Today’s carbon constrained world with its increasing demand for cheap energy and a fossil fuel intensive fleet of power producers is making carbon capture and storage (CCS) desirable. Several CCS technologies are under investigation by various research and development groups globally. One of the more promising technologies is oxy-fuel combustion, since it produces a CO2 rich flue gas which requires minor processing to meet storage condition requirements. In this study the economics of an advanced super critical oxy-coal power plant burning lignite, simulated in-house was assessed. A robust and user-friendly financial tool box has been developed with commonly acceptable default parameter settings. Capital, operation and maintenance costs were estimated along with corresponding levelized cost of electricity and CO2 avoidance costs calculated using the detailed financial model developed. A levelized cost of electricity of 131 $/MWhrnet along with a levelized CO2 avoidance cost of 64 $/tonne was estimated for an ASC oxy-coal power plant with CO2 capture. Also a levelized cost of electricity of 83 $/MWhrnet was estimated for an ASC air-fired coal power plant without CO2 capture capabilities as the base plant. The price of electricity was observed to increase from 83 $/MWhrnet to 131 $/MWhrnet translating into a 57% increase. The sensitivity of the overall economics of the process was assessed to several parameters. The overall economics was found sensitive to the choice chemical engineering plant cost index (CEPCI), capacity factor, size of power plant, debt ratio, fuel price, interest rate, and construction duration.

Today???s carbon constrained world with its increasing demand for cheap energy and a fossil fuel intensive fleet of power producers is making carbon capture and storage (CCS) desirable. Several CCS technologies are under investigation by various research and development groups globally. One of the more promising technologies is oxy-fuel combustion, since it produces a CO2 rich flue gas which requires minor processing to meet storage condition requirements. In this study the economics of an advanced super critical oxy-coal power plant burning lignite, simulated in-house was assessed. A robust and user-friendly financial tool box has been developed with commonly acceptable default parameter settings. Capital, operation and maintenance costs were estimated along with corresponding levelized cost of electricity and CO2 avoidance costs calculated using the detailed financial model developed. A levelized cost of electricity of 131 $/MWhrnet along with a levelized CO2 avoidance cost of 64 $/tonne was estimated for an ASC oxy-coal power plant with CO2 capture. Also a levelized cost of electricity of 83 $/MWhrnet was estimated for an ASC air-fired coal power plant without CO2 capture capabilities as the base plant. The price of electricity was observed to increase from 83 $/MWhrnet to 131 $/MWhrnet translating into a 57% increase. The sensitivity of the overall economics of the process was assessed to several parameters. The overall economics was found sensitive to the choice chemical engineering plant cost index (CEPCI), capacity factor, size of power plant, debt ratio, fuel price, interest rate, and construction duration.

<div>The manufacturing cost of solar cells along with their efficiency and reliability define the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). One needs to reduce LCOE to make solar cells cost competitive compared to other sources of electricity. After a sustained decrease since 2001 the manufacturing cost of the dominant photovoltaic technology based on c-Si solar cells has recently reached a plateau. Further reduction in LCOE is only possible by increasing the efficiency and/or reliability of c-Si cells. Among alternate technologies, organic photovoltaics (OPV) has reduced manufacturing cost, but they do not offer any LCOE gain because their lifetime and efficiency are significantly lower than c-Si. Recently, perovskite solar cells have showed promising results in terms of both cost and efficiency, but their reliability/stability is still a concern and the physical origin of the efficiency gain is not fully understood.</div><div><br></div>In this work, we have collaborated with scientists industry and academia to explain the origin of the increased cell efficiency of bulk solution-processed perovskite cells. We also explored the possibility of enhancing the efficiency of the c-Si and perovskite cells by using them in a tandem configuration. To improve the intrinsic reliability, we have investigated 2D-perovskite cells with slightly lower efficiency but longer lifetime. We interpreted the behavior of the 2D-perovskite cells using randomly stacked quantum wells in the absorber region. We studied the reliability issues of c-Si modules and correlated series resistance of the modules directly to the solder bond failure. We also found out that finger thinning of the contacts at cell level manifests as a fake shunt resistance but is distinguishable from real shunt resistance by exploring the reverse bias or efficiency vs. irradiance. Then we proposed a physics-based model to predict the energy yield and lifetime of a module that suffers from solder bond failure using real field data by considering the statistical nature of the failure at module level. This model is part of a more comprehensive model that can predict the lifetime of a module that suffers from more degradation mechanisms such as yellowing, potential induced degradation, corrosion, soiling, delamination, etc. simultaneously. This method is called forward modeling since we start from environmental data and initial information of the module, and then predict the lifetime and time-dependent energy yield of a solar cell technology. As the future work, we will use our experience in forward modeling to deconvolve the reliability issues of a module that is fielded since each mechanism has a different electrical signature. Then by calibrating the forward model, we can predict the remaining lifetime of the fielded module. This work opens new pathways to achieve 2030 Sunshot goals of LCOE below 3c/kWh by predicting the lifetime that the product can be guaranteed, helping financial institutions regarding the risk of their investment, or national laboratories to redefine the qualification and reliability protocols.<br>

Energy communities are formed to create integrated regional energy market in EU and non- EU neighboring countries. It attracts investors in generation and energy networks as it comes up with new stable regulations, so that it will ensure the supply is stable and continuous. Five EU countries (Germany, Italy, Sweden, Greece, Austria) with different policies are selected and simulations are done. Economic analysis for the 5 countries is done based on simulation results. The selected 5 EU countries shows a good economic result; therefore, it can be recommended to implement energy communities and cities by developing the directives. By transposition of policies of the energy community and implementing more subsidies or incentive will make a better contribution for the citizen partnership for creating CEC.