Techno-Economic Analysis of Hybrid Renewable Energy Based Electricity Supply to Gwadar, Pakistan

Abstract

Gwadar is essential for Pakistan's financial stability. The third deep-water port in Pakistan, plays a significant part in trade between the Gulf States, Africa, UAE, and CARs. To ensure prosperity and a strong economy of the Pak-China region in the global market, CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) is being implemented to build highways and various railway tracks. Gwadar has an electrical issue, and there is load shedding for 12-16 hours, due to which diesel generators are used to fulfill the need. Due to this problem, people face problems, and development progress is also slow. In Gwadar, there are enough renewable energy sources that can be utilized and generate electricity. Solar, Wind, Tidal, and Wave energy are present. The model of renewable energy is to be designed so that all energy sources present in Gwadar can be utilized. HOMER (Hybrid Optimization Model for Multiple Energy Resources) will be used to model this design. Homer assists with a Techno and Economic Analysis of this design. In this research, Gwadar has to be analyzed, which is the Economic Centre of Pakistan located at the Arabian Sea. At Gwadar city, the average yearly clearness index is 0.576, the average horizontal irradiance is 5.19 kWh/m2, and the average wind speed is 4.72 m/s. PV module and wind turbine are chosen and the installation capability to generate energy is 70MW. There are two different models; one model has a battery connected to store the excess electricity so that it can be used when required, and another model has a grid connection, which helps to sell the excess electricity and also purchase the electricity when required. The yearly energy production is therefore varied. The year energy generated by model 1 and model 2 is 57.37 GWh and 81.5 GWh, respectively. LCOE (Levelized Cost of Electricity) for model 1 and model 2 is $0.401/kWh and $0.0347/kWh. The simple payback of model 1 is of 6.70 years, and the simple payback of model 2 is 7.77 years. Due to the high LCOE of model 1, its payback year is less than model 2. All of these facts indicate that Model 2 is practical.And it shows The Government of Pakistan should install the national grid in Gwadar as soon as possible. This project will help the consumer of Gwadar to have cheap electricity. In Gwadar, there won't be any load shedding. There will be no need for the Pakistani government to import electricity from Iran. When the electricity issue is resolved for Gwadar, new industries will open and improve the economy and lower Pakistan's unemployment.