Techno-Economic Evaluation of On-Grid Battery Energy Storage System in Jordan using Homer Pro

Abstract

The limitation in the allowed new capacities of renewable energy sources to be connected to the electric utility grid is a challenge. This limitation will form an obstacle in expanding towards full dependence on the clean available resource of electricity in Jordan. Battery electricity storage system (BESS) can be a solution for this limitation, and which has been studied to allow storing more electricity from new renewable energy sources, such as PV, to be supplied on demand. This paper evaluates different battery technologies using HOMER (Hybrid Optimization Modelling Software) simulation software, which allows comparing different available battery technologies to different technical specifications from an economic point of view. The essential primary outcome of the simulation is the cost of the electricity stored in each battery technology that can be used to optimize the battery storage system size for each type of battery. The simulation was made for a photovoltaic system in Jordan, connected to the grid, and with different kinds of battery technologies with varying sizes in order to understand their effect on the final cost of energy, and to know the needed minimum tariff that will encourage investors in the field of renewable energy to invest more in battery electricity storage. The findings of this paper show that a tariff of $0.140 per kWh will make the battery electricity storage system more attractive for storing energy from solar PV systems for shares around 20% of the average PV production. The resulted Levelized Cost Of Energy (LCOE) will help in securing more electricity for Jordan from solar PV plants, and to depend less on fossil fuel which has environmental impacts, fluctuating prices, and not indigenously available in Jordan.