StroMiS. Study on the techno-economic analysis of electricity generation from micro power plants in series production

Up to now, plants for the generation of electrical power have followed the paradigm of process engineering: the bigger, the more economical (efficiency of size). Thus, the output of wind, nuclear and fossil-fuel power plants has grown continuously in recent years. However, with their size, the construction and commissioning times as well as the operating risk increase and the acceptance of the population decreases. At the same time, the immense production volume of photovoltaic cells for power generation is creating strong economic competition for the established technologies. The law of production technology is at work here: the larger the number of units, the cheaper the products (economies of scale). The study on the techno-economic analysis of small power plants that are mass-produced, operated in a decentralized manner and connected in smart grids basically shows that the following effects can make the massive use of small power plants competitive in addition to the economies of scale in efficiency that have been pursued so far: The enormous cost degressions with increasing numbers of smaller plants more than compensate for the loss of the positive effects due to size, without having to accept the increased risks. Significantly larger production volumes make it possible to switch to technologies with significantly better performance values and lower costs. Acceptance, energy autonomy as well as environmental compatibility can be achieved significantly better with smaller plants. As a result of the orders of magnitude reduction in one-time expenditures, power generation is democratized and nearly every electricity consumer can take personal responsibility for the benefits to reduce energy costs, increase energy autonomy, and improve environmental friendliness. Conversely, this reduces the investments required centrally at the utilities for power generation and power transmission.