Feasibility Optimization and Simulations of Hybrid Renewable Energy for Household Electrification in Nigeria

This paper executes the design and analysis of a hybrid integrated energy system for the electrification of a rural community. The proposed hybrid system configuration was studied in four different folds using a combination of solar photovoltaic (PV) system, wind turbine (WT), diesel generator (DG), battery (BAT) system, and power converter (CONV) system. Based on the solar radiation, wind energy resources and diesel fuel availability, the optimal sizing configuration of a selected case study rural area was conducted to determine the technoeconomic viability of the rural electrification scheme in a village in northcentral Nigeria through the application of HOMER Pro software. Four different scenarios of PV/BAT/CONV, PV/DG/BAT/CONV, PV/WT/BAT/CONV and PV/WT/DG/BAT/CONV were analyzed for the feasibility study for the case study of Tudu Uku community in Nigeria. The results obtained indicated that the most techno-economically feasible hybrid integrated microgrid design is based on the combination of PV/BAT/CONV with the Net Present Cost (NPC) and the Cost of Energy (COE) of $11,502 and $0.216/kWh, respectively.