Graduation Date
Spring 2019
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Master of Science degree with a major in Environmental Systems, option Environmental Resources Engineering
Committee Chair Name
Dr. Peter Alstone
Committee Chair Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Dr. Charles Chamberlin
Second Committee Member Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Keywords
Microgrid, Batteries, Solar, EV charging, Building controls, Cost
Subject Categories
Environmental Resources Engineering
Abstract
This project estimates the capital costs for Solar+ microgrids for the year 2018 and forecasted out to 2030. Solar+ systems include the use of battery energy storage, solar energy, electric vehicle chargers and control systems to manage energy consumption and generation for a single building and provide islanded “microgrid” features. The capital cost includes estimates for the components: DER technologies (battery, solar PV and EV charging stations), controls (programming and hardware), and integration costs (switchgear, engineering, permitting and site work). Methods used to estimate each cost included assessing historical and projected costs for each of the components.
Five Solar+ scenarios are evaluated to forecast the estimated total project cost, the separate component costs, and the variability of these estimates. The scenarios considered constructing Solar+ systems to fit gas station and convenience stores with varied sizes (small, medium, and large) and goals (resilient scenarios). The average capital cost projections for each scenario show that costs are expected to decrease by 50-60% by 2030, with today’s unit cost at $4.8/W for a medium Solar+ microgrid. Changes in cost for each scenario show dependence on the system specification, including size of the battery system and solar PV. EV charging infrastructure has the greatest impact on the total cost and is reported as the largest cost contributor for all scenarios in the future. Additional results from this project suggest that medium to large Solar+ systems have the lowest unit cost currently (in 2018), but smaller Solar+ systems will have comparable costs by 2030 at roughly $2.0/W.
Citation Style
American Society of Civil Engineers
Recommended Citation
Quinn, Thalia, "Solar+ microgrid costs at gas station and convenience stores in the state of California" (2019). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 274.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/274