Analysis of net-zero energy housing society in Gwadar Pakistan to mitigate the load shedding problem.

Pakistan has power shortages and the buildings in Pakistan consume 54% of generated electric power, while the country is at the 7th place in the list of countries most affected by extreme weather events. Pakistan not only has to produce more power but also must employ renewable energy resources to achieve the task to have a sustainable future. The government of Pakistan has already forsaken the task to produce power at a national level and has sublet this job to independent power producers. The prime investments of Pakistani people are in the real estate business with private real estate giants operating in the country. In this research, a net-zero energy housing society (NZEHS) has been analyzed in the future economic hub, the city of Gwadar at the Arabian Sea. Abundant renewable resources are available at Gwadar city with a global horizontal irradiance of 5.19 kWh/m2 day and an average wind speed of 5.19 m/s. A combination of photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbines has been selected with installed capacities of 32.2 MW and 25.5 MW, respectively, to generate energies of 55.9 GWh and 49.0 GWh annually for an electrical load of 101.3 GWh. The net present cost of the system is 149 Million US$ with a Levelized cost of energy of 7.91 CUS$/kWh. The capital cost for this project is 92.4 Million US$. In this NZEHS, each customer must pay 0.0132 MUS$ to get free electricity for 25 years with a simple payback of 4.78 years and a discounted payback period of 5.79 years. This sustainable society will reduce the energy demands from residential loads to provide power for smaller industries to improve economics and reduce unemployment in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]