Assessment of technical and economic feasibility for a hybrid PV-wind-diesel-battery energy system in a remote community of north central Nigeria

Abstract

The perpetual dwindling of fossil fuel and its environmental impacts has become a thing of great concern as most countries in the world depend on it for energy generation. The economic development of most of these countries relies on fossil fuel price. Nigeria is one of the countries in the world that solely depends on fossil fuels for electricity generation, and this has greatly affected the growth of its power sector. Hence, there is a need for harnessing renewable energy sources (RES) for electricity generation due to its high availability in abundant quantity in the country. In this study, the viability of developing a standalone hybrid RES system using solar and wind for Giri village (Nigeria) is assessed. The techno-economic and environmental analysis was examined using hybrid optimization model for electric renewable (HOMER) simulation tool by selecting the optimum configuration based on cost of energy (COE), net present cost (NPC), renewable fraction (RF), and greenhouse gas emission (GHG). From the obtained results and sensitivity analysis, the optimal configuration has an NPC of $1.01 m and COE $0.110/kWh, with an operating cost of $4723. The system is environmentally friendly with a renewable fraction of 98.3% and GHG emission of 2889.36 kg/year. Keywords: Hybrid energy system, Optimal configuration, Sensitivity analysis, Renewable fraction, Nigeria