Increasing the Electricity Generation Capacity from Solar Resources at Duke University
Date
2018-04-27
Advisors
Patino-Echeverri, Dalia
Pratson, Lincoln
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Abstract
Duke University has set the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2024. This study
explores the alternative of contributing to this target through the installation of
solar photovoltaic systems (PV) from environmental, technical, regulatory, economic,
and financial perspectives. It estimates the technical potential of on-site PV on
the main Duke Campus and assesses the opportunities and challenges posed by federal
and state regulations. We found out that the maximum technical potential of solar
PV systems is 51.5 MWdc when being installed on rooftops and 35.6 MWdc when being
installed atop parking lots. Together, Duke University owns 87.1 MWdc on-site PV technical
potential.
Our power system operation analysis illustrates that the on-site solar capacity addition
at Duke University would incrementally reduce the system cost and emissions, while
the 300-MWdc solar farm would negatively impact the power system economics and grid
reliability. The costs of installation on parking lots are lower than on rooftops,
but due to economies of scale, the most economical option to reduce emissions is to
install off-site solar farms. For the cost-effectiveness of sustainability, this study
also estimates the carbon abatement costs (COA) of carbon-abating strategies including
PV, carbon offset, and Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) that Duke University could
apply at this stage under business-as-usual (BAU) and carbon-tax scenarios.
We also find that state regulations severely limit the benefits of on-campus PV development
given a) the lack of programs allowing the participation of third-party energy providers,
b) the limitation of standard Power Purchase Agreements for solar energy facilities
to less than 1 MWdc, and c) the lack of certainty on the value of RECs.
Type
Master's projectSubject
Campus SustainabilityPV Potential
Renewable Project Development
Power System Modeling
Regulatory Framework
Carbon Abatement Cost
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/16573Citation
Zhang, Jun; & Zaragoza Castillo, Ricardo (2018). Increasing the Electricity Generation Capacity from Solar Resources at Duke University.
Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/16573.Collections
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