IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v193y2024ics1364032123011322.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Techno-economic analysis of renewable energy generation at the South Pole

Author

Listed:
  • Babinec, Susan
  • Baring-Gould, Ian
  • Bender, Amy N.
  • Blair, Nate
  • Li, Xiangkun
  • Muehleisen, Ralph T.
  • Olis, Dan
  • Ovaitt, Silvana

Abstract

Transitioning from fossil-fuel power generation to renewable energy generation and energy storage in remote locations has the potential to reduce both carbon emissions and cost. This study presents a techno-economic analysis for implementation of a hybrid renewable energy system at the South Pole in Antarctica, which currently hosts several high-energy physics experiments with nontrivial power needs. A tailored model of resource availability and economics for solar photovoltaics, wind turbine generators, lithium-ion energy storage, and long-duration energy storage at this site is explored in different combinations with and without existing diesel energy generation. The Renewable Energy Integration and Optimization (REopt) platform is used to determine the optimal system component sizing and the associated system economics and environmental benefit. We find that the least-cost system includes all three energy generation sources and lithium-ion energy storage. For an example steady-state load of 170 kW, this hybrid system includes 180 kW-DC of photovoltaic panels, 570 kW of wind turbines, and a 3.4 MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system. This system reduces diesel consumption by 95% compared to an all-diesel configuration, resulting in approximately 1200 metric tons of carbon footprint avoided annually. Over the course of a 15-year analysis period the reduced diesel usage leads to a net savings of 57 million United States dollars, with a time to payback of approximately two years. All the scenarios modeled show that the transition to renewables is highly cost effective under the unique economics and constraints of this extremely remote site.

Suggested Citation

  • Babinec, Susan & Baring-Gould, Ian & Bender, Amy N. & Blair, Nate & Li, Xiangkun & Muehleisen, Ralph T. & Olis, Dan & Ovaitt, Silvana, 2024. "Techno-economic analysis of renewable energy generation at the South Pole," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:193:y:2024:i:c:s1364032123011322
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2023.114274
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032123011322
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2023.114274?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.

    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:rensus:v:193:y:2024:i:c:s1364032123011322. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    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.