Decentralized energy generation for end-use applications: Economic, social and environmental benefits assessment

Decentralized generation (DG) systems are developed nowadays, as one of the possible means of addressing electricity and environmental challenges; they also offer social and economic benefits. DGs are suitable both for stand-alone and grid-tied applications. When operated in stand-alone, they could provide electricity for non-grid connected homes. However, in a grid-tied mode, they could supply power to households which are already connected to the network, providing the users with the opportunity to sell back excess energy to the grid. In this paper, we present the benefits of DG from the residential perspective. Case studies were conducted for two different locations - Nigeria and New Zealand, with dissimilar energy resources and demands. We simulate different off-grid and grid-connected systems, to obtain the energy configurations with the optimal component sizes and costs of energy. The energy technologies examined are solar, wind and diesel generator systems. The simulation results reveal that DGs have the potential to offer clean, cost-effective and reliable energy solutions for household applications.