Essay by Eric Worrall
The diesel generator would only be needed for “backup”.
How the South Pole research station could run on 100% renewable energy
Joshua S Hill
May 15, 2024American researchers have completed an analysis that demonstrates how renewable energy could almost completely replace diesel at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, resulting in millions of dollars in savings.
The analysis, published in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, was conducted by scientists at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), some of whom have worked at the South Pole and wanted to understand if renewables could replace the use of diesel.
“All of the energy at the South Pole currently is generated by diesel fuel and a generator,” said Amy Bender, a physicist in Argonne’s High Energy Physics division, a corresponding author on the paper, and a scientist who has spent time working at the South Pole.
“We were asking if it is possible to transition to renewables. This study is the beginning of trying to make that case.”
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Read more: https://reneweconomy.com.au/how-the-south-pole-research-station-could-run-on-100-renewable-energy/
The abstract of the study;
Techno-economic analysis of renewable energy generation at the South Pole
Author links open overlay panelSusan Babinec a, Ian Baring-Gould b, Amy N. Bender a, Nate Blair b, Xiangkun Li b, Ralph T. Muehleisen a, Dan Olis b, Silvana Ovaitt b
a Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Lemont, 60439, IL, USA
b National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 15013 Denver West Parkway, Golden, 80401, CO, USAHighlights
- •Renewable energy generation at the South Pole, Antarctica is explored.
- •South Pole conditions require unique renewable technical design.
- •South Pole renewable system possible with mature, commercially-available technology.
- •Least-cost hybrid renewable system reduces annual diesel consumption by 95%.
- •South Pole renewable energy creates positive economic impact across many scenarios.
Abstract
Transitioning from fossil-fuel power generation to renewable energy generation and energy storage in remote locations has the potential to reduce both carbon emissions and cost. This study presents a techno-economic analysis for implementation of a hybrid renewable energy system at the South Pole in Antarctica, which currently hosts several high-energy physics experiments with nontrivial power needs. A tailored model of resource availability and economics for solar photovoltaics, wind turbine generators, lithium-ion energy storage, and long-duration energy storage at this site is explored in different combinations with and without existing diesel energy generation. The Renewable Energy Integration and Optimization (REopt) platform is used to determine the optimal system component sizing and the associated system economics and environmental benefit. We find that the least-cost system includes all three energy generation sources and lithium-ion energy storage. For an example steady-state load of 170 kW, this hybrid system includes 180 kW-DC of photovoltaic panels, 570 kW of wind turbines, and a 3.4 MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system. This system reduces diesel consumption by 95% compared to an all-diesel configuration, resulting in approximately 1200 metric tons of carbon footprint avoided annually. Over the course of a 15-year analysis period the reduced diesel usage leads to a net savings of 57 million United States dollars, with a time to payback of approximately two years. All the scenarios modeled show that the transition to renewables is highly cost effective under the unique economics and constraints of this extremely remote site.
Read more: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364032123011322
I admire their optimism.
Perhaps they should try powering a small part of the installation with a small number of wind turbines and solar panels, before they commit the entire facility to weather dependent energy sources.
I guess if all else fails, they could always burn the lithium battery for warmth.
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