Power Generation

TURNING A GAS-POWERED OFF-GRID CHP

SYSTEM INTO AN MTU MICROGRID
An example case study of how the addition of battery storage and
photovoltaics can improve the economics and environmental footprint
of a combined heat and power (CHP) business case.

By Lucas Brucker
Business Development Manager
Power Generation
A customer wants to build an industrial farming facility, but his planned location has no
access to the public electricity and thermal networks (district heating). After discussion
with the local utility, who are unable to expand their network to facilitate his request, he
focuses on an off-grid energy solution. The new facility requires both electrical and
thermal energy supply for its production processes.
 Table 1 shows the identified key parameters of the customer’s facility and
Basic energy system design with CHP
the design of the basic energy system.
A basic energy system design is developed which makes use of the
accessibility of the natural gas network in the region. This consists of Annual electricity demand 10,032
two MTU Series 4000 CHP units, with a total installed capacity of
Peak electricity demand 2.7 MWel
2700 MWel and 1495 MWth. The CHP units can supply the total
electricity demand of the facility throughout the year and to secure Installed generation capacity electrical (Basic system) 2.7 MWel
the satisfaction of the thermal demand an additional gas boiler (900
Annual thermal demand 3,872
kWth) is used for peak demand heat generation.
Peak thermal demand 1.51 MWth

Installed generation capacity thermal (Basic system) 2.395

Figure 1 and Figure 2 show representative daily electrical and thermal load profiles of the planned facility.

3000

2500
kW thermal

2000

1500

1000

500

0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23
Hours per Day Figure 1 - Representative Daily
Winter Spring / Autumn Summer Electrical Loads

1600

1400

1200

1000
kW thermal

800

600

400

200

0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23
Hours per Day Figure 2 - Representative Daily
Winter Spring / Autumn Summer Thermal Loads

02
 6 0.6
Daily Radiation [kWh/m2/day]

5 0.5

Clearness Index
4 0.4

3 0.3

2 0.2

1 0.1

0 0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Figure 3 - Daily Solar Radiation and
Radiation Clearness1
Clearness

Optimizing the system design and economics with the use of
PV and BESS
How are energy system design and economics affected when
additional investments for battery energy storage system (BESS)
and photovoltaics (PV) are made?
To evaluate the effect of adding battery storage and PV to the
facility’s energy system, we used the Homer Pro model software
and the location linked data for solar irradiation. With the Homer
analysis, energy system engineers can make an initial estimation of
the performance of this optimized off grid microgrid solution with
battery storage, PV and natural gas-fired CHP unit. Due to limited
space availability, the only option is to install rooftop PV. The Homer
model analysis shows that optimal system design makes use of the
total available roof space to install PV with a total capacity of 250 kW
peak, with a maximum capacity at 250 kW peak. Linked with the
site-specific solar irradiation data, which estimate the average annual
solar irradiation to be 3.37 kWh/m²/day, the PV system is generating
295 MWhel per year. Figure 3 shows the average daily solar radiation
per month and clearness1 of the customers location. For connection
to the AC network a converter is used to connect DC-supplying PV
to the AC network.
In addition to PV, the basic system design is also extended by a BESS.
The Homer model analysis shows that the optimal BESS for the
customers is at 250 kWh nominal capacity with a 1C2 configuration.
The annual BESS energy throughput is at 24 MWhel.
Why do we need the BESS?
One could argue that only with PV, the system could decrease the
overall cost of electricity compared to the basic system design.
This argument is valid, but without storage the customer is forced
to use PV electricity immediately in the moment of its availability.
The BESS gives the customer (or operator) flexibility and space for
optimization of the overall energy system. With the possibility of time
delay between generation and use of PV electricity, the system allows
to optimize the CHP unit runtime, efficiency and installed capacity.
The operator can assure that the CHP units run with an optimal
performance-efficiency ratio, leading to an economically and
ecologically optimized fuel consumption.
Compared with the basic system design and a CHP plus PV only
solution, a decrease in fuel consumption can be reached, which is the
foundation of this business case.
As already mentioned, an optimal energy system design would make
use of PV and BESS integration into the customer's energy solution.
The analysis shows that the total available rooftop PV system of 250
kW peak will be used and 250 kWh (1C) of BESS will be installed, to
provide flexibility. Moreover, the addition of these two technologies
also has an impact on the design of the necessary CHP capacity. In an
optimal energy system with the mentioned capacities of PV and BESS
the installed capacity of the CHP will be reduced by 14% to 2,310
kWel, whereas the thermal capacity of the boiler for peak demand
remains at 900 kWth. Due to the reduced thermal output from the
CHP units, the boiler must cover more peak demand and annual
production is slightly increasing by 5%.

03
Economical comparison
For the optimal system, additional investments for PV and BESS must
be made, while the investment for the CHP units can be reduced due
to smaller required installed capacity. The initial expenses are
however only accounting for a small fraction of the total system cost
over 20 years of operation. The major costs are represented by
operational expenditures (O&M, fuel, etc.). Comparing the basic
system configuration with the optimal system with BESS and PV, the
additional investments for BESS and PV generate a reduction in
operation costs. The payback time for the investment into the optimal
system design, compared to the basic system design, is 5.5 years for
the customer. Moreover, the customer is reducing CO2 emissions by
4.5% through fuel savings.

Table 2 gives an overview of the key economic parameters.

Basic system design

CHP & BESS & PV
(only CHP)

Simple payback (yr) – 5.5

Fuel consumption (L/yr) 2,546,100 2,432,470

CO2 Emissions (yr) 4,940 4,720

Renewable fraction (%) 0 3

Conclusion
Even with medium solar irradiation and linked additional investments,
typical CHP business cases can be leveraged by adding solar PV and
battery energy storage systems. The combination of PV with BESS
allows the operator to optimize the CHP runtimes and efficiencies
which leads to reduced operational cost and reduced CO₂ emissions.
The enabler for the gained flexibility is the BESS, which allows the
creation of a time delay between resource availability (solar radiation)
and use of the generated electricity. In this customer’s case, the
simple payback can be reached after 5.5 years, which is a valid
business case given the 20 years lifetime of the energy system.

1 The clearness index measures the fraction of the solar radiation that is transmitted on the surface of
the Earth and is defined as the surface radiation divided by the extraterrestrial radiation. The index has a
high value (max.= 1) under clear and sunny conditions and a low value (min. = 0) under cloudy conditions.

2 The C-rate is an expression for discharge or charge currents normalized to the battery capacity. A
1C-rate means that the current will discharge or charge the battery in 1 hour completely.

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