Journal of Fundamentals of Renewable Energy and Applications
Open Access

Abstract

Low Carbon Options for Industrial Districts in Pakistan

Anam Nadeem*, Andrea Bartolini, Roman Kalvin and Gabriele Comodi

Fossil fuels are the main primary resources for electricity generation in Pakistan. Over the last few years there has been a consistent growth in industrialization and population in the main cities, which might lead to such resources not being enough to fulfill the future energy demands in a sustainable way. Meanwhile, over half the remote rural areas are unable to access electricity. Consequently, it is necessary to look for the alternate solutions. This paper aims at studying technological solutions to meet such growing electricity demand, by also considering its environmental impact. For this purpose, a case study of a district in Pakistan is considered in its electricity demand; measured with an hourly resolution for a whole year that includes two different users: a set of factories and a residential district. The power plant uses two different electricity generation systems: a 22 MW combined cycle power plant and a 10 MW natural gas engine power plant, while also having access to the main national grid in case of need. The total demand of the industry included in the district is of 18MWh per year on average and the remaining production is supplied to the residential area. The industrial area consists of 12 factories and three commercial subsidiaries. In order to model the case study the Energy Plan software is used.

The study analyses a set of scenarios by considering: an increased capacity of a PV system versus increased efficiency of a fossil fired power plant. Results indicate that both solutions affect the emissions by a different magnitude, thus the best choice really depends on other technological and economical evaluations and assumptions.

Published Date: 2022-09-08; Received Date: 2020-12-18