Combining green energy technologies to electrify rural community of Wollega, Western Ethiopia

Abstract

Power shortages are a major problem in rural Ethiopia. Only about 45% of people living in around cities have access to the public power grid. The rest of the inhabitants lives in rural regions with limited access to grid-connected energy. To evaluate the potential of a standalone solar-wind hybrid energy system (HES) for a rural off-grid settlement in western Ethiopia, a feasibility study was performed. The electrical demand of a model household, comprising a school and health facility, was calculated. HOMER Pro is a tool for determining the viability of HES. When the software is executed, optimization results are obtained and sorted according to the lowest net present cost (NPC) and cost of Electricity (COE). The results reveal that the Photovoltaic (PV)/battery/converter combination is the most cost-effective, with the lowest NPC and COE. This setup's NPC is $9150, the COE is $0.173/kWh, and the renewable resource contribution is 100%. The study's findings can be used by interested parties, decision makers and investors to show the benefits of increasing renewable energy, modifying components, and reducing electricity bills.

Keywords

• Ethiopia
• HOMER Pro
• PV/battery systems
• Isolated rural community
• Solar PV
• Wind turbine