Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 11341144

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Case study feasibility analysis of renewable energy supply options for small to
medium-sized tourist accommodations
G.J. Dalton*, D.A. Lockington, T.E Baldock
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Queensland, 3rd Floor, Hawken Building, Brisbane, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 16 January 2008
Accepted 22 June 2008
Available online 15 August 2008

This paper outlines a feasibility analysis of renewable energy supply (RES) for small to medium-scale
tourist operations (less than 100 beds) dependent on stand-alone supplies. The analysis utilised the
power load data from three accommodation case studies that had RES/hybrids already installed. The
accommodation sites, chosen from diverse locations within Australia, varied in both climatic and
geographic characteristics. The assessment criteria for the analysis were net present cost (NPC),
renewable factor (RF) and payback time. The specic operational characteristics of the tourism accommodation sector, such as 24-h operation, comfort provision and low tolerance for failure, necessitates
a separate assessment of RES viability for this sector, rather than relying on similar assessments from
other commercial and domestic sectors, which may not be representative. This study utilised RES
assessment software, HOMER (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, US) in order to compare the
present RES/hybrid conguration to diesel generator-only (genset-only), RES-only and optimised RES/
hybrid congurations. Analysis of both actual data and modeling results demonstrated that RES can
adequately and reliably meet the power demand for stand-alone small to medium-scale tourist
accommodations. Optimisation, achieved by further addition of RES to the existing congurations,
reduced NPC in the majority of cases, with the added benet of increased RF. Furthermore, NPC for these
optimised RES/hybrid congurations were comparable to the optimised genset-only congurations.
Modeling of conversions to RES-only congurations demonstrated this option as uneconomical unless
existing RF was already high. Results indicated that wind energy conversion systems (WECS), rather than
photovoltaics, were the most economical RES for sampled hybrid systems. For example, the payback time
of the WECS/hybrids was approximately 34 years compared to PV/hybrids at 67 years. Hydrogen fuel
cells and storage systems, whilst technically feasible, were not economically viable for the case studies
due to the present high cost of components, especially compared to gensets. Modeling future potential
increase in diesel fuel prices and implementation of carbon taxes shows a signicant increase in NPC for
genset-only congurations compared to RES/hybrid congurations in the sample. Carbon taxes of $50/
ton increases NPC by 10% for genset-only systems but increases NPC less than half that amount for RES/
hybrid systems. The data and subsequent modeling demonstrate that RES is both technically feasible and
economically viable compared to diesel energy supply, for the small to medium-scale tourist operations
sampled, dependent on stand-alone power supplies.
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Micro-generation stand-alone renewable
energy supply
Small to medium tourist hotel
accommodation
Optimisation software
Net present cost
Payback time
Wind energy conversion systems

1. Introduction
Small to medium-scale tourist operations are those accommodation types most likely located in peripheral and environmentally
sensitive areas such as World Heritage locations and national parks
[1]. Surveys of tourists have shown that there is typically a greater
expectation for this accommodation sector to be environmentally
friendly and conscious of its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
compared to other more mainstream accommodations [2].

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 353 21 4250021.

E-mail address: gordondalton@hotmail.com (G.J. Dalton).
0960-1481/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.renene.2008.06.018

However, GHG emission mitigation through adoption of microgeneration1 renewable energy supply (RES) is expensive [4], and
many small businesses are of the opinion that the option is too
expensive to consider [5]. Many of the small tourist accommodations in Australia are remote [6] and have to rely on stand-alone
power supply (SPS) systems, comprising diesel generators (gensets). Gensets are economical to operate and have a proven history
of reliability [7]. Surveys have indicated that a switch to RES by
tourist operators is hindered by a lack of condence in RES

1
Micro-generation RES pertains to supplying a particular source demand, rather
than a broad network, with direct nancial connection to that source [3].

G.J. Dalton et al. / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 11341144

1135

Fig. 1. (A) Tortoise Head (wind turbine centre background), (B) Hinchinbrook, (C) Wilpena resort, and (D) Wilpena PV array.

technical performance [8,9] and reliability [9,10]. Confusion also

exists as to which RES type is the most suitable technology for
tourist accommodation from both a performance and economic
point of view [5,9]. In Australia, the majority of stand-alone RES
installations are PV2 [12], with only a few wind energy conversion
systems (WECS) or mini-hydro schemes. In a survey of Australian
tourist operations, Dalton [6] identied that majority of standalone RES in tourist operations were PV, with only a small representation of SPS WECS.
Comprehensive case studies analysing the feasibility of RES for
small to medium-scale SPS tourist accommodations are few. Bakos
and Soursos [13] reported a successful PV installation for a smallscale tourist operation (up to 10 beds) in Greece, concluding that
the conguration was economically viable. Bechrakis et al. [14] also
demonstrated the viability of a proposed wind/hydrogen system for
a small-scale hotel in Greece. Dalton et al. [15] examined feasibility
of stand-alone RES for a large-scale hotel in Australia, and
demonstrated that large-scale WECS was economically competitive
to genset-only systems. Whilst other case studies of functional
stand-alone RES operations have been reported, they lacked
rigorous feasibility analysis. These studies included a successful
WECS/genset hybrid implementation in a small-scale tourist
operation in the Cocos Islands [16,17] and a successful PV/WECS
genset hybrid implementation in Sarawak [18] and Australia [19]. A
successful PV/genset hybrid is also reported in a medium-sized
tourist operation (1050 beds) in Belize [20,21].
Load patterns for tourist destinations differ from commercial
and domestic operations, due to their relatively high power
demands for extensive periods over a 24-h cycle [22]. Due to these
considerations, energy studies of domestic and commercial utilities
may not be representative of tourist operations.
Thus, in order to assess the technical feasibility and economic
viability of RES for small to medium-scale tourist accommodation,
three RES-equipped Australian tourist accommodation sites were
chosen for study (Fig. 1). Two of the operations possessed PV, while
the third had both PV and WECS. All three had gensets in hybrid

