Energy Return on Investment (EROI) for Distributed Power Generation from Low-Temperature Heat Sources Using the Organic Rankine Cycle

Type of content
Publisher's DOI/URI
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
University of Canterbury. Mechanical Engineering
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
Date
2013
Authors
Southon, M.
Krumdieck, S.
Abstract

Energy Return on (Energy) Investment, EROI, is a measure of the future energy benefit from energy expenditure. EROI can be used in addition to price signals to determine how an energy technology should inform energy policy. Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technologies are employed in a wide variety of plant sizes, designs and locations. The relationship between the capital cost of an energy generation technology and its EROI is non-linear, which suggests ORC technology has a wide range of possible EROI values depending on its design and size. This paper investigates the EROI of two ORC electricity generation plants and evaluates this against other technologies. The first part of the paper investigates two ORC power plants as case studies. This investigation is to produce an estimate of the energy input required to build the plants and the resulting EROI. The second part of the paper briefly evaluates the calculated EROI compared to other technologies, and how this comparative energy cost might inform energy policy.

Description
Citation
Southon, M., Krumdieck, S. (2013) Energy Return on Investment (EROI) for Distributed Power Generation from Low-Temperature Heat Sources Using the Organic Rankine Cycle. Rotorua, New Zealand: 35th New Zealand Geothermal Workshop (NZGW), 18-21 Nov 2013.
Keywords
Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), energy return on energy invested, net energy, binary cycle, embodied energy
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Fields of Research::40 - Engineering::4017 - Mechanical engineering::401703 - Energy generation, conversion and storage (excl. chemical and electrical)
Field of Research::09 - Engineering::0906 - Electrical and Electronic Engineering::090607 - Power and Energy Systems Engineering (excl. Renewable Power)
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