Design Optimization and Comparative Analysis of 100% Renewable Energy Systems for Residential Communities in Typical Areas of China When Considering Environmental and Economic Performance

Zaixun Ling, Yibo Cui, Jingwen Zheng, Yu Guo, Wanli Cai, Xiaofei Chen, Jiaqi Yuan and Wenjie Gang
Additional contact information
Zaixun Ling: State Grid Hubei Electric Power Research Institute, Wuhan 430015, China
Yibo Cui: State Grid Hubei Electric Power Research Institute, Wuhan 430015, China
Jingwen Zheng: State Grid Hubei Electric Power Research Institute, Wuhan 430015, China
Yu Guo: State Grid Hubei Electric Power Research Institute, Wuhan 430015, China
Wanli Cai: State Grid Hubei Electric Power Research Institute, Wuhan 430015, China
Xiaofei Chen: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Jiaqi Yuan: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Wenjie Gang: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 19, 1-24

Abstract: A 100% renewable energy system (RES) satisfies a user’s energy demand using only renewable energy, which is an important energy supply in China given that the government aims to realize carbon neutrality by 2060. The design and operation of 100% RESs in different areas would vary significantly due to the impacts of climates and geographical features. This study aimed to investigate the economic and environmental performance of 100% RESs for residential communities in different areas of China. In total, 30 typical cities were chosen based on the climate characteristics and the availability of renewable energy resources. The genetic algorithm was selected to obtain the optimal design of the 100% RES in each area by taking the minimum total annual cost and the minimum CO 2 emissions as optimization objectives. The results showed that 100% RESs were dominated by solar energy and biomass. The investment could be recovered in 8 years if the economic performance was optimized in most areas, but the payback period became longer when the 100% RES was optimized when considering environmental performance. The emissions could be reduced by 86–99% for CO 2 and 64–97% for NO x . The results of this study would provide data support for the investment of 100% RESs in rural or suburban areas of China.

Keywords: design optimization; 100% renewable energy system; economic performance; environmental performance; solar energy; biomass energy; wind energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/19/10590/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/19/10590/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:19:p:10590-:d:642174

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().