Abstract:
The increasing deployment of renewable energy resources has led to massive energy cost reductions worldwide
in the past decade. The emergence of this cost revolution led electricity consumers to increasingly adopt
distributed renewable energy resources to decrease dependence on traditional power grids. This paper applies
the integrated resource planning framework, the objective of which is to design a least-cost electricity system by
looking at renewable energy resources, efficient appliances, and demand response management strategies to
reduce electricity bills. The results show that the commercial entity can save its electricity bill by $0.16 if it
installs 6 MW solar PV over the lifetime of the solar PV plants. Besides, it was observed that wind turbines were
not economically feasible to install at the site because of low wind resources. Biogas power plant is too expensive
mainly because of the cost of fuel (waste). It also shows that by retrofitting 2000 compact fluorescent lamps
(CFLs) with light-emitting diodes (LEDs), the company can save $0.15 million. By shifting between 0.5 MW and
1.4 MW of heating and cooling demand to periods of low tariff costs, the company can save $0.013 million
annually. The climate transition plan for this company relies on PV, efficiency interventions and demand
response. The study also demonstrates that an integrated resource planning framework can be used to plan a
mini-grid.
