Assessment of the Cost of various Renewable Energy Systems to Provide Power for a Small Community: Case of Bukha, Oman

Abstract

Renewable sources are clean, non-polluting, alternative energy sources, hence, they are considered to be environmentally friendly. This paper presents an assessment of the cost of various renewable energy systems in order to provide power solution for Bukha, small community located in Masandam, in the Sultanate of Oman. The following renewable energy sources are available in the small community; solar, wind, biomass, hydro and geothermal. The community is made up of about 1,670 inhabitants. A detailed analysis of the cost of power generation considering all the renewable energy schemes were carried out based on the total power consumption of the community. The metrics of judging the cost schemes were the net present values, the internal rate of return, the salvage values, the depreciation rate and the payback period based on the life cycle of the plants. The schemes were all assumed to have a life span of 20 years. The standard of judging the costing schemes were based on the data provided by the International Renewable Energy Agency for Asia region. Some schemes offer good advantages over the other schemes, based on the costing criteria considered. However, no scheme has all the benefits in providing power solutions to the small community.