Development of an Economic and Environmental Decision Making Model for Optimal Solar and Wind Energy Utilization

Abstract

Since the emergence of renewable energy, Renewable Energy Technology (RET) has been considered harmless, clean and free. On the other hand, non-renewable energy sources are perceived as the only hostile technology to the environment without focusing on the detrimental effect of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). Many people have continued to use this „harmless‟ technology without considering the long term environmental and economic impacts. It is, therefore, important to evaluate the environmental impacts of solar and wind technologies and decide on the net environmental and economic benefit before utilization. This will ensure optimal utilization while maintaining the quality and availability of natural resources for current and future generations. For a suitable decision from the model, there is need to interrelate social, health, ecosystem, emissions and resource cost effects of solar and wind technology to the environmental and economic impacts. This will improve the judgment on whether or not to deploy the technology depending on the net benefit to the community. In light of the above, in this thesis an Economic-Environmental Decision Making Model (EEDMM) for optimal utilization of solar and wind energy is developed. The model is developed using Modified ReCiPe 1.3 and PowerSizing models and simulated based on the Improved Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm (SPEA2) on MATLAB environment. Improved Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm is also utilized to solve the uncertainties of solar and wind energy sources. The simulated results from this thesis demonstrates the economic and environmental impacts of solar and wind technologies, and effectively makes the decision on the viability of deploying the technology as per the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations provided by UNEP in the 2018 – 2021 medium term strategy. The simulated results show that solar PV causes reduction in Ozone depletion by 30.15% while wind reduces it by 81.86% as compared to conventional sources. These two energies are shown to reduce climate change to global warming potential, toxification to human being, photochemical oxidation formation, formation of particulate matter and radiation due to ionization with respect to the inputs; taking the fuel costs as the constraints. In conclusion, the developed Economic and Environmental Decision Making Model (EEDMM) is useful in providing prior advice to the users on whether or not the utilization of the solar and wind is achieved. The decisions are made from the EEDMM chart.