Techno-economic Analysis of Hybrid Electricity Generating System in Rural Community in a Developing Country

Abstract

This research paper focuses on the development of hybrid electricity generating system in Amachara ana Amachi communities in Ebonyi state, Nigeria, with emphasis on the technical feasibility and economic viability of an optimal hybrid energy system. The community average daily electrical load demand was estimated to be 451.32Kwh/day with a peak demand of

52.65kW. Analytical methods were used for designing energy resources such as solar, wind, biomass and diesel generator combined with battery storage for optimal sizing of system components. Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Electric Renewables Software (HOMER Pro) was used to carried out simulation and optimization to determine the system performance and techno- economics parameters like Net present cost (NPC), cost of energy (COE), CO2 emission etc. Five system configurations were analyzed for technical feasibility and economic viability. The results obtained showed that three optimal system configurations, Solar-PV/ Diesel –generator/ Biomass/ Battery-Bank (SDBiB), Diesel-generator// Biomass/ Battery-Bank (DBiB) and Solar- PV/Diesel-generator/Biomass/wind Turbine/Battery-Bank (SDBiWB) had minimal CO2 emission and were the most cost effective and their solutions were preferred. The SDBiB has a net present cost of $503,451.30, cost of energy of $0.2361/ Kwh, RPF of 95.81 % and CO2 emission 6,946 kg/yr. The DBiB had a total NPC of $514,287.00, COE of $0.242/Kwh, RPF 96.1%, and CO2 emission of 5,613kg/yr while the SDBiWB had a total NPC of $565, 864.50.COE $0.266/Kwh, RPF of 96.1 % and CO2 emission of 6,814kg/yr. The outcome of the research is in consonance with the global campaign by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to keep global temperature rise to 1.5c through cutting of global CO2 emissions by 45 % by the year 2030.