Comparative techno-economic assessment of integrated PV-SOFC and PV-Battery hybrid system for natural gas processing plants

Natural gas will remain among the leading sources of energy, at least for the next few decades. Further, it is necessary to make natural gas processing operation a cost-competitive, clean, and efficient energy source, and less dependent on the grid. A comparative investigation based on two case studies is presented in this paper for a natural gas processing plant; an integration of Photovoltaic panels with Battery Energy Storage System (PV-BESS) and an integration of Photovoltaic panels with Solid Oxide Fuel cell (PV–SOFC) technologies. The aim is to be more independent from the grid for efficient operations and to reduce the emissions by introducing renewable energy in gas processing operation plant. A techno-economic analysis is performed for both cases considering a PV capacity of 33.5 MW. The outcome of this study indicates that for 25 years of operation, the Levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for PV-BESS is found to be 0.16 US$/kWh, and for PV-SOFC is 0.11 US$/kWh, which makes the PV-SOFC option more economical and feasible than PV-BESS. Besides, in the projected scenario where investment cost is expected to reduce, PV-SOFC's IRR is 3% and has a positive NPV of 5 Million USD$ for an internal rate of 4%. Furthermore, the LCOE for PV-SOFC in this scenario is around 0.04 USD$ per kWh, which is still less than the LCOE of PV-BESS and less than the tariff set by the Qatari electric authority for bulk industries.