Techno-economic assessment of photovoltaic and wind energy applications at Monkey Bay port
Date of Award
11-1-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Science in Maritime Affairs
Specialization
Maritime Energy Management
Campus
Malmö, Sweden
Country
Malawi
First Advisor
Dong Cheng
Abstract
This study conducted a techno-economic assessment of implementing a hybrid system (PV and Wind) that can generate electricity to meet the demand of the port aimed at improving energy efficiency of the port and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from diesel generators due to insecure energy supply from the grid. The study assessed the technical and economic viability of deploying PV and wind generated electricity with a battery storage to cater for intermittent availability of the solar and wind resources. Solar, wind and economic data were used to come up with the best energy system model that will meet the demand of the port using Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables (HOMER). The optimization process simulated a number of system configurations under different specified conditions including the grid and diesel generator as a baseline system. The results from the optimization showed that PV and wind with a storage system are technically and economically best option for port use, indicating a decrease in lifecycle cost as compared to baseline system. The study found out that using Photovoltaic and wind energy with a storage system has lowest LCOE and NPV of $0.166 and $3.15 million respectively, and a 90% reduction in GHG emissions as compared to the use of grid and diesel generator.