Techno-Economic Analysis of a Sustainable Coal, Wind, and Nuclear Hybrid Energy System

The availability of cheap electricity is one of the biggest factors for improving quality of life. The push for largescale renewable sources of energy has met problems with regards to energy storage and availability. The proposed coal, wind, and nuclear hybrid energy system would combine a renewable energy source, wind, with the traditional and stable energy sources coal and nuclear to create an integrated, resilient, and sustainable system. A next generation small modular nuclear reactor is considered together with a pressurized circulating fluidized bed coal combustion system which also utilizes biomass as a feedstock. This system employs a coelectrolysis unit for utilization of carbon dioxide as a feedstock for the production of synthetic gas and subsequently fuels and chemicals. A techno-economic analysis of the proposed system was performed along with a thermodynamic analysis of overall efficiency and sustainability.