Sustainability Assessment of Photovoltaic Power Plants in North Cyprus

ABSTRACT: The clean, cheap and environmental friendly renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, are good alternatives to fossil fuels for generating electricity, especially in the Middle Eastern countries like N. Cyprus where high solar energy potential exists. Cyprus Turkish Electricity Utility Company (KIB-TEK) is responsible for producing, transmitting and distributing electricity to the consumers in N. Cyprus. Fuel oil no 6 is the only fuel used by KIB-TEK to produce electricity. The present work discusses the first experiences of the 1.275 MWp Photovoltaic (PV) Power Plant installed in Serhatköy. In 2012, with total production of 2,209,322 kWh energy, KIB-TEK saved 516.8 tonnes of fuel oil no: 6 reducing the CO2 emission by 1590 tonnes. An emission analysis was conducted for the thermal power plants of N. Cyprus in order to estimate the reduction in emissions in the case of installing PV plants to replace them. It was found that green house gas (GHG) emissions were reduced between 584g/kWh - 886g/kWh of CO2. The specific fuel consumption of the reciprocating diesel engines and steam turbine thermal power plants was found to be 233.9 g/kWh. From these values the environmental and economical benefits of the Serhatkoy PV Plant was estimated. Moreover, a life cycle cost analysis is performed for the Serhatkoy PV Power Plant where it is shown that the savings to investment ratio is greater than 1 leading to the conclusion that it is economically feasible. Keyword: Renewable energy, photovoltaic (PV) systems, N. Cyprus energy system. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………