Regional life cycle sustainability assessment on decentralised electricity generation technologies in the Northeast region of England

Abstract

A sustainability assessment framework combines life cycle and triple bottom line approach is proposed in this study; and a life cycle sustainability assessment model that is generic and suitable to examine and compare sustainability performance of decentralised electricity technologies on a regional scale is designed under the proposed framework. The assessment model is designed based on the context of Northeast region of England; the framework is generic, and the model can be tailored to be suitable to assess different technologies in different regions. In the proposed model, sustainability performance is evaluated using three sets of nineteen indicators in total, with five examining the techno-economic impact, twelve measuring the environmental impact and two assess the social impact of selected energy technologies. Three decentralized energy technologies were assessed in this thesis, they are solar photovoltaic (PV), onshore wind and biomass. Three types of most commonly deployed solar photovoltaic electricity generation systems are considered to represent the current technology, they are: monocrystalline (s-Si), polycrystalline (p-Si) and Cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin film. Three wind turbines with highest installation capacity are considered to be representative for present day onshore wind technology, they are: Vesta V80, Vesta V90, and Repower MM82; For biomass technology, the largest biomass combined heat and power plant both within the region and the UK –Wilton 10 is considered to be representative of state of art for the technology. Results obtained from the assessment is then ranked and compare against each other to conclude the sustainability performance of each assessed technology. ReCiPe method is also applied as part of sensitivity analysis; and finally data quality assessment is carried out using criteria produced by Stamford and Azapagic (2012, p. 415). The study reveals that no technology is superior to another; the sustainability performance needs to be expressed in relation to the resource availability and regional development strategy. The common belief that renewable energy is totally emission free is because the significant environmental impacts associated with upstream manufacturing and end-of-life process are not accounted for. For example solar PV is almost emission free during electricity generation but production of the system components do pose significant environmental impact; its merit resides being an effective tool to alleviate fuel poverty due to its ability to reduce energy bills for the system host and its low capital cost. Since sustainability is a dynamic process, the choice for the most sustainability electricity options will also progress over the time; depending on the need of society and resource availability. Planning for a sustainable energy future requires holistic review of suitable energy options and strategic energy planning.