AN ASSESSMENT OF HYBRID DISTRIBUTED GENERATION SYSTEMS IN RURAL ALASKA

摘要

This paper summarizes the results from a feasibility study of distributed generation (DG) systems for three remote communities in Alaska. All three of these towns have isolated electrical grids and currently rely on diesel fuel for 100% of their electricity and heating requirements. This assessment included an analysis of each community's electrical and thermal load, a wind and solar resource evaluation, modeling and optimization of various DG systems using HOMER software, and an economic analysis of these systems. For all three of the communities, hybrid wind-diesel systems can provide reductions in the cost of energy. However, the economic feasibility of these systems is extremely site-specific. Even though photovoltaics are not included in the optimal system, they could also be economically feasible. In addition to providing decreases in the cost of energy, these hybrid systems can also provide significant environmental benefits, such as reductions in diesel fuel use and CO_2 emissions.