Biomass-Based Renewable Energy Community: Economic Analysis of a Real Case Study

Francesca Ceglia, Elisa Marrasso, Carlo Roselli, Maurizio Sasso, Guido Coletta and Luigi Pellegrino
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Francesca Ceglia: DING, Department of Engineering, University of Sannio, 82100 Benevento, Italy
Elisa Marrasso: DING, Department of Engineering, University of Sannio, 82100 Benevento, Italy
Carlo Roselli: DING, Department of Engineering, University of Sannio, 82100 Benevento, Italy
Maurizio Sasso: DING, Department of Engineering, University of Sannio, 82100 Benevento, Italy
Guido Coletta: Ricerca Sul Sistema Energetico, 20134 Milan, Italy
Luigi Pellegrino: Ricerca Sul Sistema Energetico, 20134 Milan, Italy

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-24

Abstract: Renewable energy communities are catalysts of social innovation, the citizens’ engagement in energy actions, and the exploitation of local resources. Thus, this paper defines a model for analyzing and optimally sizing energy systems serving renewable energy communities. Then, the proposed and replicable model was tailored to the economic feasibility analysis of a renewable energy community in the municipality of Tirano (Northern Italy). An energy audit was carried out to identify the electricity production and consumption within the perimeter of the primary substation and the thermal energy demand of the existing district heating network. The technical features of the energy conversion systems serving the renewable energy community were determined: an organic Rankine cycle biomass-based cogeneration plant, a mini-hydro plant, and a distributed photovoltaic system. Moreover, several different scenarios have been identified, in terms of cogeneration operating mode, photovoltaic penetration, and thermal energy economic value. The results show that, moving from 4.22 MW to 5.22 MW of photovoltaic peak power, the annual renewable electricity production increases by 10.1%. In particular, the simple pay back ranges between 4.90 and 4.98 years and the net present value between EUR 12.4 and 13.3 M for CHP operating at full power mode, considering that thermal energy available from the cogeneration unit is sold at EUR 49.2/MWh. These outcomes demonstrate the economic feasibility of wood-biomass-based renewable energy communities, which may help to enlarge the contribution of renewable technologies other than photovoltaic.

Keywords: smart energy community; renewable energy community; biomass-based cogeneration system; district heating network (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 (6)

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