Comunitat energètica a Sant Martí de Riucorb, Lleida

Abstract

Considering the climate emergency situation that we are living nowadays, accelerating the energy transition towards a sustainable and renewable energy-based power system is crucial. One way to contribute to it is to promote self-supply, using technologies like wind or solar photovoltaic (PV). Energy communities are included in this area as a way of local collective production and consumption of energy, with environmental, economic and social benefits. This project is focused on the implementation of an energy community in Sant Mart´ı de Riucorb, a small town located in the province of Lleida, Spain. It is studied the viability of an installation of wind turbines and a solar photovoltaic system, separately, in order to cover part of the electricity consumption of the town. In the first place, the wind of the region is characterised in order to check if its velocity is high enough for wind turbines to operate correctly; it is not, so no further studies are made. Secondly, the photovoltaic plant is evaluated. The exact location is defined, as well as the technical characteristics, and, using PVGIS programme adjusting the installed power to the hourly domestic electricity consumption, the energy production is obtained. It is also studied the economic profitability considering a 2 % inflation and a 3 % discount rate. The authorisations needed are specified as well. Finally, it is concluded that, on the one hand, the installation of wind turbines is not viable in the area. On the other hand, the solar photovoltaic plant covers up to 35.17 % of the electricity consumption, being profitable for prices higher than 55 e/MWh in the case of full investment of own capital with a payback lower than 15 years; 70 e/MWh in the situation of investment of half credit (with a 8 % interest rate in 15 years) and half own capital, and 110 e/MWh for the case of full investment of credit. Selling the excess energy has a minor effect due to the fact that it is a small quantity of electricity.