Techno-economic and environmental feasibility of large-scale hybrid renewable energy system for coastal megaprojects: a case study of Ras El-Hekma, Egypt
摘要
This research provides a techno-economic and environmental evaluation of a large-scale hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) to support sustainable coastal development in Egypt, considering Ras El-Hekma as a representative case study. Six hybrid system configurations, including both grid-connected and off-grid modes, are modeled and evaluated using HOMER Pro. A large-scale load profile is developed with a peak demand of 28.8 MW and an annual electricity consumption of approximately 100.46 GWh over a 20-year project lifetime. The simulation results indicate that the optimal configuration is a 15 MW grid-connected wind energy system, achieving a Cost of Energy (COE) of $0.03409/kWh and a Net Present Cost (NPC) of $37.46 million with an initial investment cost of $24.8 million. The proposed system also achieves a renewable energy fraction of 68.6% and reduces CO₂ emissions by 60.45% compared with the base case grid-only scenario. Sensitivity analysis reveals that wind speed, project lifetime, inflation rate, and discount rate are the most influential factors affecting system feasibility and economic viability. The results demonstrate the strong potential of large-scale HRESs for sustainable energy development across Egypt’s coastal megaprojects.