An Energy Cost Assessment of Future Energy Scenarios: A Case Study on San Pietro Island

Alberto Vargiu, Riccardo Novo, Claudio Moscoloni, Enrico Giglio, Giuseppe Giorgi and Giuliana Mattiazzo
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Alberto Vargiu: MOREnergy Lab, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
Riccardo Novo: MOREnergy Lab, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
Claudio Moscoloni: MOREnergy Lab, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
Enrico Giglio: MOREnergy Lab, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
Giuseppe Giorgi: MOREnergy Lab, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
Giuliana Mattiazzo: MOREnergy Lab, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 13, 1-23

Abstract: The need for a clean and affordable energy supply is a major challenge of the current century. The tough shift toward a sustainable energy mix becomes even more problematic when facing realities that lack infrastructures and financing, such as small islands. Energy modeling and planning is crucial at this early stage of the ecological transition. For this reason, this article aims to improve an established long-run energy model framework, known as “OSeMOSYS,” with an add-on tool able to estimate different types of Levelized Cost Of Electricity (LCOE): a real and theoretical LCOE of each technology and a real and theoretical system LCOE. This tool fills a gap in most modeling frameworks characterized by a lack of information when evaluating energy costs and aims at guiding policymakers to the most appropriate solution. The model is then used to predict future energy scenarios for the island of San Pietro, in Sardinia, which was chosen as a case study. Four energy scenarios with a time horizon from 2020 to 2050—the Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario, the Current Policy Projection (CPP) scenario, the Sustainable Growth (SG) scenario, and the Self-Sufficient-Renewable (SSR) scenario—are explored and ranked according to the efforts made in them to achieve an energy transition. Results demonstrates the validity of the tool, showing that, in the long run, the average LCOE of the system benefits from the installation of RES plants, passing from 49.1 €/MWh in 2050 in the BAU scenario to 48.8 €/MWh in the ambitious SG scenario. On the other hand, achieving carbon neutrality and the island’s energy independence brings the LCOE to 531.5 €/MWh, questioning the convenience of large storage infrastructures in San Pietro and opening up future work on the exploration of different storage systems.

Keywords: renewable energy sources; energy systems; optimization; energy models and scenarios; decarbonization path (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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