2
The non-domestic category dened in the study does not specify commercial
use, and in Australias case, the vast majority PV SPS are Teltsra remote telephone
power supplies [11].

combination with the RES. Sites with successfully operational RES

were chosen in order to examine the following research aims:
 The technical feasibility of micro-generation RES to supply the
required power for small to medium-scale tourist operations.
 Whether RES software modeling matches actual energy
consumption data obtained from the sites.
 Can the existing RES congurations be optimised to provide
improved economy based on net present cost (NPC) or
renewable factor (RF)?
 Whether reasonable payback times are achievable with regards
further addition of RES to an existing stand-alone RES
conguration.
Payback time analysis for stand-alone RES has been conducted
in only two previous studies. A Greek study quoted a payback time
of 5.7 years for a large-scale WECS installation on a remote island
[23], and an Australian study quoted a payback time of 4.3 years for
a large-scale WECS installation in a large hotel [15]. All remaining
studies examine grid-connected RES and quote payback times
ranging from 5 to 8 years for PV systems [2432] up to 430 years
for WECS [3337].
This paper also examines the potential of hydrogen fuel cell and
storage technologies as an alternative to conventional fuels and
storage methods. The advantages of this technology includes
independence from world fuel prices (if produced by RES) and very
low GHG emissions [38]. However, hydrogen systems have one
main disadvantage being initial cost, especially in comparison to
conventional chemical storage [39]. WECS are the most common
RES form used in studies examining hydrogen power [40]. The
majority of reports state that hydrogen power systems will only
become viable when component prices reduce to one third of
present retail costs [41]. Most studies examining the cost of electricity from hydrogen systems range from $1 to 2.4 kWh [14,42],
which is generally more expensive than genset sourced electricity,
which have running costs quoted between $0.8 and 1.4 kWh [43].
However, not all studies report high costs for hydrogen power, e.g.
Apold and Morelli [44] quotes a cost for hydrogen power at
$0.35 kWh.
Also examined in this paper are the impacts of future fuel price
increases and carbon taxes on the viability of RES. Carbon tax has

1136

G.J. Dalton et al. / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 11341144

Table 1
Specic of the three case studies
Location

Climate

Accommodation type

Tortoise Head Frenchs Island, Victoria

Cool, temperate, oceanic

Guest house, 10 rooms

30

Hinchinbrook Hinchinbrook Island,

Queensland
Wilpena
Flinders Ranges, South
Australia

Warm, dry, subtropical,

oceanic
Warm, dry, interior

Eco-lodge, 22 cabins

50

490

180

2600

Resort, 34 motel rooms and 26

cabins

been shown to be the most cost effective method to reduce CO2

emissions in comparison to other schemes [45] and can provide the
incentive for the polluters to go beyond the standard technologies
[46]. Other carbon reduction schemes such as an energy tax, which
is an excise tax dened as a xed absolute amount, or carbontrading schemes, where companies are issued permits that allow
them to emit certain amounts of CO2, are not examined in this
paper.
HOMER, a public domain modeling software for distributed
power produced by National Renewable Energy Laboratory, US [47],
was chosen as the software for this study due to its extensive use in
previous RES case studies [4042,4850] and RES validation tests
[36,5157].
2. Case study specications
2.1. Accommodation
Three case study sites were chosen, each with an existing RES/
hybrid installation (Table 1).
Tortoise Head3 is representative of small-scale accommodations, bed and breakfast style. The operation is situated on an island
located in Westernport Bay, 1 h south of Melbourne. Tortoise Head
had previously been the source of two case studies. The rst case
study was conducted by CRC tourism [58] and examined the history
of sustainable measures initiated by the proprietors over the 20year period of tenure. No RES sizings were detailed in the report,
which quoted that 80% of the operations power was sourced by the
WECS, and 10% by solar and biofuels. Daily energy use was quoted
at 20 kWh/day. No details were given on how the data was sourced.
Other references to Tortoise Head are by the United Nations Environment program (UNEP, Ref. [18]) and USAID [59]. However, the
RES congurations detailed in the reports are now out of date.
Hinchinbrook4 is an eco-lodge type facility located on a coastal
island 5 h south of Cairns. The cabins range in style from basic to
luxury, and air conditioning is not provided for energy efciency
reasons. The lodge has a restaurant and leisure facilities. The resort
has previously won the Hotel Motel Accommodation Association
(HMAA) award for excellence 2003. It has also achieved the
Advanced Accreditation Certicate from Greenglobe21 [60]. Hinchinbrook had previously been the subject of one major study [61].
This study assessed measures to reduce the operations energy
consumption. It recommended a two-stage approach, namely
adoption of energy efciency measures including a reverse cycle
hot water system, timers on all switches and energy efcient light
bulbs, etc., and secondly, installation of a PV hybrid system, partly
funded by government subsidies available at the time.

3
Tortoise Head is owned by Genesis Automation, a Melbourne based company
with an interest in sustainable energy projects, and is leased on a long-term basis to
managers, who live on-site. http://www.tortoisehead.net/.
4
Hinchinbrook is owned by an off-site consortium, and supervised by the
previous owner, Bill Whiteman. The day-to-day running of the lodge is undertaken
by a manager who lives on-site, and technical support is provided by an electrician.
http://www.hinchinbrookresort.com.au/.

