LAPSE:2023.15993
Published Article
LAPSE:2023.15993
Production and Economic Assessment of Synthetic Fuels in Agriculture—A Case Study from Northern Germany
Clemens Fuchs, Drees Meyer, Axel Poehls
March 2, 2023
A climate-friendly and CO2-neutral energy supply for agricultural farms is the subject of investigation of this study. The supply concerns the internal economy (buildings and animal husbandry) as well as the production of synthetic fuels for outdoor work (cultivation of the fields). This energy is in demand with many customers, e.g., the dairy cooperative Arla Foods, whose goal is the production of cow’s milk with net-zero CO2 emissions by the year 2050. The operational energy system considered here included renewable electricity generation, covering electricity consumption in the cowshed, battery storage for times without electricity generation, the production of synthetic fuels and feeding into the public power grid. Fluctuations depending on the day and the season were taken into account for electricity at 15-min intervals and for fuel per calendar week for one year. The aim was to determine the necessary capacities of renewable energy (RE) generation systems and production systems for synthetic fuel, as well as an economic evaluation with the calculation of the energy costs per kWh and the break-evens for the capital expenses (CapEx). Two different scenarios were developed using the example of a survey dairy farm with an annual electricity consumption of approximately 80,000 kWh in the cowshed and an annual diesel consumption of 35,000 L, corresponding to 350,000 kWh for field work. To ensure the energy supply, Scenario 1 required a photovoltaic system (PV) on the roof with an output of 125 kWp, a 250 kW small wind turbine, a battery with a storage capacity of 2 kWh and synthetic fuel production with an output of 210 kW. Scenario 2 required a 200 kWp PV system on the roof and a 520 kWp PV system in the open fields, a battery with a 105 kWh storage capacity and a synthetic fuel production facility with an output of 385 kW to cover the farm’s energy needs. The results showed that a farm’s own electricity production is currently profitable; however, a farm’s production of synthetic fuel still has comparatively high costs and therefore is not yet profitable. Further technical advances, rising prices of fossil fuels and economies of scale, e.g., larger cooperatively-operated plants, could help new technology to make a breakthrough.
Keywords
agriculture, Batteries, break-even, combustion engines, economy, photovoltaics, Synthetic Fuels, wind turbines
Suggested Citation
Fuchs C, Meyer D, Poehls A. Production and Economic Assessment of Synthetic Fuels in Agriculture—A Case Study from Northern Germany. (2023). LAPSE:2023.15993
Author Affiliations
Fuchs C: Department of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Applied Sciences, 17033 Neubrandenburg, Germany [ORCID]
Meyer D: Department of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Applied Sciences, 17033 Neubrandenburg, Germany
Poehls A: Department of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Applied Sciences, 17033 Neubrandenburg, Germany
Journal Name
Energies
Volume
15
Issue
3
First Page
1156
Year
2022
Publication Date
2022-02-04
Published Version
ISSN
1996-1073
Version Comments
Original Submission
Other Meta
PII: en15031156, Publication Type: Journal Article
Record Map
Published Article

LAPSE:2023.15993
This Record
External Link

doi:10.3390/en15031156
Publisher Version
Download
Files
Mar 2, 2023
Main Article
License
CC BY 4.0
Meta
Record Statistics
Record Views
117
Version History
[v1] (Original Submission)
Mar 2, 2023
 
Verified by curator on
Mar 2, 2023
This Version Number
v1
Citations
Most Recent
This Version
URL Here
https://psecommunity.org/LAPSE:2023.15993
 
Original Submitter
Auto Uploader for LAPSE
Links to Related Works
Directly Related to This Work
Publisher Version