Techno‐economic analysis of PV-based power systems for Cape York, Australia

This item is part of: Boarin, P., Haarhoff, E., Manfredini, M., Mohammadzadeh, M., Premier, A., (2021). Rethinking Sustainable Pacific Rim Territories. Proceedings of the 2020 APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub PhD Symposium, Future Cities Research Hub, School of Architecture and Planning of the University of Auckland. ISBN: 978-0-473-53616-9

ABSTRACT

Fossil fuels are the world's main sources of power production. Because of the huge population, the energy demand and supply gap have recently escalated, and fossil fuels will not satisfy the gigantic energy demands. Meanwhile, they have harmful environmental effects as well. Remote rural areas far from the national grid have no way of meeting their energy needs. These concerns summarize the situation facing the population living in Cape York, Australia. The solar photovoltaic (PV) off-grid system has emerged as the best energy solution for the electrification of these remote regions. However, the local electricity providers struggle with the lack of area-specific data on generation capacity and economic feasibility of solar energy. To address this problem, this study aims to deliver a comprehensive techno-economic feasibility analysis of a solar PV system for Cape York, Queensland, Australia. This study investigates the economic viability for solar PV systems by means of Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables (HOMER) software. HOMER results suggest that the total cost of electricity generation from the solar PV stands significantly cheaper than conventional electricity. Besides, the system can reduce carbon emissions and other pollutants considerably.