Guest
capacity

Average daily energy

(kWh)
20.2

RES
WECS 3 kW PV
1.5 kW
PV 5 kW
PV 100 kW

Wilpena5 is a mixed accommodation operation, comprising

cabin and motel style accommodation. The lodge provides restaurant, bar facilities and air conditioning to common areas and rooms.
Wilpena had previously been the subject of three case studies
which stated the basic RES components and sizing [62,63] as well
as quoting that the PV array contributed 20% on average to the
energy supply [10].

2.2. System congurations

All three operations were equipped with an existing hybrid RES/
genset conguration, here dened as the present conguration.
Fig. 2 illustrates how the hybrid RES congurations are connected
to the AC and DC buses. WECS under 10 kW, as in the case of
Tortoise Head, have power connected to the DC bus. WECS over
10 kW usually produce AC, requiring connection to the AC bus, as is
the case for Hinchinbrook and Wilpena. PV and battery modules
exit from the DC bus, and a converter links both AC and DC buses.
All systems were modeled as parallel congurations. This conguration allows synchronous bi-directional power ow between
battery bank and diesel generator, eliminating the risk of short
power supply breaks [64]. Parallel conguration allows both
the AC component (usually wind turbine) as well as the diesel
generator to directly supply the load, rather than having to be
routed through the converter and battery bank, producing greater
efciency.
2.3. Micro-generation components
Statistics for gensets used on-site are provided in Table 2.6 For
Wilpena, only those gensets in situ were modeled. For Hinchinbrook, the 70 kW in situ genset was modeled in addition to
a smaller 40 kW genset. In the case of Tortoise Head, the statistics
for the in situ 5.5 kW genset were used and then modeled for
gensets ranging from 2 to 10 kW. Initial costs (IC) in the studies for
a genset were $750 kW [43]. The operating and maintenance costs
were chosen at $0.006 h kW [47].
The existing RES components for each case study site are
detailed in Table 3. Operators reported that all PV installations
performed reliably. The sole study site with WECS encountered
some faults during its lifespan, most of which were considered
attributable to human/operator error.

5
The resort was established in 1945 and was originally administered by Bonds
Tours. The operation was taken over by the Raheeed family in 1957. In 1975, the
South Australian (SA) National Parks purchased the land from the Rasheeds and
released it back to them under the agreement that the lessees had responsibility of
building upkeep and provision of their own power. In 2001, SA National Parks took
over the responsibility of power supply, upgraded the gensets and installed RES.
The system was initially managed by Advanced Energy Systems (AES http://www.
aesltd.com.au/project/rtresort2.htm), but have since been taken over by Australian
Gas and Light (AGL), Adelaide, Australia. http://www.wilpenapound.com.au/.
6
Aerogenesis is based in Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.aerogenesis.
com.au/. The system only had a 3 kW charge regulator, limiting the output of the
5 kW WECS to 3 kW.

Q11

G.J. Dalton et al. / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 11341144

1137

WECS
WECS

Load

PV

Genset

Converter
AC Bus

Battery
DC Bus

Fig. 2. Energy ow diagram for alternating current/direct current (AC/DC) buses.

Table 2
Genset operational statistics for the gensets used in the case studies. Statistics were
obtained from equivalent Caterpillar diesel brochures
Genset (kW)

Tortoise Head Hats 5.6 kW

Hinchinbrook John 40 kWa
Deere 70 kW
Wilpena
Kino 100 kW
Volvo150 kW,
John Deere
300 kW

Lifetime
(h)

Fuel
Intercept Slope
consumption (L/h/kW (L/h/kW output)
(L/h)
rated)

15,000
20,000
25,000
25,000
30,000
35,000

2.3
13.3
20
25
47
80

0.003
0.0683
0.0266
0.0267
0.0248
0.018

0.33
0.27
0.2573
0.268
0.29
0.246

a
Hinchinbrook has a 70 kW genset in situ. Statistics for the 40 kW genset are
included, as it was modeled for optimisation.

Two WECS were chosen for modeling, namely:

1. SW Whisper 175 by Southwest Wind.7. This is a small-scale
WECS with peak power output at 3 kW at a hub height of 20 m
(Fig. 3).8 Its output is similar to the 3 kW Aerogenesis9 WECS at
Tortoise Head, and its statistics are readily available. The IC at
the time of the study was $12,000 including installation,
replacement costs (RC) of $10,000 and the operation and
maintenance (OM) of $240/yr. The lifetime expectancy was 15
years.
2. AOC 15/50 turbine10. This is a medium-scale WECS with
a 50 kW capacity and hub height of 25 m (Fig. 4).11 IC at the
time of the study was $147,000, RC was $120,000 and OM was
$4400/yr, with a life expectancy of 20 years.

EnviroPower/AES/Century Yusa/Enersun Solar. Battery- SSR1025, SSR5324.

Western
Australia.
http://www.cyb.com.au/data/portal/00005057/content/
31840001135066989345.pdf#search%22enersun%22.
8
Hoepekke. Battery specications. Newcastle-under Lyme, Great Britain. http://
www.allnesales.com/hoppoverview.pdf.
9
Stations coded 86,373, 32,141 and 17,110 were used for Tortoise Head, Hinchinbrook and Wilpena, respectively. These sites were located a maximum of 10 km
distant from the respective sites and of similar geographical and climate
characteristics.
10
The following RES was added to the present congurations of the case studies:
Tortoise Head: 3 kW of PV or a 3 kW Whisper WECS. Hinchinbrook: 50 kW of PV or
a 50 kW AOC WECS. Wilpena: 50 kW of PV or a 50 kW AOC WECS.
11
Optimised RES/hybrid congurations chosen for analysis: Tortoise Head: 1
Whisper WECS, no PV, 40 batteries, 2 kW converter, 2 kW genset. Hinchinbrook:
1AOC WECS, no PV, 40 batteries, 40 kW converter, 40 kW genset. Wilpena: 2AOC
WECS, no PV, 40 batteries, 120 kW converter, 2 gensets 100 and 150 kW.

