The project’s outcomes emphasised the importance of local deployment of renewable generation and simple demand reduction measures to tackle issues of load-shedding and unreliable supply. However, some aspects of the work could not be included in the scope of this study given time frame constraints. Therefore, some recommendations for further study that could improve the analysis and outcomes are given as future work here.
In this project, domestic PV system installations generate surplus of energy which is lost due to lack of appropriate grid infrastructure. An interesting approach to deal with this loss would be to consider a peer-to-peer (P2P) energy sharing allowing the trade of energy surplus from the PV between prosumers, or between prosumers and consumers, in a community microgrid. The possibility of sharing the energy surplus among neighbours can provide a regional market solution without dependency on government central decisions.
In terms of the urban-scale renewable technologies that were analysed in this project, the anaerobic digestion plant and PV farm, a future recommendation would be that a contract could be made with the electricity distribution company that supplies electricity to Mian Channu, to sell electricity directly to the electricity substation owned by the same company, and that company could then redirect the same amount of electricity sold to that substation, to the city of Mian Channu.
This way any electricity surplus generated by the anaerobic digestion plant or PV farm would not be wasted energy but instead would be directed to other areas in the country that are in need for more electricity and would increase the country’s renewable generation capacity.
In the case of the PV farm, having such a contract with an electricity distribution company would allow larger generation capacities to be implemented. Through the findings of the financial analysis of our project, it is clearly indicated that the larger the generation capacity of a grid-connected PV farm, the more profitable it becomes for investors.
In the case of the anaerobic digestion plant, the feedstock collection area can be further expanded to other nearby cities, villages and farms. This could be done by a collaboration between the local councils of this areas and the investors of the plant. This would increase the amount of organic waste available as feedstock for the anaerobic digestion plant, thus increasing the generation capacity of the plant. Additionally, this would have an impact in improving the waste management infrastructure in these areas.
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
James Weir Building, Level 8
University of Strathclyde
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Glasgow
G1 1XJ
Scotland, UK
+44 (0) 141 548 4851
mae@strath.ac.uk