Techno-economic assessment and Sizing optimization of combined heat and power system: a case study of rural India

Ever-increasing population, high living standard and rapid industrialization increase the global energy demand continuously. Supplying reliable, clean and affordable energy to all is the global mission for achieving the sustainable development goal (SDG 7). Decentralized renewable-based hybrid energy system is a potential solution. However, this system has some limitations, i.e., generation of excess electricity. In most of the studies it was considered as a dump load. This study proposes to utilize this excess electricity for producing heat by thermal load controller. A techno-economic and emission optimization of the combined heat and power decentralized hybrid cogeneration system is performed. These performance factors may not converge to a single solution. Finally, a Multi-Criteria Decision-making method is used to decide an optimal acceptable solution. The results show that the combination of solar-wind-battery-diesel generator-thermal load controller is optimally economic with least emission. (Cost of electricity-$0.206/kWh, net present cost-$246676 and emission is 67.5% lesser than that of the other option).