All three studies were equipped with existing PV installed onsite. The PV size is measured in kW and it is assumed that output is
linearly proportional to incident radiation. HOMER software does
not require details of technology type or area size (m2). An IC of
$10,000 kW of PV power produced was used, with an OM cost of $10/
yr/kW [43]. A derating factor of 0.9 was chosen, which compensates
for reduction in efciency due to temperature, dust and wiring
losses. Lifetime of the panels was taken to be 20 years. Maximum
power point tracking (MPPT) was taken as a standard installation.
Tortoise Head used Trojan batteries. This brand is listed in
HOMERs choice list of modeled batteries. The other two sites used
Enersun12 batteries. Hoeppekke13 batteries were chosen as the
HOMER equivalent battery for Hinchinbrook and Surrette14 for
Wilpena. Battery setpoint state of charge was set at 80% for Tortoise
Head and Hinchinbrook, as recommended by Lambert and Lilienthal
[47]. Wilpena used a battery setpoint state of charge of approximately
100%. A higher battery setpoint state of charge keeps batteries closer
to full capacity by increasing the genset run times. This has the benet
of reducing the number of chargedischarge cycles, increasing battery
longevity and reduces the number of batteries needing replacement.
The longer genset run-times should increase fuel consumption.
The IC for converters was taken to be $1000 kW with OM of
$0 kW, with lifetime of 15 years and efciency of 90%, as recommended by Gilver and Lilienthal [43]. Converter sizing is roughly
estimated in proportion to the size of the load served. Sizing for the
case study converters therefore ranged from 10 to 120 kW.
3. Data inputs
3.1. Load
Load data for the studies was collated by various methods in
2005. Both Wilpena and Hinchinbrook had AES converters, thereby
enabling access to detailed load data. The data from Wilpena was
fully intact and a full-year load data was successfully obtained from
the central management system in Adelaide. However, the
converter at Hinchinbrook was faulty, and data extracted from the
les were corrupted in places. In order to create a full-year worth of

12
Lombardi D, Mason S. Atlantic Orient Canada (AOC). 300 Prince Albert Road,
Suite 200, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada B2Y 4J2. 2005. http://www.
atlanticorientcanada.ca.
13
http://socialwork.arts.unsw.edu.au/tsw/D48CanSolarSources.html.
14
http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/sources/renewables/renewables-explained/
wind-energy/page27708.html

1138

G.J. Dalton et al. / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 11341144

Table 3
RES components
PV (kW)

Tortoise Head
Hinchinbrook
Wilpena

WECS (kW)

BP 1.5 kW (8  100 W, 20x38 W)

Shell 5 kW (36  140 W)
Solarex 100 kW (1260  80 W)

Aerogenesis 3

Batteries (capacity Ah, number)

Batteries modeled in HOMER

Trojan (220Ah, 40)

Enersun (990Ah, 60)
Enersun (1320Ah, 120)

The same
Hoeppekke 100PZ (1000Ah, 60)
Surrette 4KS25P (1900Ah, 120)

3
2
1

160.00
120.00
80.00
40.00

Tortoise Head

Fig. 3. SW Whisper 1753 kW (Southwest Wind) wind power curve.

Hinchinbrook

01-Dec

01-Nov

01-Oct

01-Sep

Wind speed (m/s)

01-Aug

19

01-Jul

16

01-Jun

13

01-May

10

01-Apr

01-Mar

01-Jan

01-Feb

0.00

Wilpena

Fig. 5. Average daily load. Data for Wilpena represents a full-year load gures. Hinchinbrook was an amalgamation of average monthly load gures randomised by
HOMER. Data for Tortoise Head was derived from a 24-h load audit and randomised by
HOMER. Load data was scaled as follows; Tortoise Head: Hinchinbrook: Wilpena: 80:
5: 1.

70
60

Power (kW)

10
72
120

200.00

Load (kW)

Power (kW)

50
40
30

Table 4
Energy and power consumption statistics

20
10
0
1

11

13

15

17

19

21

23

25

Wind speed (m/s)

Fig. 4. AOC 15/50 50 kW wind power curve.

data for Hinchinbrook, an uncorrupted 24-h le was extracted for

each month of the year. This data was then input in HOMER software,
which used its randomising algorithms to compile a full-year load
prole. Hinchinbrook resort is closed for the months of February and
March, and this is reected in the load prole. The converter at
Tortoise Head did not have the facility for load recording. Thus,
a 24-h load audit was performed during the site visit, and the data
then randomised by HOMER software to create a full-year prole.
Average daily load for the three studies is displayed in Fig. 5 and
energy statistics are presented in Table 4. Load values for Tortoise
Head and Wilpena are almost two orders of magnitude in difference, and have been scaled accordingly on the gure.
Fig. 6 displays the 24-h load proles, demonstrating peak loads
in the morning and evening time. The load proles show random
uctuations, indicating that the converters did not perform load
shedding.
3.2. Environmental inputs
Solar data for the study sites were obtained from the NASA
satellite website [65] and are presented in Fig. 7. The nearest Bureau
of Meteorology (BOM) solar irradiance stations were too distant
from each study site for the data to be used with condence. The
average solar irradiance values for Wilpena and Hinchinbrook are
5.22 kWh/day, which are above average in comparison to other
locations around the globe (Table 5).15 An average solar irradiance

15

Converter (kW)

Batteries used on-site

http://www.atlanticorientcanada.ca

Tortoise Head
Hinchinbrook
Wilpena

Year energy
consumption
(MWh/year)

