Biomass
The installed biomass power plant capacity in the region (nameplate rating, current rating if different) is shown below.
Guadeloupe Coal and bagasse provide the fuel for three plants Martinique 4 MW municipal waste
Solar PV
The installed solar PV power plant capacity in the region (nameplate rating, current rating if different) is shown below.
Martinique EDF buys 6 – 10 MW rooftop solar PV from many locations. French law
says EDF need accept only 30% of intermittent power generation (wind, solar PV)
St. Lucia LUCELEC buys 0.1 MW of rooftop solar PV power from many locations
8.6.2 Planned Renewable Projects
The utilities include significant expansion of renewable energy in their plans. We received little data on the cost and performance of those projects, but below we present some general results. Hydro, biomass, and landfill gas are highly economic in some circumstances but site-specific and have limited resource availability in the Caribbean. Solar PV has a large resource for
potential exploitation but is expensive. Geothermal and wind are also highly site specific, but we know that they can be economic and have large resource availability in the Caribbean.
The evaluation of planned and proposed (Section 8.6.3) renewable projects is conducted using screening analysis. Section 11 describes the details of the screening analysis approach. Here we offer a condensed summary. Screening analysis:
Uses simplified representations of generation costs to help identify least cost generating technologies
Plots annual cost in $/kW-year vs. capacity factor for a set of power plant and/or fuel options
Caribbean Regional Electricity Generation, Interconnection, and Fuels Supply Strategy – Final Report 8-41
The cost in $/kW-yr can also be easily expressed in cents/kWh, which are also of interest but are curved and somewhat harder to interpret than the straight lines in $/kW-yr
Annual cost is sum of:
Annualized investment-related costs based on initial capital investment, discount rate, and plant lifetime
Fixed annual operation and maintenance (O&M)
Variable cost (includes fuel cost and variable O&M costs) per kWh times capacity factor times hours per year
Selects lowest cost resources at each capacity factor, producing the “least-cost line” for that set of resources
Section 11 provides evaluations of each island based on the cost of fossil fuels there, against which we compare the cost of generation from renewable energy. Below we present more general results based on the assumption that distillate is the fuel against which renewable energy options competes.
Figure 8-13 presents the Distillate LCL, which shows the lowest cost that can be obtained from a distillate-fueled power plant at each capacity factor from zero to 90%. The representative
technology options are 20 MW simple cycle gas turbines and 20 MW low speed diesel engines. The scale in $/kW-yr for the solid lines is on the left, the scale in cents/kWh for the dotted lines is on the right.
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% Capacity Factor, % Annual Cos t, $ /kW -yea r 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Co s t, US c e n ts /k W h 20 MW LSD Dist, US$/kW-yr 20 MW GT Dist, US$/kW-yr Distillate LCL, US$/kW-yr Distillate LCL, US cents/kWh
Figure 8-13 Least Cost Line for Distillate Fuel
Figure 8-13 shows that the 20 MW gas turbine is lowest in cost at zero capacity factor and the 20 MW low speed diesel is least cost at capacity factors above zero. Whether a utility would want to install gas turbines for such limited use is uncertain.
Figure 8-14 compares renewable energy options to the Distillate LCL when distillate is the fuel. The scale in $/kW-yr for the solid lines is on the left, the scale in cents/kWh for the dotted lines is on the right. The Distillate LCL, in blue, represents the benefit of a renewable energy option. Its generation would displace generation at a cost along that line. Where a renewable energy option’s line is below the blue line, there is a net benefit. It reduces costs elsewhere that are more than its own costs. Where it is above the blue line, it represents a net cost.
Most of the renewable technologies are shown at a range of capacity factors they might reasonably achieve at a good site. Geothermal is also based on a good site, and is shown over the entire capacity factor range because it is not limited by resource availability once the
resource has been defined. Wind with backup simply adds the full cost of operation of a 20 MW LSD at 5% capacity factor to the costs of wind without backup, which also adds 5% to the capacity factor. Biomass costs assume that biomass costs the same as export coal in the US.
