Community Resilience-Oriented Optimal Micro-Grid Capacity Expansion Planning: The Case of Totarabank Eco-Village, New Zealand

Soheil Mohseni, Alan C. Brent and Daniel Burmester
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Soheil Mohseni: Sustainable Energy Systems, School of Engineering and Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Alan C. Brent: Sustainable Energy Systems, School of Engineering and Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Daniel Burmester: Sustainable Energy Systems, School of Engineering and Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 15, 1-29

Abstract: In the grid-tied micro-grid context, energy resilience can be defined as the time period that a local energy system can supply the critical loads during an unplanned upstream grid outage. While the role of renewable-based micro-grids in enhancing communities’ energy resilience is well-appreciated, the academic literature on the techno-economic optimisation of community-scale micro-grids lacks a quantitative decision support analysis concerning the inclusion of a minimum resilience constraint in the optimisation process. Utilising a specifically-developed, time-based resilience capacity characterisation method to quantify the sustainability of micro-grids in the face of different levels of extended grid power outages, this paper facilitates stakeholder decision-making on the trade-off between the whole-life cost of a community micro-grid system and its degree of resilience. Furthermore, this paper focuses on energy infrastructure expansion planning, aiming to analyse the importance of micro-grid reinforcement to meet new sources of electricity demand—particularly, transport electrification—in addition to the business-as-usual demand growth. Using quantitative case study evidence from the Totarabank Subdivision in New Zealand, the paper concludes that at the current feed-in-tariff rate (NZ$0.08/kWh), the life cycle profitability of resilience-oriented community micro-grid capacity reinforcement is guaranteed within a New Zealand context, though constrained by capital requirements.

Keywords: renewable energy systems; microgrids; optimal expansion planning; energy resilience; resilient energy systems; critical loads; electric vehicles; techno-economic analysis; HOMER Pro; New Zealand (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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