Application and performance analysis of 100% renewable energy systems serving low-density communities

Distributed energy systems are becoming increasingly popular worldwide. The 100% renewable energy system can be an important energy supply alternative to reduce the carbon emissions and address energy shortage, especially for remote areas. However, the performance of 100% renewable energy system (RES) at community level needs further detailed analysis, which is affected by the climates, availability of renewable energy and local energy markets. This paper proposes a design optimization framework of 100% renewable energy systems for low-density communities and investigates the system performance. To investigate the integration and performance of 100% RES, thirty typical cities located in different regions of China were chosen considering different climates, geographical features, and renewable energy distributions. By taking the economic performance as the optimization objective, the optimal design for the 100% RES is obtained, and the energy and economic performance is analyzed. Results show that, under the current energy market conditions, the 100% RES is feasible for low-density communities in most regions of China. The payback periods of the systems in most cities are less than six years. When the cost of PV is reduced by half considering future technological developments, the payback period of a 100% RES can be reduced by 30%–60%. This paper would provide design suggestions and application recommendations in regard to promoting 100% RES in China.