Estimating Economic and Logistic Utility of Connecting to Unreliable Power Grids

Abstract

Remote military, scientific, refugee, and industrial facilities may operate in areas with unreliable host nation (HN) power grids. The economic and logistic utility costs and benefits of connecting the facility to the grid can be quantified. A rigorous simulation model, the Host Nation Power Analysis Tool (HPAT), was developed to analyze specific bases. A more generalized, but still useful simplified equation is also derived to help decision makers determine whether to connect to the grid or not. Several practical examples of using these models are also presented. In the cases studied, it was always found that using the Host Nation grid was better. One can think of HN power like other intermittent sources, like solar, and still design a facility energy architecture that benefits from that source when available.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 17, 2016
Accession Number
AD1033609

Entities

People

  • Franz D. Busse
  • Scott B. Van Broekhoven

Organizations

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Business Administration
  • Calorific Value
  • Cost Estimates
  • Costs
  • Department Of Defense
  • Efficiency
  • Electrical Grids
  • Electricity
  • Energy
  • Energy Management
  • Energy Systems
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Generators
  • Load Monitoring
  • Reliability
  • Renewable Energy

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
  • Economics
  • Electrical Engineering