Incorporated Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems for Electrification of Rural Area Educational Institution

Abstract

The incorporated system constitutes of photovoltaic, wind and diesel generator systems to fulfill the shortage of grid power supply for a rural area educational institution. The monthly average solar radiation and wind velocity data from NASA Surface Meteorology and Solar Energy data center had been made baseline for the system. The increment of 10% diesel price was considered for calculating the unit cost of energy for every year. The completed survey in the site distinguished that it required 2.78kW solar panel consists of 15 panels with each rated 185Wp capacity, 5.4 kW of wind energy generator and a diesel generator for back up. The different size of batteries and converters were selected in the HOMER simulation software to arrive the optimum solution and to perform the sensitivity analysis. The cost of energy for diesel only, PV/Diesel/Battery/converter only and wind/Diesel/Battery/converter system is compared with PV/wind/Diesel/Battery/converter system for various diesel prices and wind velocity. The COE for diesel only, PV/Diesel/Battery/converter, wind/Diesel/Battery/converter and PV/Wind/Diesel/Battery/converter system was found to be 2.462$/kWh, 0.738$/kWh,0.973$/kWh and 0.946$/kWh respectively for 1$/liter diesel price.