TY - JOUR
T1 - Enabling combined access to electricity and clean cooking with PV-microgrids
T2 - new evidences from a high-resolution model of cooking loads
AU - Lombardi, France sco
AU - Riva, Fabio
AU - Sacchi, Marco
AU - Colombo, Emanuela
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Electric cooking (or e-cooking) based on renewable sources and highly-efficient cooking devices could represent a sustainable and reliable option to achieve the universal access to clean cooking facilities by 2030. Still, the techno-economic feasibility of e-cooking has never been evaluated through (i) a high-resolution assessment of the electric and cooking load profiles, coupled with (ii) a least-cost energy system optimisation for the related electricity supply. Hence, the present study aims at accurately investigating the techno-economic potential of a fully-renewable solar micro-grid, ensuring an integrated access to electricity and clean cooking, based on two representative case studies in Tanzania, namely: (i) a residential case study, and (ii) a community-service case study. Bottom-up stochastic load profiles are generated for the two contexts by expanding the existing LoadProGen model with a novel complementary algorithm for the computation of high-resolution cooking loads. The cost-optimised results prove the cost-competitiveness of e-cooking, especially for the community-service case, where it would require only an additional 17% capital investment due to the pre-existence of other energy-intensive activities. Moreover, the range of Levelised Cost for Cooking a Meal (LCCM) obtained for e-cooking considering the different scenarios lies within 0.16 ÷ 0.70 USD/kWh, a range that is comparable with that of all other cooking options – including firewood – and even more cost-competitive than LPG.
AB - Electric cooking (or e-cooking) based on renewable sources and highly-efficient cooking devices could represent a sustainable and reliable option to achieve the universal access to clean cooking facilities by 2030. Still, the techno-economic feasibility of e-cooking has never been evaluated through (i) a high-resolution assessment of the electric and cooking load profiles, coupled with (ii) a least-cost energy system optimisation for the related electricity supply. Hence, the present study aims at accurately investigating the techno-economic potential of a fully-renewable solar micro-grid, ensuring an integrated access to electricity and clean cooking, based on two representative case studies in Tanzania, namely: (i) a residential case study, and (ii) a community-service case study. Bottom-up stochastic load profiles are generated for the two contexts by expanding the existing LoadProGen model with a novel complementary algorithm for the computation of high-resolution cooking loads. The cost-optimised results prove the cost-competitiveness of e-cooking, especially for the community-service case, where it would require only an additional 17% capital investment due to the pre-existence of other energy-intensive activities. Moreover, the range of Levelised Cost for Cooking a Meal (LCCM) obtained for e-cooking considering the different scenarios lies within 0.16 ÷ 0.70 USD/kWh, a range that is comparable with that of all other cooking options – including firewood – and even more cost-competitive than LPG.
KW - Access to electricity
KW - E-cooking
KW - Homer
KW - LoadProGen
KW - Optimisation
KW - Tanzania
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85061388528&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.esd.2019.01.005
DO - 10.1016/j.esd.2019.01.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85061388528
SN - 0973-0826
VL - 49
SP - 78
EP - 88
JO - Energy for Sustainable Development
JF - Energy for Sustainable Development
ER -