Caribbean Regional Electricity Generation, Interconnection, and Fuels Supply Strategy – Final Report 8-43 0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% Capacity Factor, % A nnua l C o st , $/ kW -y e a r 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Cos t, US cent s /k W h Distillate LCL, US$/kW-yr 1.5 MW Wind Turbine 1.5 MW Wind w/Backup Commercial PV 500 kW 20 MW Geothermal Small Hydro Biomass
Solar Trough 6 hr Storage Distillate LCL, US cents/kWh
Figure 8-14 Distillate LCL vs. Renewable Energy Options
Figure 8-14 shows that all but two of the renewable energy technologies have the potential, at a good site, to be considerably less costly than distillate fueled power generation. Solar PV and solar trough with six hour storage are above the Distillate LCL. If a lower cost fuel such as pipeline gas were the competitive fuel, the advantage of the renewable technology would be less and might disappear.
Although we do not have adequate data to analyze specific projects, the analysis summarized in Figure 8-14 indicates that all the projects planned by the utilities have the potential to be
economic except the Solar PV planned for Martinique. That technology is heavily subsidized there through high feed-in tariffs for residential PV-generated power, which explains why more PV is expected there.
Hydro
Dominica Upgrading of existing hydro facilities is DOMLEC’s #2 priority, after
geothermal. Considerable hydro potential exists, but costs may be high and no further development is planned.
Dominican Republic Construction is under way or contracts have been signed for 356 MW of
designs, 57 MW of hydro projects to produce 188 GWH/yr have had feasibility studies, and 405 MW of hydro projects to produce 850 GWH/yr have had pre-feasibility studies.
Haiti Rehabilitation of the entire main existing hydro plant (Peligere) is
planned. The Government of Brazil is developing a 30 MW hydro plant not far from the existing Peligere plant.
St. Vincent An engineering study for micro hydro 500 kW – 2 MW is planned.
Expansion of existing hydro plant to addition of 2 MW at South Rivers and Richmond
Wind
Antigua & Barbuda Feasibility studies have been undertaken for a 4-5 MW wind farm on
Antigua and an up to 400 MW wind farm on Barbuda
Barbados Approved 10 MW wind farm development at Lamberts St. Lucy, as part of
a joint development with new diesel engines
Dominica DOMLEC has leased land for a wind farm and will take wind
measurements
Dominica: Has identified 9 wind sites and developers are proceeding with 7 wind sites. Dominican Republic 350 MW of wind power plants have been approved and are awaiting
financing. Provisional studies have identified an additional 1,200 MW potential
Grenada Two sites have wind monitoring equipment installed.
Haiti A study of wind at three sites has been conducted and found good results
after 6 months at two of them. They want to study other sites
Jamaica Detailed engineering is under way to expand Wigdon Wind Farm by 18
MW
Martinique Expansion of existing Ferme Éolienne du Vauclin wind farm to 40 MW is
planned by 2020. French law
St. Lucia LUCELEC is pursuing a wind farm on land they already own. They have
anemometers at 10 meters that indicate average wind speeds of 7.5 meters/second when the wind is blowing, which is most of the time. 40 meter anemometers are planned for the near future. LUCELEC believes it can accept only about 30% intermittent generation, given its demand structure.
St. Vincent Announced a 2 MW wind farm for Canouan Island
Caribbean Regional Electricity Generation, Interconnection, and Fuels Supply Strategy – Final Report 8-45
Dominica West Indies Power (Dominica) Ltd. (WIPD) signed a Geothermal
Resources Exploration and Development Agreement with the Government of Dominica in 2008, granting them the rights to explore for and develop the geothermal resources located near
Soufriere in southern Dominica.. Drilling of the first three slim (exploratory) wells is scheduled to start in June 2010 in the Soufriere area near the southern coast. DOMLEC’s first priority for new generation is a 10 – 15 MW geothermal plant. The French AFD agency has been
undertaking a comprehensive assessment of the geothermal potential at the Watton Waven field in central Dominica for some time.