Development of the Low-Economic-Risk Microgrids to Establish Environmental-Friendly Industries

As one of the main consumers of electricity, industries account for in releasing a large amount of emission. Using renewable energies to feed factories is not an easy task and they should be economically viable to compete with fossil fuels. The goal of this study is to analyze the possibilities of using energy local area networks in off-grid and on-grid modes in an industrial project by considering and calculating all primary and deferrable loads in detail for the first time. The industrial project is sensitive and all possibilities should be considered closely to avoid economic losses. In this case, changes in electrical loads during the project, degradation of components, environmental risks, and economic risks of the investment (for each scenario) are considered and determined too. The results indicate that component degradation can cause 24,000 kWh drop in total electricity production at the end of the project and the total biogas consumption increases from 742 kg/yr to 9330 kg/yr. The results also show that the on-gird scenario (solar/battery) with the Net Present Cost of 200,000$ will be an easy and low-risk choice for investment, but has high environmental risks. On the other hand, the stand-alone scenario (solar/wind/bio/battery) with Net Present Cost of 598,000$ minimizes the environmental risks at the expense of high investment risk. A proper comparison between the multi-year and single-year modes at the end of the project ensures the high accuracy of techno-economic analysis in terms of optimum system types, emissions, and economics.