A Review of the Life Cycle Analysis of a Solar Biogas Hybrid System for Power Generation

This research has examined the life cycle analysis of a solar biogas hybrid system for power generation for farming and other applications. The hybrid system was simulated using a powerful life cycle simulation tool known as SimaPRO. With the input variable supplied, the simulation tool generated the output variables which include the various environmental impact of the system, energy consumption, emissions and pollutions. The research investigated the environmental ramifications associated with power generation via the hybrid plant. The life cycle assessment revealed that the hybrid plant has a global warming potential of [23,419(kgCO2eq)] and a non-renewable energy usage of 350,878 MJ over its 20-year life span which aligned with the findings of a previous research conducted by (Islam et at., 2015). Advantageously, this is a remarkable reduction in environmental impact when compared to a stand-alone biogas and solar PV plants as previously established by (Hosseini et al., 2014, Moral & Petrakopoulou, 2019) which have higher global warming potentials and a greater proclivity for non-renewable energy consumption as reported by (Kang et al., 2018).