Analysis for the integration of solar energy to sugarcane bagasse cogeneration power plant in the Cuban context: a case study

Fecha

2019-06-27

Autores

Herrera Moya, Idalberto
Rojas Acosta, Ariam
Villardefrancos Bello, Frank Luis
Malmquist, Anders
Wegener, Morizt

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Cuba is a small island located in the Caribbean Sea, with an extension of 109,886 km² and a population of about 11,000,000 of which 98.2% have access to electric energy services. The national electric network has a power capacity of 7,741 MW, but only 4.3% is generated from Renewable Energy Sources (RES). In this context a new policy for the development of RES has been launched by the government, in order to increase its share in the energy matrix and decrease energy cost. A special contribution is expected from sugarcane bagasse cogeneration power plants. The installed capacity in this sector is 470 MW, it is expected to rise up to 872 MW from 2018 to 2030, generating electricity at a cost lower than 0.15 USD/kWh. To this purpose, 25 facilities will be upgraded to bioelectric plants with an expected annual generation of 4,300 GWh, avoiding 3.65 MMtonCO₂/year. For modernizing the energy scheme of sugar cane enterprises many technical possibilities exist, for example: increase working pressure, increase working temperature, use the maximum amount of residue as fuel, etc. Economic aspects should be considered, in order to achieve low energy costs in a sustainable way. One of the problem related to the power generation in the sugar industry is the seasonality, as the facilities must stop once the harvesting period ends due to the lack of fuel (bagasse). However, if some solar energy could be added to the process some bagasse could be stored and used to run the power plants off season and hence improve their economic performance. In this work the integration of solar energy to a small sugarcane bagasse cogeneration power plant was studied. The cane crushing capacity is 2,300 TCD (Tonnes of Cane/Day) and the crushing season is from December to April. Every season 60,400 tons of bagasse are available. The process steam pressure is 2.5 bar(abs). A parabolic solar field for heating the boiler feed water was studied. With a field of 34,500 m2, the facility could run for two month off season, with an internal return rate of 6% and a payback period of 10 years. Additional studies are needed to improve the economic indicators.

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Integration, Biomass, Solar Energy, Cogeneration, Power Generation

Citación

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