Page - 150 - in Clean Water Using Solar and Wind - Outside the Power Grid

150 Clean Water Using Solar and Wind: Outside the Power Grid 12.1.1 Up-front capital cost versus fuel costs In a renewable system the capital cost is the dominant cost, while the “fuel” for solar and wind is free. A complete solar PV system consists of several elements to be connected with the solar modules. The solar cells usually represent the highest capital cost. The total cost for the system includes inverters (see Chapter 4.5), mounting structures and electric circuits. An important aspect is the cost of energy storage, in many cases a battery system, as demonstrated in Chapter 10. Probably, all these components will be supplied by various vendors. It is crucial that the components are balanced for the best and most efficient operation. On top of this there are soft costs like a control system for power management, and labour costs for the installation. With the dramatic decrease in the cost of solar cells it is obvious that the solar PV element of the system costs will be less dominant, so it is crucial to consider the total system cost. The capital cost is also the dominant cost for wind energy systems. For onshore wind the turbines make up the biggest portion of the capital cost. Turbine cost (including electric infrastructure and transportation) can represent a range of 64% to 84% of capital costs (IRENA, 2018). The main cost of operation and maintenance is related to the wind turbine itself, and is of the order of 50%. Unlike a solar PV the wind turbine has moving parts, which is always a more complicated operation from a maintenance point of view. Usually, turbine maintenance is done by the manufacturer, which also complicates the operation in remote areas. 12.1.2 Levelised cost of electricity Levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) is way to express the lifetime costs divided by energy production and can be expressed in cost/kWh (see 1.4.5). The cost is defined as the present value of the total cost of building and operating a system over an assured lifetime. By using the LCOE concept different technologies can be compared, such as solar PV, wind, fossil fuels, nuclear etc., where the systems have different The up-front capital cost is the dominant cost in a renewable energy system. Downloaded from https://iwaponline.com/ebooks/book-pdf/520710/wio9781780409443.pdf by IWA Publishing user