Comparison Of Return On Investment (roi) And Energy Return On Investment (eroi) For Optimization Of Electricity Generation In Alberta

Abstract

The Government of Alberta, in the Provincial Energy Strategy, refers to electricity as the “facilitator of prosperity.” Increases in demand project a supply gap of 23,733 GWh in 2017 and 26,927 GWh in 2027 above 2010 installed generation capacity. In this report, operations research techniques were used to find optimized mixes of energy sources to fill the supply gap. Two optimization approaches were done to identify the mix with the highest financial return on investment (ROI) and the highest energy return on investment (EROI), respectively. ROI optimization would result in $724 million in 2017 and $1.5 billion in 2027 on total electricity generation costs in Alberta compared the business-as-usual case. EROI optimization would result in 3,0002 GWh savings on total energy input into electricity generation in 2017 and 4,989 GWh of total energy input in 2027. Both optimization approaches would also significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and water consumption.