SSM: RET Screen International 4.0 was used to analyze the technologies and compare with the existing diesel and propane system. RET Screen is an international RET analysis tool developed by Natural Resources Canada. The

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Displacing fossil fuel use in an Off-Grid
community The cost benefit analysis of Demand
Side Management and suitable Renewable Energy
Technologies Bhanu Duggirala and Dr.Shirley
Thompson Natural Resources Institute, University
of Manitoba.
INTRODUCTION Power generation is one of the
biggest contributor to GHG emissions, which are
believed to be the main cause for global climate
change. With increasing climate change impacts,
governments, organizations and communities are
increasingly looking for alternative and
environmentally safer ways to generate heat and
power. Currently, propane and diesel are used to
generate heat and power resulting not only in
high energy costs (0.230/kW) but also emit high
GHG emissions (280 t CO2). This poster
summarizes changes that ELA can make to become
more energy efficient and also evaluates the
feasibility of using wind power, solar power and
biomass as energy sources of power and heat in
contrast with the existing diesel generators and
propane heaters used. Important quantitative and
qualitative parameters are evaluated using
RETScreen analysis tool to arrive at conclusion
(Beccali et.al 2007). In terms of relevance to
off-grid first nation, though ELA has many
differences, it shares some commonalities like
similar energy generation system and an increase
in population base (visitors) in summer. With
over 300 off grid establishments and a combined
population of 200,000 it is vital that these
communities meet their energy requirements in a
sustainable and cleaner manner (EIA, 2005a
Ah-You Leng, 1999). With necessary
modifications, this analysis could be used to
evaluate local sustainable energy opportunities
for other off-grid remote communities esp. first
nation reserves.
ABSTRACT From a Canadian perspective, the
availability of superior wind, solar and biomass
renewable energy resources puts Canada's off grid
communities in great position to make energy
associated adaptations and contribute in their
part towards the global fight against climate
change. This study shows that, at one such off
grid facility, the application of Demand Side
Management (DSM) and Supply Side Management (SSM)
strategies can result in more sustainable heating
and power-generation and as a result it mitigates
energy costs as well as GHG emissions in a
economically feasible way. A walk through survey
at the facility has revealed that demand side
opportunities can reduce the base load by 20-25,
and for supply side, RET Screen model has
determined that among wind, solar and biomass,
biomass based CHP system can provide power and
heat at 50 of the energy to the existing diesel
and propane system with diesel generation being
used as backup and to meet peak load demand.
About ELA Est. by Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans
(DFO) in 1968, Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) is a
unique research facility located in the remote
regions of northwest Ontario. The off grid
facility is operational year round with very
little occupancy during winter months and is well
occupied for the rest of the year
(April-September). This provides a unique
opportunity to explore and analyze the
suitability of renewable energy technologies at
this off grid facility as well as energy
efficient measures.
The field station is located at about 250km east
of Winnipeg and 50km east of Kenora, Ontario. A
30km gravel-surface logging road provides year
round access
METHOD STEP 1 Evaluated the present energy
situation at ELA including the economic and
environmental impact that result from fossil fuel
usage at the facility and by referring to fuels
bills, manuals, audit reports. STEP 2 Performed
a walk through survey at the facilities buildings
and compute the potential load saving that can be
achieved by recommended energy saving measures
STEP 3 Developed RETScreen model and performed
economic feasibility and emission analysis on
wind power, solar power and biomass (combined
heat and power) for heat and power generation and
compare with the existing system STEP 4
Summarized economic and environmental benefits of
the energy efficient measures and RETs and
propose a suitable alternative by comparing with
the existing diesel and propane setup
CURRENT ENERGY SITUATION - The existing
system energy system has two 113kW and one 60kW
power plants. With a 75 loading on one
of 113kW units the facility runs on 85kW. See
Fig.1 below for comprehensive economic and
environmental impacts of exiting energy
system.
Step1
Table 1. Base Case Power System Characteristics
Fig 1. Energy Map of ELA revealed the flow of
energy through the facility for the year 2006/2007
DSM A walk through survey at the
facilities buildings has revealed various energy
saving opportunities that can be
implemented to reduce the base load.

Step2
Grid Type Technology Off grid / Reciprocating engine
Fuel Type Cost (/L) Diesel at 0.80
Capacity (kW) 115
Heat Rate (kJ/kWh) 11,000 (or) 25 efficient
Electricity rate (/kWh) 0.230
Table 2. Summary of DSM recommendations with
savings
Problem Identified Recommendation Capital Cost of Recommendation () Energy Savings (kWh) Est. savings /yr in () Pay back period
Lighting in the laboratory Replace the 5 existing incandescent lights with CFL 35.00 396.00 99.00 Under 4 months
Exit Lamps Replace all 7 existing exit lamps with LED exit lamps 315.00 6,132.00 153.00 2yrs
Two, old 40 cubic foot refrigerators Replace both with Energy star units Energy star appliances save 20 of standard equipment 2 X 7,500.00 15,000.00 20 saving on 9,066.6 (existing) 7,253.28 A saving of 1813.32 518.00 gt20yrs
Oversized ice maker (1100 Watts) Downsize to a smaller (575 watts) unit approx 2,500.00 50 savings on 4876.7 2438.35, A saving of 2438.35 580.00 4.3yrs
Two 90C ovens run continuously overnight Turn off one oven during nights 0.00 25 savings on 6832.8 5124.6, A saving of 1708.2 437.00
Total 17,850.00 12,487.87kWh 1,787.00
DSM (Demand Side Management) is a practice which
aims at reducing the energy usage by consumers.
