Multiple Source Sustainable Hybrid Micro-grid for Urban Communities: A Case Study in UAE
详细信息   
摘要
Increasing pollution and depleting resources continue to be a growing problem to the environment and sustainability. Renewable sources of energy such as solar, wind and biofuel provide the advantage of scalability from small to very large applications. Integration of renewable energy to urban communities poses technical, economic, and logistic challenges. In this work we consider implementing a micro-grid powered by renewable energy sources to substitute a fraction of energy usage of an urban residential community in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The community is considered to have integrated photo-voltaic rooftop solar, horizontal axis wind turbine and waste cooking oil converted biodiesel power plant systems. This micro-grid system was evaluated for its technical and economic feasibility. Result showed that higher power share from the micro-grid is neither practically nor economically feasible due to low cost of electricity. Integrating wind energy also resulted in poor feasibility because the area is characterized with poor wind energy potential. The best hybrid system for such a community would be one powered by solar and biodiesel.