Daily energy
consumption
(kWh/day)

Peak
annual
load (kW)

7.4
178
949

20.2
490
2600

3.2
52
242

value of 3.94 kWh/day for Tortoise Head is closer to the global

average.
Hourly wind speed data for 2005 was sourced for the three
study sites from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM)16. The average
wind speed measured for the three locations was 4.9 m/s (Fig. 8),
which compares well to average wind speeds from other locations around the globe (Table 6).17 There was a variation in
monthly average wind speed between 3.5 and 6 m/s. Both winter
and summer months had a higher prevalence of stronger wind
speeds, with lower speeds recorded in spring and autumn. The
highest peak wind speed of the three sites was recorded at
Wilpena during December at 21 m/s. The Weibull k factor (a
measure of the distribution of wind speed over a year) ranged
from 1.71 to 2.77, which is within the typical range of 1.52.5
[67]. Higher k values, such as those recorded for Hinchinbrook,
correspond to narrower wind speed distributions, and are
advantageous for wind power extraction due to the better
possibility of choosing the appropriate WECS type to match
environmental conditions. The auto correlation factor (randomness in wind speed from hour to hour) for the three sites ranged
from 0.79 to 0.89, which are within the typical value ranges
of 0.80.95 [68]. A surface roughness (SR) value (as measured
by roughness length) of 0.04 m was chosen. HOMER does

16
Surrette. Batteries 4KS25KP and 6CS25P. 2005. http://www.surrette.com/
home.htm.
17
http://www.wind.appstate.edu/swiwind/a1whisper175specs.pdf.

G.J. Dalton et al. / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 11341144

Table 5
Sample of world solar irradiance values

5
4
3

Melbourne
Sydney
Brisbane
Townsville
Alice Springs

2
1

:0
0
23

:0
0

:0
0

21

:0
0

Hinchinbrook

19

17

:0
0

:0
0

15

:0
0

Tortoise Head

13

11

:0
0
09

:0
0

:0
0

07

05

:0
0
03

01

:0
0

Wilpena

Fig. 6. 24-h load audit. Load values were scaled to one at midnight and were derived
by dividing the existing load by the following respective values for Tortoise Head,
Hinchinbrook and Wilpena 0.5: 11.2: 87.

not account for varying prevailing wind directions throughout

the year.
4. Assessment methods
4.1. HOMER software
HOMER enables the optimisation of RES congurations in terms
of NPC for a given set of constraints and sensitivity variables [47].
The program can accept hourly time-step load and environmental
data inputs, providing detailed modeling of the time span examined,
while still allowing assessment of multiple simulations. HOMER
steps through two fundamental investigation stages, namely:
 Is the system technically feasible; that is, can the conguration
be specied adequately serve the electrical load input? A
successful simulation implies that the conguration is technically feasible for the load and environment conditions specied, as well as the constraints set.
 Where the system is technically feasible, HOMER estimates the
NPC of the system, which is the total cost of installing and
operating the system over its lifetime. The optimised conguration chosen in this study will be the simulation resulting in
the lowest NPC.

Anchorage
New York
Los Angeles
Hawaii
Oregon
Spain
(Zaragosa)
Arabia
Newfoundland

Solar insolation
(kWh/m2/day)

References

4.1
4.1 4.8
4.85.2
5.46.2
>6.2

Mills D. PhD thesis, 2001. Department of

Geographical Sciences and Planning, University
of Queensland, Australia
Trainer, T. Can solar sources meet Australias
electricity demand?
NASA data. http://www.apricus.com/html/
insolation_levels_usa.htm

2
3.5
5.4
6
4.1
4.3

[41]
[25]

5.4
3.04

[28]
[66]

a project lifespan. The capacity shortage fraction (CSF) is the fraction of the total load plus operating reserve that the system fails to
supply (i.e. allowable blackout). A CSF of 2% of hourly load was
chosen for all modeling, as recommended by Givler and Lilienthal
[43]. The operating reserve constraint (commonly called spinning
reserve) is the additional reserve capacity required for a system to
account for sudden increases in the electric load or sudden
decreases in the renewable power output. It was set at 10% as
recommended by Cotrell and Pratt [41]. Higher reserves were
specied when using the renewable output. The higher reserve is
required due to the inherent variability in the RES output, and was
set at 25% for PV and 50% for WECS.
4.2. Assessment criteria
Net present cost (NPC) represents the life cycle cost of the
system. The calculation assesses all costs occurring within the
project lifetime, including initial set-up costs (IC), component
replacements (RC) within the project lifetime, operation and
maintenance (OM). Future cash ows are discounted to the present.
HOMER calculates NPC according to the following equation [47]:

NPC$
HOMER incorporates the battery dispatch strategies of Barley
and Winn [69]. The cycle charging strategy was chosen for this
analysis. Thus, whenever a genset is supplying electricity, it will
charge the batteries until the battery bank reaches the specied
set-point state of charge set by the user. Cycle charging is the
most suitable strategy as it increases battery longevity. Frequent
battery replacement is often the most expensive single cost in

TAC
CRF

(1)

Tortoise Head Average

Tortoise Head Maximum

Hinchinbrook Maximum
Wilpena Average

Hinchinbrook Average

Wilpena Maximum

25

Tortoise Head
Hinchinbrook
Wilpena

5
4
3

15

10

Fig. 7. Solar irradiance data derived from NASA les [65].

Dec

Nov

Oct

Sep

Aug

Jul

Jun

May

Apr

0
Jan Feb Mar April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

Mar

Jan

Solar irradiance (kWh/m2/day)

Wind Speed (m/s)

20
8

Feb

Load (kW)

1139

Fig. 8. Wind speed, presenting average and maximum recordings. Data obtained from
the Bureau of Meteorology, Australia.

