Sustainability assessment of a petrochemical plant electricity supply based on 4E optimization of various hybrid renewable energy systems scenarios

Sustainable electricity production is a key objective for many nations, achievable through hybrid renewable energy systems. This article examines sustainability within the industrial sector by integrating social indicators alongside environmental and economic indicators into the Pareto front solutions of various hybrid renewable energy systems for prioritization. It presents new findings on sustainability indicators for four configurations of hybrid renewable energy systems—photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, and wave energy converters—and proposes a systematic decision-making approach for their assessment and planning. The methodology is validated with a case study on a coastal city in Iran. Various hybridization scenarios are modeled and optimized considering the cost of electricity (economic), CO₂ emissions (environmental), loss of power supply probability (reliability), and exergy efficiency (technical) to obtain the Pareto front. Sustainability indicators are subsequently employed to prioritize the various configurations and the Pareto-optimal solutions associated with each configuration. Results show that solar + wind is the most sustainable configuration, with a sustainability indicator of 0.89, followed by solar + wind + wave energy converter (0.63), solar (0.46), and solar + wave energy converter (0.63). As a novel contribution, the detrimental effect of humidity on PV output is evaluated in the optimization. The study also examines the impact of performance improvements on sustainability, considering the maximum achievable improvements for each technology by 2030. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to verify model accuracy and examine cost performance concerning uncertain parameters.