Modelling and feasibility analysis of an m-CHP (micro-combined heat & power) plant (T-0422) (MFN 6197)

Abstract

In current times, our country is going through electricity and gas outages which is directly affecting the fulfilment of electrical and thermal load demands. During winter, due to gas load shedding consumers tend to shift on electricity to get thermal energy for the accomplishment of thermal needs, which also results in the increase of electrical load demand creating a severe problem in the presence of existing capacity shortage. In this scenario, author proposes the concept of a micro-combined heat and power (m-CHP) plant to be the most suitable solution to fulfil both of the electrical and thermal demands simultaneously. The proposed solution has been modelled and formulated in the form of an optimization problem with multiple objectives including the minimization of total net present cost (TNPC), cost of the energy (COE), the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, capacity shortage (CS) of utility grid, unmet load (UL), the maximization of waste heat recovery (WHR) of thermal units and grid sales have been formulated, subject to the constraints. In this research, a CHP plant based microgrid has been simulated for six cities of Pakistan including Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Gilgit. During simulations, multiple combinations in grid-connected as well as isolated mode were simulated consisting of PV, diesel generator and battery storage into the system in terms of defined objectives in the presence of constraints. The simulation results show that the objectives are best met with Gilgit in terms of TNPC and COE, Lahore in the light of GHG emissions and Quetta when WHR and grid sales are magnified. Further, the results become more economical when using multiple number of generators and PVs in the system. Furthermore, the simulation results also directed that the capital investment would be recovered with in the first five years.