article · Energy Reports
Ghanaian power supply issues have increased the need to integrate renewable energy into the national mix to maintain sustainable power and curb emissions. Because individual renewable sources can be intermittent, hybridising diverse energy technologies offers a viable solution. Ten hybrid renewable energy configurations were evaluated to determine the best option for powering sustainable operations at the Port of Takoradi. The assessment relied on fifteen distinct multicriteria decision-making algorithms measuring performance across technical, economic, environmental, socio-cultural, and policy criteria, with the rankings validated using the Spearman rank correlation coefficient. The results revealed that a hybrid setup integrating solar photovoltaics, wind energy, battery storage, and natural gas performed best. This specific combination presents substantial potential for expanding reliable, low-carbon energy across the broader Ghanaian industrial landscape.
Ports and heavy industrial facilities require continuous, dependable power while seeking to reduce emissions. Selecting the right combination of renewable and conventional technologies is difficult due to variable weather and high capital costs. By comparing multiple system designs against diverse operational and policy factors, this approach helps infrastructure operators choose energy mixes that secure reliable power while meeting environmental and economic requirements.
The findings provide a direct decision-making framework for port authorities, energy project developers, and industrial site operators planning hybrid energy installations. The work identifies a specific configuration combining solar, wind, battery storage, and natural gas for practical capital investment. Operating at an applied planning and feasibility assessment stage, the methodology helps investors and policymakers de-risk large-scale infrastructure investments before committing funds to physical engineering and procurement.
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Ghana’s prevailing power issues have incited the government’s interest in integrating renewable energy sources into the country’s present energy mix for sustainable energy supply and to minimise carbon emissions. Hybridising renewable energy resources has recently gained attention due to the intermittent nature of some resources. The objective of this study is to rank the performance of ten hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) for sustainable port operations in Ghana using multicriteria decision-making algorithms. All chosen criteria for decision-making analysis emanate from technical, economic, environmental, socio-cultural, and policy pillars extensively employed in evaluating new technologies towards sustainability. Fifteen unique decision-making algorithms were tested on the decision matrix to rank the HRES. After that, the Spearman rank correlation coefficient was applied to validate the ranks obtained from the algorithms to make the final selection. The final rankings indicated that PV/wind/battery/natural gas is the optimal HRES for Takoradi port compared to the other HRES. This indicates that extensive investment in PV/wind/battery/natural gas systems has a reasonable potential to achieve sustainable energy for the Ghanaian industrial sector. The findings are vital for decision-makers, policymakers, and investors in developing Ghana’s renewable energy sector.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.egyr.2022.01.118
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