Solar PV project appraisal and carbon avoidance at a conservation park

Abstract

Managing conservation parks requires integrating sustainability with ecotourism in order to maintain a sustainable environment. With the growing number of visitors, electricity infrastructures in parks must be in pace with rising energy consumption. In addition, conservation parks in remote areas are not connected to the electric grid and are dependent on fossil fuel generators to generate electricity with environmental implications. Assessing baseline assets and improving energy management are needed to reduce carbon emissions and energy-related costs where transportation of fuel is costly and challenging due to geographic constraints. This study aims to assess the carbon footprint and operational cost resulting from fuel usage in camps of Royal Belum forest park. Further, a Solar PV project appraisal was conducted for all four camps administered by the Perak State Park Corporation. It was understood that the Solar PV system should be highly considered a replacement for the current fossil-fuel-based system. This project would not just avoid a total emission of 4000 tCO2 over its 21 years project lifetime but would substantially save the costs associated with the usage of diesel/petrol generators. The study would enable the administrator or operator to make informed decisions regarding carbon avoidance and energy cost reductions in the context of a conservation park.

Keywords

• Royal Belum
• Carbon footprint
• Remote area
• Off-grid
• Solar PV