1140

G.J. Dalton et al. / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 11341144

Table 6
Sample of global wind speed values

Table 7
Carbon taxes imposed by various countries, 1997

Wind speed References

(m/s)
Brisbane

3.2

Gold Coast
Sydney
Melbourne
Perth
Townsville

6.1
4.6
4.6
5.6
5.56

Oregon
Germany
UK

3
3.54.5
56

Newfoundland 56
Ireland
>6

http://www.brisbane-australia.com/brisbane-weather.
html
http://www.windnder.com/windstats/windstatistic_
gold_coast_seaway.htm.

Ergon Energy. Townsville City Council. 2004. http://

www.soe-townsville.org/strandwindproject/wind_
power.html
Santarelli M, Energy 2004; 29: p.1159-1182.
BoyleG. Renewable Energy. Oxford; New York. 2004
Department of Trade/Industry. London, UK. 2007.
http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/sources/renewables/
renewables-explained/wind-energy/page27708.html
Iqbal MT. Renewable Energy 2004; 29: 277289.
http://www.met.ie/climate/wind.asp

Country

Carbon tax V/ton

ReferencesF

Sweden

42
150 (increased in 1998)
12
2
0.6
10 (proposed and defeated in 2005)

[73]

Finland
Netherlands
Austria
New Zealand

[74]

[75]

The inuence of carbon taxes on NPC and economic viability has

also been assessed for each case study. Generalised carbon taxes for
diesel were used, and an example of carbon tax rates presently
imposed or proposed around the world is presented in Table 7.
Carbon taxes for other fuels not examined here are given by Baranzini et al. [72].
5. Data analysis

where TAC is the total annualised cost ($) (which is the sum of the
annualised costs of each system component). The capital recovery
factor (CRF) is given by [47]:

CRF

i1 iN
1 iN 1

(2)

where N is the number of years and i is the annual real interest

rate (%).
HOMER assumes that all prices escalate at the same rate, and
applies an annual real interest rate rather than a nominal interest
rate. All costs are therefore calculated in constant dollars. This
method allows ination to be factored out of the analysis. The
overall annual (real) interest rate (i) in the simulations was taken
to be 6% [70,71] which was applied over a project lifetime of 25
years.
NPC estimation in HOMER also takes into account salvage costs,
which is the residual value of power system components at the end
of the project lifetime. For this calculation, HOMER assumes a linear
method of depreciation, where the salvage value of a component is
directly proportional to its remaining life. It also estimates salvage
value based on replacement cost rather than initial capital cost. The
equation to calculate salvage value (S) is

S$ Crep

Rrem
Rcomp

(3)

where Crep is the replacement cost of the component ($), Rrem is the
remaining life of the component (t) and Rcomp is the lifetime of the
component (t).
The renewable fraction (RF) is the portion of the systems total
annual electrical production originating from renewable power
sources. It is calculated by dividing the total renewable power
production by the total energy consumed.
The payback time is the number of years for the cumulative
savings of the new RES investment to become positive in comparison to a genset-only conguration. Estimation of payback time
requires the collection of annualised costs for both genset-only and
genset/RES hybrid systems, which are calculated summing the OM,
fuel and RC for each supply method over the consecutive years.
Avoided diesel fuel costs were considered as revenue in the
calculations. Annual savings are then estimated by subtracting the
annualised costs for RES/hybrid from the genset-only costs, giving
the overall saving or loss for each year. Year 0 will show a negative
gure as the IC of the RES/hybrid exceeds that of the genset-only
system. Finally, the annual savings are cumulatively summed to
provide the nominal cash ow for the duration of the project.

5.1. Fuel consumption compared to HOMER predictions

Actual annual fuel consumption gures for the present congurations were available from Hinchinbrook and Wilpena.
Consumption gures for Hinchinbrook matched those predicted by
HOMER very closely (Table 8). Consumption gures for Wilpena
were 25% less than HOMER predicted. Possible reasons for the
discrepancy in results may be an error in the fuel consumption data
obtained or a lower actual load demand.
5.2. NPC of present conguration, genset-only, RES-only and
optimised congurations
The results presented in Fig. 9 indicates that the present
congurations for each case study resulted in the highest NPC in
comparison to the other modeled options.
The optimised hybrid RES conguration for each case study was
competitive with the NPC of the optimised genset-only conguration. The optimised hybrid conguration for Hinchinbrook and
Wilpena involved the addition of WECS, increasing the RF
substantially. Tortoise Head was the exception, where the optimised conguration recommendation involved a decrease in both
genset and RES capacity, producing a decrease in both NPC and RF.
The downsizing recommendation for Tortoise Head indicates that
the entire existing system is oversized.
Optimised PV-only/hybrid congurations for all three case
studies did not recommend any further increase in PV size. On the
contrary, optimisation recommended reductions of both PV and
genset size, reducing the RF substantially in all cases.
Modeling of the optimal expansion of the present conguration
in all three studies recommended WECS addition in preference to
PV or genset. The expanded congurations produced a decrease in
NPC and an increase in RF over the present conguration in all
cases.
Conversion to RES-only for Hinchinbrook and Wilpena resulted
in a NPC more than double the respective present congurations,
and approximately three times that of the genset-only conguration. Tortoise Head had a high original RF of 64%, thereby making
Table 8
Recorded fuel consumption gures for present conguration compared to HOMER
modeled consumption

Hinchinbrook
Wilpena

Recorded fuel
consumption (L/year)

HOMER modeled
consumption (L/year)

55,557
171,309

55,500
232,000

G.J. Dalton et al. / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 11341144

2.6

2.4

Hinchinbrook

Tortoise Head

NPC

Expansion

OptimPV

OptimWEOS

RES-only

Gonrot-only

Pres conf

Expansion

OptimPV

OptimWEOS

RES-only

20

0.0

Gonrot-only

40

0.2
Pres conf

60

0.4

Expansion

80

0.6

OptimPV

100

0.8

OptimWEOS

120

1.0

RES-only

140

1.2

Gonrot-only

160

1.4

Pres conf

1.6

Renewable fraction (%)

Net Present Cost ($M)

1141

Wilpena

RF

2
Tortoise Head
Hinchinbrook

1.5

Wilpena
1
0.5
0
0

12

16

20

24

-0.5

Project years
Fig. 10. Cumulative savings for the addition of one WECS to the present conguration
in comparison to genset-only. IC for present conguration was excluded. Increases in
nominal cash ow evident in the graph represent regular component replacement or
OM. Increase in year 25 is due to salvage value. Cash ows for Tortoise head were
scaled up by a factor of 10 for comparison purposes.

the transition to RES-only with the further addition of another

WECS more economically viable, resulting in a decrease in NPC.
Optimisation for all hybrid and genset-only congurations recommended smaller genset sizes in each case study modeling,
indicating that planning of the initial system congurations overestimated the genset capacities required.

componentry eventually pushed the cumulative savings in to the

negative after 15 years. Results indicate that the cumulative savings
for WECS addition were optimal for RES additions to systems of
lower RF.
Addition of PV only produced a positive payback time in the
case of Wilpena (9 years) (Fig. 11), due primarily to the site have
the highest incidence of solar irradiance value. However, overall
cumulative savings prior to PV replacement at year 20 were half
that of the WECS alternative, and subsequent to year 20,
cumulative savings dropped to negative values when PV
replacement was due. Payback time for addition of PV at
Tortoise Head and Hinchinbrook never reached positive vales. In
Tortoise Head case, viability was hampered by the lower values
for solar irradiance and in Hinchinbrooks case, annual costs

1,000

Cumulative cash savings

($1000)

Cumulative cash savings ($M)

Fig. 9. NPC and RF for the three case studies, modeling various congurations. NPC has been scaled for Tortoise Head, Hinchinbrook and Wilpena by multiplying the NPC results by
the following respective values: 10: 1: 0.2.

Tortoise Head

800

Hinchinbrook

600

Wilpena

400
200
0
-200

12

16

20

24

-400
-600

Project years

5.3. Payback time

This section assesses the resultant payback time following the
addition of WECS or PV to the present conguration18. The results
presented in Fig. 10 indicate that the addition of WECS to the
present conguration can result in a payback time within 24
years for all case studies. Cumulative savings for WECS addition was
greatest for Hinchinbrook and Wilpena. Annual costs for the RES/
hybrids remained approximately half that of the genset-only only
options. Although Tortoise Head initially achieved a positive cash
ow, due mainly to the elimination of fuel costs resultant from the
system achieving 100% RF, replacements of the relatively large RES

18

http://www.wind.appstate.edu/swiwind/a1whisper175specs.pdf

Fig. 11. Cumulative savings for the addition of PV to the present conguration in
comparison to genset-only. IC for present conguration was excluded. PV replacement occurs at 20 years. Increase in year 25 is due to salvage value. Cash ows for
Tortoise head were scaled up by a factor of 5 for comparison purposes.

Table 9
Results of the optimised hydrogen/RES congurations, examining the gensets power
rating in comparison to the recommended hydrogen fuel cell size

Tortoise Head
Hinchinbrook
Wilpena

Genset
(kW)

Hydrogen
Fuel
Cell (kW)

Hours of
operation/year

2
40
100

2
20
50

213
365
279

G.J. Dalton et al. / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 11341144

1.5

0.8
1

0.6
0.4

0.5

Tortoise Head

Hinchinbrook
NPC

33% cost

Hydrogen

addition

Hydrogen

Optimised

configurtaion

33% cost

Hydrogen

addition

Hydrogen

Optimised

configurtaion

33% cost

Hydrogen

addition

Hydrogen

Optimised

configurtaion

0.2

Renewable factor

Net present cost ($M)

1142

Wilpena
RF

Fig. 12. NPC and RF comparison of optimised RES/hybrid congurations to the same conguration with hydrogen fuel cell addition. The NPCs were scaled for Tortoise Head,
Hinchinbrook and Wilpena by dividing the NPC by the following values, respectively, 0.06: 1.01: 4.3.

1.6
1.4

Tortoise Head

5.5. Carbon tax

19

http://www.cat.com/cda/layout?m39280&x7.

$200/ton

$50/ton

$100/ton

$0/ton

$10/ton

$200/ton

$50/ton

$10/ton

$100/ton

NPC for genset-only

3
$1/L
$2/L
$3/L

2.5
2
1.5
1

Tortoise Head

Hinchinbrook

Optimised
configurtaion

Genset-only

Optimised
configurtaion

Genset-only

0.5
Optimised
configurtaion

The results presented in Fig. 14 indicates that an increase in fuel

price would lead to and increase in NPC for all congurations, but at
a greater rate for genset-only congurations. Genset-only

Wilpena

Fig. 13. Effect of carbon tax on NPC for present conguration, examining RES/hybrid
and genset-only set-ups. The NPCs were scaled for Tortoise Head, Hinchinbrook and
Wilpena by dividing the NPC by the following values, respectively, 0.116: 1.18: 5.35.

