Decarbonisation Whisky Distilleries
Electrification Result
Assumptions:
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Electric boiler will replace the fossil fuel boiler to produce the steam using electricity from the grid as this distillery does not have access to any renewable power generation.
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Current commercial unit price of electricity is taken as 33p/kWh [7].
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Efficiency for the electric boiler is considered to be 99% [15].
Results
The process heating carbon emissions can only be reduced by 12% based on current contributions of the renewables into the electricity grid. but is predicted to be reduced by 75% in 2050 as per steady progression predicted by National Grid [17].
Electric boiler of rating 1.4 MW will be required which needs the Capital cost of £0.165 million. OPEX will increase every year as the prices of electricity are predicted to go up [16]. Due to negative overall cash flow which includes savings on natural gas and operating costs of electricity, the net present value of the project is negative. It can only be positive if a cheap renewable power source is available.
Sensitivity Analysis
As per the sensitivity analysis between the electricity prices and the net present value of electrification of process heating, the project feasibility becomes visible once the price reduces below 10 p/kWh.
According to 2021 prices of various renewable power generation sources by IRENA, the cheapest and most feasible option for this distillery will be onshore wind power generation which can generate electricity at 2.82 p/kWh [18].
