Hybrid industrial utility systems with biomass and electrode boilers: a techno-economic investigation
Hybrid renewable energy systems (HYRES) are an established pathway for electricity system decarbonisation and have similarly emerged as a solution for industrial process heat utility systems. This work has analysed the potential economic benefits of implementing a HYRES with a biomass and electrode...
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Elsevier
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Renewable and Sustainable Energy Transition |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667095X25000157 |
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| author | Matthew T. Taylor Martin J. Atkins Timothy Gordon Walmsley |
| author_facet | Matthew T. Taylor Martin J. Atkins Timothy Gordon Walmsley |
| author_sort | Matthew T. Taylor |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Hybrid renewable energy systems (HYRES) are an established pathway for electricity system decarbonisation and have similarly emerged as a solution for industrial process heat utility systems. This work has analysed the potential economic benefits of implementing a HYRES with a biomass and electrode boiler (HYRES-BE) into an existing processing plant in New Zealand by modelling a biomass and electrode boiler operating simultaneously and then extends these results outwards to account for sensitivities in fuel prices. In the model, the duty of the boilers changes as a response to pricing signals received from the electricity market and further optimised to minimise infrastructure costs. After optimising for a single configuration, the optimisation is expanded to all possible boiler configurations to observe how the local optima change. For the specific case study, implementing a HYRES-BE reduced the annual operating cost when compared to single-fuel alternatives. The potential savings from operating a HYRES-BE are highly dependent on the different fuel prices, with higher fuel prices leading to more favourability towards installing a HYRES-BE. Additionally, the coincidence factor between the electricity spot price and the process demand has a large effect on the economics of the HYRES-BE, with the lowest annual cost occurring at the lowest coincidence factor. The results indicate that the perspective of decarbonisation should shift away from single-fuel systems to HYRES-BE for both economical and practical reasons, with the most benefit (for the sensitivities in this research) occurring when the biomass boiler is between 75 % and 85 % of the maximum demand, and the electrode boiler makes up the remainder of the demand. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2c84565deba54821a99a9e7855a653db |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2667-095X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
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| series | Renewable and Sustainable Energy Transition |
| spelling | doaj-art-2c84565deba54821a99a9e7855a653db2025-08-20T03:21:47ZengElsevierRenewable and Sustainable Energy Transition2667-095X2025-06-01710011610.1016/j.rset.2025.100116Hybrid industrial utility systems with biomass and electrode boilers: a techno-economic investigationMatthew T. Taylor0Martin J. Atkins1Timothy Gordon Walmsley2Ahuora – Centre for Smart Energy Systems, School of Engineering, University of Waikato, Hamilton 3210, New ZealandCorresponding author.; Ahuora – Centre for Smart Energy Systems, School of Engineering, University of Waikato, Hamilton 3210, New ZealandAhuora – Centre for Smart Energy Systems, School of Engineering, University of Waikato, Hamilton 3210, New ZealandHybrid renewable energy systems (HYRES) are an established pathway for electricity system decarbonisation and have similarly emerged as a solution for industrial process heat utility systems. This work has analysed the potential economic benefits of implementing a HYRES with a biomass and electrode boiler (HYRES-BE) into an existing processing plant in New Zealand by modelling a biomass and electrode boiler operating simultaneously and then extends these results outwards to account for sensitivities in fuel prices. In the model, the duty of the boilers changes as a response to pricing signals received from the electricity market and further optimised to minimise infrastructure costs. After optimising for a single configuration, the optimisation is expanded to all possible boiler configurations to observe how the local optima change. For the specific case study, implementing a HYRES-BE reduced the annual operating cost when compared to single-fuel alternatives. The potential savings from operating a HYRES-BE are highly dependent on the different fuel prices, with higher fuel prices leading to more favourability towards installing a HYRES-BE. Additionally, the coincidence factor between the electricity spot price and the process demand has a large effect on the economics of the HYRES-BE, with the lowest annual cost occurring at the lowest coincidence factor. The results indicate that the perspective of decarbonisation should shift away from single-fuel systems to HYRES-BE for both economical and practical reasons, with the most benefit (for the sensitivities in this research) occurring when the biomass boiler is between 75 % and 85 % of the maximum demand, and the electrode boiler makes up the remainder of the demand.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667095X25000157Renewable energyUtility systemsEconomic optimisationBiomass boilerElectrode boilerHybrid energy system |
| spellingShingle | Matthew T. Taylor Martin J. Atkins Timothy Gordon Walmsley Hybrid industrial utility systems with biomass and electrode boilers: a techno-economic investigation Renewable and Sustainable Energy Transition Renewable energy Utility systems Economic optimisation Biomass boiler Electrode boiler Hybrid energy system |
| title | Hybrid industrial utility systems with biomass and electrode boilers: a techno-economic investigation |
| title_full | Hybrid industrial utility systems with biomass and electrode boilers: a techno-economic investigation |
| title_fullStr | Hybrid industrial utility systems with biomass and electrode boilers: a techno-economic investigation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hybrid industrial utility systems with biomass and electrode boilers: a techno-economic investigation |
| title_short | Hybrid industrial utility systems with biomass and electrode boilers: a techno-economic investigation |
| title_sort | hybrid industrial utility systems with biomass and electrode boilers a techno economic investigation |
| topic | Renewable energy Utility systems Economic optimisation Biomass boiler Electrode boiler Hybrid energy system |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667095X25000157 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT matthewttaylor hybridindustrialutilitysystemswithbiomassandelectrodeboilersatechnoeconomicinvestigation AT martinjatkins hybridindustrialutilitysystemswithbiomassandelectrodeboilersatechnoeconomicinvestigation AT timothygordonwalmsley hybridindustrialutilitysystemswithbiomassandelectrodeboilersatechnoeconomicinvestigation |