Home >>
ABSTRACT
This study investigates the feasibility of electricity production using standalone solar PV (Photovoltaic)/diesel (generator) hybrid systems suitable for remote areas.Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER), software for optimization of renewable based hybrid systems has been used to determine the most optimal system configuration in terms of cost and renewable energy contribution. Twenty years solar radiation data (1991 to 2010) was obtained from NIMET and was subsequently analyzed using the software. In the Overall Optimization Results table, HOMER displays a list of the five system configurations that it found to be feasible according to their total net present cost (NPC). For the most feasible system configuration, the total NPC is $240, 032, the initial capital cost is $39, 760, the operating cost per year is $14,322 and the Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) was $0.403/kWh. It was found out that solar energy contributed 70% while diesel contributed 30%. Sensitivity analysis was also conducted, in which two sensitivity variables have been chosen into accounts. The chosen variables are amount of solar radiation of the site (6.4, 6.6, 6.8 & 7) and the price of diesel fuel (0.9, 1.0, 1.1 & 1.2) and it is found out that these two variables highly affect the cost of the system. The output of sensitivity analysis shown that PV/Gen/battery is optimal solution until the solar radiation as well as diesel price will reach 7.0 kWh/m2/day and 0.9$/L respectively. Full Text
