCVmsw( i ) :

Gross calorific value obtained from the calorimeter

W msw( i ) :

Weight percentage of each fraction of the waste sample

NCV:

Net calorific value

CRF:

Capital recovery factor

N :

Plant's lifespan

i :

Yearly rate of interest in %

C ann,tot :

Total annual cost of HRES components

C ann,rep :

Annualized replacement cost

C ann,cap :

Capital cost

C ann,O&M :

Operating and maintenance cost of the individual components

i nom :

Nominal interest rate

f :

Yearly rate of inflation

E tot :

Total energy delivered by the system

E prim.AC :

Energy served the AC primary load

E prim.DC :

Energy served the DC primary load

E grid.sales :

Total energy evacuated from the grid

B bmg :

Tonnage of waste available per day

NCVbmg :

Net calorific value of waste on a dry basis

η bmg :

Gasifier conversion efficiency

CUF:

Capacity utilization factor

AEPB:

Abuja Environmental Protection Board

P net :

Net electrical power

P gross :

System’s gross electrical power

P aux :

Auxiliary power required for pumps, boilers, and compressors

NCVmsw :

Feedstock’s net calorific value

W t :

Daily tons of waste processed

R p :

Percentage of waste that was rejected following chemical treatment

η g :

Waste-to-energy process efficiency

Gh(t):

Solar irradiance in W/m2 at any time (t)

G s :

Standard solar incident radiation (1000 W/m2)

P r :

Single panel’s power rating

F loss :

De-rating effects or loss caused by temperature and shading

P WT :

Wind energy system power output

U hub :

Wind velocity at hub height

h hub :

Hub height

U anem :

Wind velocity at an anemometer height

h anem :

Anemometer height

h 0 :

Length of the surface roughness

PWT,STC :

Wind turbine output

P i(t) :

Converter input power

P 0(t) :

Converter output power

η conv :

Converter efficiency

SOC:

Battery state of charge

P BG :

Power output of the biogas genset

η bat :

Roundtrip efficiency of the battery

V bus :

Bus voltage

P b(t):

Battery output power

η bat_d :

Battery discharging efficiency

η bat_c :

Battery charging efficiency

P ren :

Cumulative wind and solar plants’ output power

C cap :

Capital cost of every single component

C arep :

Replacement cost of the components

SFF:

Sinking factor

C a,O&M :

Operation and maintenance cost of the components

BO:

Bonobo optimizer

BBBC:

Big-bang–big-crunch crow search

GA:

Genetic algorithm

BOA:

Butterfly optimization algorithm

References

Download references

Funding

No funds, grants, or other support was received.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Abuja, FCT, Nigeria

    Usman Alhaji Dodo & Evans Chinemezu Ashigwuike

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Baze University, Abuja, Nigeria

    Usman Alhaji Dodo

Authors
  1. Usman Alhaji Dodo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Evans Chinemezu Ashigwuike
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors made a substantial contribution to this article.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Usman Alhaji Dodo.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

All authors agreed with the content of this article and also gave explicit consent to submit it for publication.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dodo, U.A., Ashigwuike, E.C. Techno-economic and environmental analysis of utility-scale hybrid renewable energy system integrating waste-to-energy plant to complement an unreliable grid operation. Energ. Ecol. Environ. 8, 439–456 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40974-023-00276-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40974-023-00276-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation