Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Apotea is an internet-based pharmacy company with a logistics center based in Morgongåva, Sweden. This building is home to Sweden's largest roof-based solar panel installation with an installed capacity of 1.5MW. An expansion of the facility is planned for completion 2021 with a new building or equal size being added to the center. Another 2.5MW of solar panels will be installed after construction is completed. The solar panel expansion will lead to a large amount of excess power being produced during daytime that cannot be consumed by the load. The aim of this project has been to investigate economic feasibility and the potential for energy self-sufficiency using various energy storage solutions. The technologies investigated were lithium-ion batteries, vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB), saltwater batteries and hydrogen gas. The use of batteries for peak power shaving has also been investigated. The system was modelled using the software Homer Pro. The model consisted of a load profile, different solar panels of different types, the electric grid and the energy storage itself. High precision data with detailed parameters to describe internal system properties were used for the energy storage component in the system, since this was the main component being investigated. The project concluded that neither the batteries nor the hydrogen storage are economically viable, even through sensitivity analysis where the price of batteries decreased, and grid electricity price increased significantly. The battery storage can provide self-sufficiency during the summer however the solar power production has great shortfalls during the winter with limited sunlight. The hydrogen gas system can store energy long term during the periods of overproduction and can provide a sizeable portion of the electricity needed during the winter. With a large enough installed solar capacity and appropriate battery control, the batteries have great potential for shaving the production peaks and increasing local consumption of the facility’s own solar panels.