Economic Analysis on PV/Diesel Power System for Remote Islands' Electrification

도서용 태양광/내연기관 발전시스템 경제성 비교 분석

Several PV-diesel hybrid systems were built in isolated islands in Korea, where they are far from the inland to be supplied the electric power to a utility level from it. A lot of efforts has been concentrated to find a cost-effective electric supply system with higher reliability and minimum maintenance when compared with a diesel generator. For this purpose, an autonomous PV-diesel hybrid system with multi-channel remote monitoring system was investigated to supply electric power under minimum operating cost and maintenance in a small isolated island. In this report, the economic analysis was performed for comparison with photovoltaic system and diesel generator by computer simulation. And it was proven that a PV system is more cost-effective than an internal combustion engine for the remote island with less than 150 households. Especially, in the case of islands with less than 50 households, the initial construction cost of the PV system is comparable to and its operating cost is about 70% less than the diesel generator.