A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Techno-economic evaluation of a floating PV system for a wastewater treatment facility
An increasing capacity of floating photovoltaic technology (FPV) has been deployed in the past five years, showing an alternative to countries with small surface areas to take advantage of man-made water bodies to install solar power. Furthermore, regions where land area is primarily geared towards other uses such as agriculture or are located in large urban centers are also a target for these installations, as land costs tend to be a relevant share of the investment on a solar energy project. It is advertised that FPV is a more efficient solar technology, bringing along extra benefits such as the reduction of water evaporation and decrease in algae growth. Based on previous studies on the field as well as industry information, this thesis aims to analyze if a floating photovoltaic project is more profitable and cost-competitive than the ordinary ground-mounted PV for a waste water treatment facility located in Windsor, California. For that, three scenarios are studied: Business-as-Usual, in which the extra benefits of FPV are neglected, a scenario in which the extra benefits are included and a scenario in which external land is required to build the ground-mounted PV. The initial approach consisted of modelling in MATLAB a 3-MW-power plant, both floating and ground-mounted, to analyze the difference in lifetime electricity generation, capacity factors and cell temperature. Then, an evaporation and algae growth models were proposed with the objective to quantify the potential savings a floating PV would provide. Finally, an economic analysis was performed to showcase the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) and Net Present Value (NPV) and used to compare both power plants. Although, for the location chosen, on a yearly basis the cell temperature of the floating system is on average 14.97% lower and the capacity factor is 2.54% higher, the LCOE is higher and the NPV is lower than the ground-mounted counterpart for the BAU and extra benefits scenario. In the land-purchase scenario, when considering extra benefits, ...
Techno-economic evaluation of a floating PV system for a wastewater treatment facility
An increasing capacity of floating photovoltaic technology (FPV) has been deployed in the past five years, showing an alternative to countries with small surface areas to take advantage of man-made water bodies to install solar power. Furthermore, regions where land area is primarily geared towards other uses such as agriculture or are located in large urban centers are also a target for these installations, as land costs tend to be a relevant share of the investment on a solar energy project. It is advertised that FPV is a more efficient solar technology, bringing along extra benefits such as the reduction of water evaporation and decrease in algae growth. Based on previous studies on the field as well as industry information, this thesis aims to analyze if a floating photovoltaic project is more profitable and cost-competitive than the ordinary ground-mounted PV for a waste water treatment facility located in Windsor, California. For that, three scenarios are studied: Business-as-Usual, in which the extra benefits of FPV are neglected, a scenario in which the extra benefits are included and a scenario in which external land is required to build the ground-mounted PV. The initial approach consisted of modelling in MATLAB a 3-MW-power plant, both floating and ground-mounted, to analyze the difference in lifetime electricity generation, capacity factors and cell temperature. Then, an evaporation and algae growth models were proposed with the objective to quantify the potential savings a floating PV would provide. Finally, an economic analysis was performed to showcase the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) and Net Present Value (NPV) and used to compare both power plants. Although, for the location chosen, on a yearly basis the cell temperature of the floating system is on average 14.97% lower and the capacity factor is 2.54% higher, the LCOE is higher and the NPV is lower than the ground-mounted counterpart for the BAU and extra benefits scenario. In the land-purchase scenario, when considering extra benefits, ...
Techno-economic evaluation of a floating PV system for a wastewater treatment facility
Paixão Martins, Bruno (author)
2019-01-01
Theses
Electronic Resource
English
DDC:
690
A Review of the Techno-Economic Feasibility of Nanoparticle Application for Wastewater Treatment
| DOAJ | 2022
| DOAJ | 2021