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Life cycle energy and carbon footprint analysis of photovoltaic battery microgrid system in India

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Abstract

Electricity supply in India is from a centralized grid. Many parts of the country experience grid interruptions. Life cycle energy and environmental analysis has been done for a 27 kWp photovoltaic system which acts as grid backup for 3 h outage in an Indian urban residential scenario. This paper discusses energy requirements and carbon emission for a PV storage system for five different battery technologies in Indian context. This can be used as a metric for comparative analysis for new batteries, with an undeveloped market. The energy requirements for the components are quantified and are compared in terms of energy payback time (EPBT) and Net Energy Ratio (NER). All the calculations are done for Indian context. EPBT is found to be in the range of 2–4.5 years for all the systems, while NER is in the range of 6.6–2.52. NaS has the highest emission factor of 0.67 kgCO2/kWh and the least for NiCd (0.091 kgCO2/kWh). These factors can be used to select a PV battery option and to target selection of materials and systems based on the reported values.

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Abbreviations

{C}:

Vector of all components of the PV battery system

ctg:

Cradle-to-gate

mp:

Material production

mnf:

Manufacturing

j :

Number of materials

m j :

Mass of the materials

{b j }:

Material, energy and environmental burden vector

η j :

Efficiency of adding material j to component C

PE j :

Production energy of the jth material

E mp :

Material production energy (MJ/kg)

E mnf :

Manufacturing energy (MJ/kg)

E tr :

Transportation energy (MJ/kg)

L :

Distance of transportation (km)

m :

Mass to be transported (kg)

e :

Transportation energy (MJpf/kg-km or MJpf/ton-km)

E rec :

Recycling energy (MJ/kg)

E tot :

Total life cycle energy (MJ/kg)

kgCO2 :

Carbon output (kg)

P PV :

Power demand from the PV (kW)

E dem :

Daily demand to be met by the PV system (kWh)

h :

Number of effective sunshine hours in a day

P PVpeak :

PV peak rating (kW)

η sys :

System efficiency

f PV :

PV module derating factor

f temp :

Module temperature derating factor

f wr :

DC and AC wiring inefficiency factor

f dirt :

Derating factor for dirt/soiling

f mod :

Module mismatch derating factor

f sys :

System availability derating factor

E batt :

Required storage capacity of the battery (kWh)

D :

Days of autonomy

η rt :

Round trip efficiency of the battery

η d :

Discharging efficiency of the battery

η c :

Charging efficiency of the battery

d :

Depth of discharge of the battery

M batt :

Battery mass (kg)

E d :

Battery energy density (Wh/kg)

E a(e) :

Annual electricity generation from the system in electrical units (kWhe)

S av :

Yearly average solar insolation at the location (kWh/m2)

η PV :

Efficiency of the PV panel

η INV :

Efficiency of the inverter

η CC :

Efficiency of the charge controller

l :

Length of the PV panel (m)

b :

Breadth of the PV panel (m)

n :

Number of panels used

EE:

Embodied energy expressed in MJpf/kg (primary fossil energy)

EC:

Embodied carbon expressed in kgCO2/kg

E dir :

Direct energy input to the system (MJ)

E ind :

Indirect energy input to the system (MJ)

EPBT:

Energy payback time (years)

NER:

Net Energy Ratio

ALCC:

Annualized life cycle cost (₹)

E out :

Annualized energy output from the system (kWh)

i :

Component

t i :

Service life for component i (years)

kgCO2 :

Carbon content for the ith component

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Acknowledgements

This paper is based upon work supported in part under the UK and India partnership in smart energy grids and energy storage technologies for intelligent microgrids with appropriate storage for energy (IMASE) funded by Govt. of India through the Department of Science and Technology (DST/RCUK/SEGES/2012/13).

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  1. Department of Energy Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay, Mumbai, 400076, India

    Jani Das, Ajit Paul Abraham, Prakash C. Ghosh & Rangan Banerjee

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  1. Jani Das
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Correspondence to Jani Das.

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Das, J., Abraham, A.P., Ghosh, P.C. et al. Life cycle energy and carbon footprint analysis of photovoltaic battery microgrid system in India. Clean Techn Environ Policy 20, 65–80 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-017-1456-4

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