Proposal for the generation of renewable electricity for the town of Bahía Negra, Chaco Paraguayo, based on a multi-criteria methodology

This work is developed with the purpose of proposing an alternative configuration of electric power generation systems for the town of Bahía Negra, a community located north of the Paraguayan Chaco. For this, a financial analysis of the configurations taken into account for the development of this research is prepared. Criteria such as: Initial Investment (II), Net Present Value (NPV), Cost of Energy (COE), Potential Savings (PA) and Cost of Operation (CO) are adopted. In addition, environmental criteria such as the Emission of Greenhouse Gases and a technical-economic criterion such as the Savings Potential are considered. The alternatives of generation system configurations you consider are: Thermal Generation (diesel), Thermal Generation with Battery Bank, Hybrid Generation (thermal plus solar), Hybrid Generation (thermal, solar and battery bank) and Renewable Generation (solar with battery bank). HOMER Pro® software is used in the search for the most suitable configuration. This tool helps to simulate the different alternatives and results in more optimal configurations. Finally, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is applied to choose the most convenient configuration, taking into account the multiple criteria adopted. The result corresponding to the best alternative, subject to the input data, is Hybrid generation, this configuration is composed of Thermal Generation (Diesel), Photovoltaic Generation (photovoltaic panels), Battery Bank and converter.