Genset-only

5.6. Price of diesel fuel

Hinchinbrook

NPC for hybrid RES SPS

Net present cost

($M)

An assessment of the impact of carbon taxes on NPC is presented

in Fig. 13 and indicates that carbon taxes increase NPC linearly, with
NPC noticeably affected at carbon taxes over $50 ton. Genset-only
congurations are more susceptible to NPC increase than RES/
hybrid congurations as would be expected due to their higher
consumption of fossil fuel. Although the RF of each conguration
varied substantially, this did not have a signicant impact on the
rate of NPC increase (the RF of the various congurations modeled
for Tortoise Head, Hinchinbrook, Wilpena was 0.6: 0.05: 0.2,
respectively). A carbon tax of $50 ton increases NPC by approximately 10% for genset-only conguration, while the same tax only
increases NPC by approximately 5% for the RES/hybrid.

$0/ton

$200/ton

$100/ton

1.0

$50/ton

1.2

$10/ton

The optimised RES/hybrid conguration19 for each case study

was selected as the conguration for hydrogen fuel cell addition
modeling. Results presented in Table 9 shows that recommended
optimised fuel cell sizes varied from 50 to 100% of the genset power
rating. Despite the relatively large fuel cell sizes recommended,
results showed that the fuel cells only operated for approximately
3% of the year. Fig. 12 compares the NPC for the hydrogen/RES/
hybrid conguration to those of the original RES/hybrid. In all three
case studies, the results presented indicate that hydrogen component addition increased NPC. A reduction in hydrogen component
IC to one third of the present costs did not alter fuel cell size
recommendation, percentage fuel cell usage or substantially
improve NPC competitiveness. Most importantly, hydrogen fuel cell
addition did not increase corresponding the renewable factor (RF)
to any signicant degree.

$0/ton

5.4. Hydrogen fuel cell and storage

congurations are naturally more susceptible to NPC increase in

comparison to optimised hybrid RES congurations due to higher
dependence on fossil fuel. Tripling of the fuel price leads to an
increase in NPC for genset-only congurations of a factor of 22.5,
while for the RES/hybrid, NPC increases by a factor of 1.52.
The impact on payback time due to a combination of diesel price
increase and carbon taxes is examined in Fig. 15. Payback time
approximately halves from 4 years down to 2 years, where one
WECS is added to the present conguration of Hinchinbrook.

Net present cost ($M)

between genset-only and RES/hybrid very similar, thus never

resulting in a positive overall saving.

Wiplena

Fig. 14. Effect of diesel fuel price increase on NPC for present conguration, examining RES/hybrid and genset-only set-ups. The NPCs were scaled for Tortoise Head,
Hinchinbrook and Wilpena by dividing the NPC for genset-only/optimum conguration by the following values, respectively, (0.098: 0.133); (1.3: 1.1); (5: 5.3).

G.J. Dalton et al. / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 11341144

medium-scaled tourism accommodation. Proper system conguration optimisation and planning can further improve the viability
of RES in tourism accommodation, especially given likely on-going
future increases in the cost of thermal energy supplies.

Cumulative Cash flow ($1000)

2,000
Diesel $1, Carbon tax $0/t
Diesel $2, Carbon tax $50/t

1,500

1143

Acknowledgments

1,000

500

0
0

12

16

20

24

-500

The authors wish to acknowledge the following people who

gratefully assisted in the data collection for this paper: Angela
and Kevin Fox, and Geoff Andrews, of Tortoise Head; Bill
Whiteman and Ralf Loveday of Hinchinbrook Resort; Justin
Parker and Neil Cook from AGL for providing the load data for
Wilpena Resort; and Tom Lambert from NREL for technical
assistance with HOMER.

Project years
Fig. 15. Cumulative cash ow for Hinchinbrook examining addition of a 3 kW WECS to
present conguration, which has no IC.

6. Conclusion
The performance and economic viability of stand-alone
renewable energy supply has been investigated using three tourist
accommodation operations as case studies. The case studies
demonstrated that RES is technically feasible and economically
viable for tourism accommodation operations, thereby indicating
that negative sentiment to RES, as shown from recent surveys of
tourist operators [9], may be unjustied.
The study sites represented both small and medium-scale
accommodation operations, and had a mix of RES/hybrid standalone systems using WECS and PV. Results showed that, for all three
case studies, the present conguration of hybrid renewable energy
supply can adequately supply the power required at an affordable
price to the respective operation.
Optimisation modeling demonstrated that reduced net present
cost (NPC) and increase renewable fraction (RF) could be achieved
with modication of the existing congurations through selective
RES addition. These optimised congurations resulted in attractive
payback times in comparison to genset-only alternatives. While the
NPC of the present conguration is greater than genset-only, the
optimised system had comparable NPC to genset-only with the
added gain of increased RF.
WECS was identied as the RES component considered most
capable of achieving reduced NP and increased RF, due to its high
power return per dollar spent. Whilst PV is technically capable of
providing the required power, it is un-competitive from a NPC
perspective due to its high initial cost. Furthermore, long project
spans must also account for high PV replacement costs (due on
average after 20 years). Likewise, hydrogen technologies, whilst
technically feasible, are not economically viable at present due to the
high cost of the components especially in comparison to gensets.
Hybrid congurations produced the lowest NPC result for all
case studies. Conversion to RES-only only proved competitive for
the small-scale accommodation with regard to NPC. This was
considered most likely due to the high existing RF of that case
study, thus making the conversion to full RES more viable.
Conversion to RES-only for the medium-scale accommodation,
although technically feasible, incurred a much higher NPC.
Increase in diesel fuel price and the implementation of a carbon
tax has a positive signicant effect on NPC, with NPC noticeably
affected at carbon taxes over $50 ton and/or fuel prices over $2.
Results indicated that payback times for RES/hybrid systems would
approximately half if diesel prices are increased and carbon taxes
implemented.
At present diesel fuel costs, the case studies demonstrate that
RES is both technically feasible and economically viable in small to

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