Technical and Economic Assessment of Local Power Supply Systems for Agro-Industrial Production in the Digital Economy

¹ Russian State Agrarian University-MTAA named after K. A. Timiryazev, Moscow, Russia
² Kazan State Agrarian University, Kazan, Russia

^* Corresponding author: marat181@rambler.ru

Abstract

Energy and energy supply development determines the rate of production intensification, including agricultural production. The current state of rural power supply is characterized by a high degree of deterioration of electrical equipment, long distance overhead power lines, low reliability of low-voltage electrical networks, and a higher accident rate. With an aim of ensuring food security and export orientation of the industry for the next 5 years, it is necessary to implement a set of measures to improve the efficiency of energy supply to agricultural production. This task will be hampered by a constant rise in prices and tariffs for energy resources. Thus, over the last 20 years, energy costs have increased from 3-5 % to 30-40 % in agricultural production. The specific capital investment (per 1 kW of power) and the cost of 1 kWh of electricity were reported to depend on a type of local energy source and its capacity. The paper proposes a method for marking out the economic boundaries of the effective use of local power supply arrangements to replace a standard central station. A power gen-set supplying energy to an agricultural holding is capable of operating in two modes subsequent upon utility (central station) electricity – autonomous and parallel. The authors compared the cost of electrical and thermal energy produced by the power gen-set and tariffs for these types of energy. Calculations have shown that it is advisable for an agricultural holding to have a local power supply system being a power gen-set based on gas engine-generators.