It is an essential and low cost approach in
moving towards becoming sustainable energy
consumer
Heat Rate is the amount of energy input (in kJ
or Btu) from the fuel required to produce 1kWh
of electricity
Survey showed that DSM alone can reduce ELA base
load demand for heat and power by 20-25 with
recommended energy saving measures.
SSM RET Screen International 4.0 was used to
analyze the technologies and compare with the
existing diesel and propane system. RET Screen
is an international RET analysis tool developed
by Natural Resources Canada. The tool is
capable of performing technological, emission and
financial analysis. It can model for both on and
off grid communities thus making it suitable
for ELA. The Mean annual wind speed (m/s) at 10m
hub height (as per international standard)
have been obtained from ELA meteorological
station. Annual solar radiation (kWh/m2/day)data
was obtained from NASAs global climate
database. The analysis has been performed under
higher heating value reference due to higher
than average annual heating demand at ELA. Three
technologies were identified to perform the
analysis. Wind, solar and biomass are chosen as
potential technologies for analysis. Ref Table 3
for model characteristics and Table 4 for the
results obtained.
Step3
SSM (Supply Side Management) encompasses all
activities required to identify, evaluate,
optimally select, implement and monitor options
for the generation of electricity to meet the
present and future loads
Source ELA - Laboratory Energy Audit Report,
2007 by James Kornelson, Kent Pearce, Jessica
Saunders, Godwin Chang, Daniel Gagne, Tyler
Tarnoczi and Jeff Valdivia. University of
Manitoba
CONCLUSION The model generated the results that
are summarized in the table. Of the three
technologies analyzed biomass is found to be more
economically and environmentally feasible than
wind and solar for ELA in the long term
Introducing a small capacity of biomass CHP would
bring significant benefits in term of emission
and environmental risk reduction as well as
mitigate fossil fuel consumption. This study
shows that DSM and SSM can be used effectively to
dramatically improve the energy situation at ELA
resulting in lower energy cost, cleaner energy
production and lower per capita GHG emissions.
With enormous biomass resources and continuous
improvement in biomass energy technology ELA has
huge potential to incrementally adopt CHP and
gradually mitigate fossil fuel consumption.
Table 4. RETScreen analysis of Wind, Solar and
Biomass with existing Diesel and Propane System
Electricity Heating Heating
RET Parameters Solar Power 50kW Wind Power 100kW Diesel Power 115kW Biomass (Heat Power) Geothermal Heating Propane Heating
Reliability Moderate Moderate High High High High
Avg. Initial Cost (/kW) 9,100 3,300 1,400 1,800 26,000 Entire facility -
Cost of power (in /kW) 0.045 0.145 0.225 0.120 0.083 0.454
GHG Emissions Kg of CO2 Eq. Nil Nil 14020.52 Carbon neutral technology Nil 32,400.00
Efficiency 12.3 30 25 85 gt 85 85
Equity pay back period (in yrs) 13.5 4.1 - 3.1 4.7 -
Capital Cost () 450,000 330,000 161,000 207,000 (Excluding district heating piping system and engineering cost) - 12,000
Annual fuel and OM cost () Nil Nil 65,937.60 6,500.00 3,039.00 9,735.28
Table 3. RETScreen Characteristics of Solar, Wind
and Biomass Power System
Wind -Hub Height25m -No. of turbines1 Solar -Efficiency 12.3 -Fixed Tracking method _at_ 35 slope Biomass -District heating network - Wood pellets as fuel
Size (kW) 100 50 100
Capacity factor 12.7 15.7 -
Power Delivered to load 180.8Mwh (61.9) 57.81Mwh (19.8) 395Mwh (78.2)
Net GHG reduction 168 tCO2 112 tCO2 336 tCO2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe many thanks to DFO for
giving me the opportunity and financial support
for this project. I would like to thank Ray
Pambrun, Ken Beaty, Duane Jordan, Mark Lyng,
Michael Paterson and John Shearer for providing
with information, data and feedback. I would like
to thank Dr. Shirley Thompson who has guided and
supported me throughout this project. I would
also like to extend my thanks to all the NRI
students of Sep 2007 Course Energy Management
Course instructed by Dr. Shirley Thompson at the
Natural Resources Institute, University of
Manitoba.
References Ah-You. K, Leng. G (1999). Renewable
Energy in Canadas remote communities. Renewable
Energy for Remote communities Program, Natural
Resources Canada. EIA. 2005a. International Total
Primary Energy Consumption (Demand) and Related
Data. Washington, DC Energy Information
Administration. Beccali. M, Brunone. S, Cellura.
M, Franzitta. V (2007). Energy, economic and
environmental analysis on RET hydrogen systems in
residential buildings. Renewable Energy. Vol 33
(3) Pg.366-382.
Note Due to technical incompatibility, except
for Biomass, all other model results does not
incorporate the 20 DMS savings identified in
Step 2.