Analysis of Carbon Policies in the Optimal Design of Domestic Cogeneration Systems Involving Biogas Consumption

The environmental policies associated with the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions have been based on economic penalizations for generated greenhouse gas emissions. One of the objectives of these strategies is to stimulate the development of new energy technologies or the improvement of the efficiency of the current generation schemes. This work evaluates the impact of carbon policies on the design of combined heat and power systems (CHP) involving biogas usage. This paper presents a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model for designing a CHP system interconnected to the grid that allows selecting and sizing the prime mover and the thermal storage tank for supplying the energy demand in a housing complex. A case study from Mexico is presented, where the multiobjective problem presents different strategies used for monetizing the externalities associated with the carbon dioxide emissions, which are compared with the results of using compromise solutions. The results show that the strategies of monetization do not have a significant effect on the design and they do not result in an incentive for biogas consumption. On the other hand, the compromise solutions result in a trade-off between the economic and environmental objectives and they stimulate the developing of local biogas markets.