Title: A comparative economic analysis between solar photovoltaic and woody biomass power plants

Abstract:

The use of renewable energies in the generation of electric power has increased considerably in the last years. The share of renewable energy sources in EU has increased from 16.97% to 30.75% in the period 2008-2017. The intermittent nature of some ways of renewable energies, such as wind and solar photovoltaic, requires flexible energy storage systems. Conversely, other renewable energy systems, such as forest biomass power plants provide dispatchable energy when needed. In addition, solid biomass may be used for: i) heating & cooling and hot water for domestic uses, ii) heating for industrial processes and iii) power generation. A comparative economic analysis between solar photovoltaic and biomass power plants is carried out in the present work. The energy produced by a solar photovoltaic power plant with 50 MWe of power reaches 80 GWh year.

Biography:

Javier Menendez received his MSc degree in Mining Engineering in 2005 and his PhD degree from the University of Oviedo, in Spain. He is manager at HUNASER ENERGY, a company dedicated to renewable energy sources. Previously he worked for one year at EDP energy and two years in an underground coal mine in NW Spain. Later, Javier Menendez worked for 11 years as project manager in an engineering company dedicated to energy and mining. His research covers the fields of hydropower, pumped-storage hydropower plants with underground reservoirs, solar photovoltaic power plants, geothermal energy with mine water and forest biomass power plants.