Techno-Economic Analysis of Floating Offshore Wind Energy vs Solar Farm to Address the Energy Problem of Panay Island
The recent energy crisis in Panay Island, Philippines, resulting from a 452-megawatt loss on the Visayas grid, caused widespread outages and economic damages exceeding ₱3.8 billion in Iloilo. This event highlights the need for improved grid resilience through renewable energy. This study addresses a significant research gap by performing a comparative techno-economic analysis of floating offshore wind energy and solar PV farms. Key focus areas include Annual Energy Production (AEP), Capacity Factor (CF), Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), and Levelized Cost of Energy (LCoE), using RETScreen Expert for wind and the System Advisory Model (SAM) for solar PV. Data reveals that the offshore wind farm significantly outperforms the solar PV in AEP, achieving 169,151 MWh compared to 96,257 MWh and has a higher CF of 38.60% versus 21.91%. However, the solar PV boasts a higher NPV of PHP 628,979,815 compared to PHP 58,301,292 for wind, and a comparable IRR of 26.34% versus 26.70%. Despite financial advantages for solar, the wind farm's LCoE at PHP 0.102 per kWh is lower than solar's PHP 1.63 per kWh, making it more cost-effective per unit of energy. Thus, offshore wind offers a more viable solution for enhancing Panay Island's energy security and sustainability.
Keywords: Solar PV Farm, Floating Offshore Wind Farm, Techno-economic Analysis, System Advisory Model, RETScreen.