Technical and Economical Comparison of Supplying Energy from Combined Solar-Wind Power Plants in Lieu of Natural Gas Transmission Lines

Abstract

Transmission of gas from extraction wells is a precondition for transferring this resource to consumers, which in turn requires a comprehensive system in production, transmission, and distribution. The transmission cost varies depending on the transmission distance, route difficulty, number of stations, and decrease or increase in pressure. Hence, concentrating on another energy resource with low investment requirements that could be delivered for consumption at the production area can lead to reduction in costs and time efficiency as well. The present study attempts to compare the combined solar wind power plants with the gas transmission, in terms of cost and revenue in Andica county, located in Khuzestan province, using simulation tools for renewable power plants. The findings suggest that combined power plants have significantly lower cost than gas transmission power lines in terms of investment requirements. The operation cost of gas transmission lines has a significantly higher price in relation to its ensuing revenue, since the operation costs of combined power plants are covered by annual revenue from the electricity supply. In general, it should be said that the high cost of capital for gas transmission, considering the annual income from its sale, refutes its economical profit, while the combined power plant, due to the lower cost of capital than gas transmission, produces more revenue than gas sales, so it is more economically justifiable than gas transmission.

Keywords

• combined power plants
• gas transmission lines
• costing
• renewable energy
• retscreen software.