Application of renewable energy resources in a microgrid power system

Abstract

In order to meet the power prerequisites of their citizens, many countries are heavily dependent on the utilization of fossil fuels for power generation. This has reduced the natural reserve of fossil fuels and caused a large percentage of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). It is imperative to harness energy from renewable energy resources (RERs) as a measure to supplement the authors’ daily energy needs from the conventional units. The proposed microgrid system deals with the incorporation of the wind turbine generator (WTG), diesel generator, hydro turbine, photovoltaic and battery storage system for optimisation of net present cost (NPC), annualised cost of the system (ACS), GHG, fuel cost, operating costs and cost of energy (COE) by using hybrid optimisation model for electric renewables using HOMER software. The system is designed with the energy demand of 618 kWh/day at a peak load of 72.5 kW. The values of NPC, COE, ACS and fuel consumption obtained in the optimised configuration are $942,654/yr, $127,415, $0.327/kWh and 51,236 L/yr. The simulation results obtained from the optimised scenario reveal that the utilisation of RERs has been found to be a cost effective means to supply remote areas.