TECHNO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY BASED MICRO GRID FOR RURAL APPLICATIONS

Abstract

The need for power supply from the main grid is rising drastically as the investment in economic activities and population grow rapidly, as does the improvement of comfort level and power consumption required by contemporary home appliances. Global warming and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have negative impacts due to the use of fossil fuel power plants. These are the main challenges which have given pressure in using sustainable and renewable energy resources (SRES) for power generation. Moreover, the world's energy sector is confronted with growing issues as a result of increased energy demand, efficiency, supply fluctuations and energy demand dynamics, and a shortage of analyses essential for appropriate energy management. Incorporation of artificial intelligent solutions into power systems, possess the high potential to enhance power efficiency, cost savings, and user comfort. As a result, it is imperative to create intelligent optimization-based algorithms for use in various renewable energy systems. In this study energy systems are mainly hybrid solar- based micro-grid systems. In particular, this study investigates the potential of hybrid biogas fuelled systems for generating electricity for commercial use in Tanzanian environment and potential of non-perennial tributary for electricity generation particularly in areas with a long standing period of time and extensive high rainfall for expanding the potential of hydro energy resource. This research work presents the techno-economic feasibility analysis of a standalone solar photovoltaic (SPV) system coupled with a battery bank that is expected to offer power to a typical rural residence at Simboya village using hybrid optimization multiple energy renewables (HOMER) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) platforms. HOMER is used to carry out techno-economic viability analysis of small wind turbine electric system (SWTES) for electrical water and power supply for peasant‘s residence at Simboya village, it describes the techno-economic feasibility assessment of a hybrid SPV/biogas generator/battery system optimized by HOMER pro and the grey wolf optimization (GWO) platforms to supply power to Simboya village, also it covers the techno-economic evaluation of the SPV-hydro-biogas battery bank system which is expected to deliver power to same village, it presents the techno-economic study of the SPV/Small hydro/Battery energy system configuration predicted to supply electricity to Ikukwa village utilizing HOMER, PSO , GWO, and GWO PSO hybrid platforms. The key findings of this research work are summarized as follows: Findings by HOMER platform, daily electricity consumption and peak power output of the XXVI residential house for the proposed rural site is 0.16kWh/day and 0.18kW, respectively. Total net present cost (NPC) of standalone SPV system (first scenario) and diesel generator (DG) set (second scenario) are $ 2089 and $ 19 488, respectively. Optimization results by HOMER software and the PSO technique for the aforesaid configurations (scenarios) are also compared. Optimization results of scenario 1 (SPV system) indicate the reduction of total NPC in the PSO technique equivalent to 69.33% while results of scenario 2 (DG) show the decline in total NPC in the PSO technique equals to 69.31%. Scaled peak power and energy consumption during rainy season are 1.48 KW and 11.26 kWh / day respectively. Total NPC for SWTES is $ 106 273. 80 and levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is estimated to be $ 1.58/ kWh. The cost for batteries is $ 77 892. 96 (73.3%) being higher than the cost for wind turbine (WT) which is 18 369. 80 (17.3%). The cost for converter is $ 6713.11(6.3%). In optimization by HOMER, the optimal configuration of SPV/biogas generator/battery system components are 40 kW SPV, 25 kW biogas generator, 144 Generic 1kWh Li-ion batteries, four in series with 36 strings of system bus voltage 24V and 40 kW converter with a dispatch strategy of cycle charging. Total NPC, investment cost, LCOE for the off-grid hybrid renewable energy supply system (HRESS) is $106,383.50, $ 78500 and $ 0.1109/kWh respectively. The analysis of the optimized system by GWO method has shown that over-all NPC and LCOE are $ 85, 106 A and $ 0.0887/kWh respectively. The use of AI optimization (GWO) technique has further reduced the financial metrics of power generation up to around 20 % when compared with HOMER. Moreover, techno-economic analysis is carried out for off-grid hybrid SPV-hydro- biogas-battery bank system for delivering power supply to Simboya village. HOMER platform is used for simulation purposes. The penetration levels for hydro and SPV energy sources are 470 % and 90.1 %, respectively. The efficiency of biogas generator is estimated to be 31.0 %. The optimal design of off grid hybrid system consists of 10 kW of biogas, 30 kW of SPV, 85.1 kW of hydro, 48 batteries and 20 kW of converter. Total NPC and LCOE for hybrid solar PV-hydro- biogas-battery bank system & DG are $ 77861.88. Optimal results of SPV/Hydro/battery hybrid micro grid system based on the lowest NPC via HOMER , PSO, GWO, and GWO-PSO hybrid technique platforms are $ 141, 397.76, $ 95,167.21, $ 92,472.82, and $ 91, 854.10, respectively. Optimization results of same configuration in terms of LCOE via HOMER, PSO, GWO, and GWO-PSO hybrid technique platforms are $ 0.1818/ kWh, $ 0.1185 kWh, $ 0.1182/ kWh, and $ 0.1181/ kWh, respectively. Conclusively, renewable energy based systems are cost effective, sustainable and ecologically friendly. Optimization using AI algorithms yield significant results in minimal generation costs.