Life Cycle Inventories (LCI) for Off-grid Hybrid Energy Systems using Photovoltaics, Batteries, and Hydrogen Storage

This dataset is a collection of life cycle inventories (LCI) / activity datasets for calculating the environmental impact of an off-grid hybrid energy system in Chile. Different energy system setups are compared which can contain diesel generators, photovoltaic (PV) panels, lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries and/or hydrogen energy storage. In PV production, we refer to Frischknecht et al. (2020)’s LCIs. This includes the production of PV cells, made from silicon wafers based on Czochralski single silicon crystals. PV modules are formed by connecting multiple PV cells. Regarding Li-ion batteries, we relied on Porzio and Scown (2021)’s LCI, which included a LiFePO4-based cathode and a graphite-based anode. Additionally, we employed Quan et al. (2022)’s inventories for the production of LiFePO4 from lithium carbonate and iron phosphate. In the hydrogen system, LCIs are based on Koj et al. (2017) for the alkaline electrolyzer with a Zirkon membrane, on Boureima et al. (2011) and Wulf et al. (2018) for the steel-based compressed gas hydrogen storage tank, and on Notter et al. (2015) and Weber et al. (2018) for the proton-exchange membrane fuel cell with a Nafion membrane. These datasets were curated for the specific case of building an energy system to supply an off-grid telescope in the Atacama desert, Chile, to be built in 2030. We incorporate specific temporal and country-specific power mixes for production locations next to transportation pathways from these to the energy system area in Chile.PROCESS FLOWScenario setup Reference Diesel generator only PDB Diesel & Photovoltaics PDB Diesel & Photovoltaics & Battery PB PV & Battery PDBH Diesel & Photovoltaics & Battery & Hydrogen PBH Photovoltaics & Battery & Hydrogen List of the unit processes: 1. mc-Si PV panel, production 2. LFP battery, production 3a. Alkaline electrolyzer, production 3b. CG H2 storage, production 3c. PEMFC, production 4. Subterranean power line, production 5. Power mixes production countries, 2030 6. Transportation from production to energy system site 7. Operation and maintenance 8. Scenario calculations Functional unit: Deliver power to the telescope according to the demand forecasted, 7.99GWh/year over 25 years. Installed capacities and generated power from the Energy System Optimization Model highRES-AtLAST: name LCOE Capa Diesel Capa PV Capa Alkaline Capa CG Capa PEMFC Capa LFP10HR Gen Diesel Gen PV Gen PEMFC Gen LFP Reference 207,5715 1,620512 0 0 0 0 0 7798,218 0 0 0 PDB 144,567679