Eco-Efficiency as a Decision Support Tool to Compare Renewable Energy Systems

Dominik Huber (), Ander Martinez Alonso, Maeva Lavigne Philippot and Maarten Messagie
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Dominik Huber: Electric Vehicle and Energy Research Group (EVERGI), Mobility, Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Centre (MOBI), Department of Electrical Engineering and Energy Technology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Ander Martinez Alonso: Electric Vehicle and Energy Research Group (EVERGI), Mobility, Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Centre (MOBI), Department of Electrical Engineering and Energy Technology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Maeva Lavigne Philippot: Electric Vehicle and Energy Research Group (EVERGI), Mobility, Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Centre (MOBI), Department of Electrical Engineering and Energy Technology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Maarten Messagie: Electric Vehicle and Energy Research Group (EVERGI), Mobility, Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Centre (MOBI), Department of Electrical Engineering and Energy Technology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 11, 1-25

Abstract: Even though eco-efficiency (EE) is already applied to various energy systems, so far, no study investigates in detail the hourly, marginal and seasonal impacts of a decentralized energy system. This study assesses the hourly EE of the Research Park Zellik (RPZ), located in the Brussels metropolitan area for 2022 composed of photovoltaic installations, wind turbines and batteries. A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) to identify the carbon footprint (CF) and a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) calculation is conducted. An existing design optimization framework is applied to the RPZ. Consumption data are obtained from smart meters of five consumers at the RPZ on a one-hour time resolution for 2022 and upscaled based on the annual consumption of the RPZ. As the EE is presented as the sum of the CF and the LCOE, a lower EE corresponds to an economically and environmentally preferable energy system. In a comparative framework, the developed method is applied to two different case studies, namely, (i) to an energy system in Vega de Valcerce in Spain and (ii) to an energy system in Bèli Bartoka in Poland. The average EE of the RPZ energy system in 2022 is 0.15 per kWh, while the average EE of the Polish and Spanish energy systems are 1.48 and 0.36 per kWh, respectively. When analyzing four selected weeks, both the LCOE and CF of the RPZ energy system are driven by the consumption of the Belgian electricity grid mix. In contrast, due to the very low LCOE and CF of the renewable energy sources, in particular wind turbines, the RPZ energy system’s EE benefits and lies below the EE of the Belgium electricity grid mix.

Keywords: eco-efficiency; life cycle assessment; levelized cost of electricity; renewable energy system; photovoltaic installations; wind turbines; lithium-ion batteries; Belgium electricity grid (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: 2023
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