Volume 15: Low Carbon Cities and Urban Energy Systems: Part IV

Study on Environmental and Economic Benefits of Photovoltaic integration with Iron and Steel Plants in Hebei Province Yanli Li, Xinyi Ke, Zhongxin Guo, Zitong Wang, Shanshan Qu, Mingkun Jiang, Jinyue Yan*

Abstract

Under the strategic goal of “peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality” in China, industries with high energy consumption and high pollution, such as iron and steel plants, are facing great pressure of energy conservation and emission reduction, and are in urgent need of green and low-carbon transformation. In this paper, 46 iron and steel plants in Hebei province are taken as examples. GIS spatial analysis and environmental emission list method are used to build a comprehensive evaluation model of rooftop photovoltaic, and to calculate the technical potential, energy saving and emission reduction benefits and economic feasibility of deploying rooftop photovoltaic in iron and steel plants. Finally, carbon trading mechanism is introduced to analyze its impact on the carbon trading market. It is found that 46 iron and steel plants save 216,700 tons of standard coal, reduce 144,700 tons of CO2 emissions and reduce 1,500 tons of SO2, NOX, PM and other air pollutants every year. The economic benefit of power generation self-use mode is greater than that of grid-fed mode, with an average return on investment of 140% and a payback period of 5.5 years. The results verify that rooftop photovoltaic in iron and steel plants has dual benefits of energy saving and emission reduction and economy, and this data can provide a feasible path for iron and steel plants to use photovoltaic for green and low-carbon transformation.

Keywords PV integration, iron and steel industry, economic performance, environmental benefits, carbon trade