Comparative study and sensitivity analysis of a standalone hybrid energy system for electrification of rural healthcare facility in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper investigated the techno-economic viability assessment of solar PV/wind/diesel generator (DG)/battery hybrid energy systems (HES) for powering an isolated rural health clinic in northern Nigeria. HOMER–software tool developed by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been utilized for the techno-economic assessment of the proposed HES. The results of the simulation reveal that PV/DG/battery HES with 5.43 kW PV, 2 kW DG, 3.06 kW power converter, and 10 units of batteries emerged as the optimum system and most preferable with the minimum Net Present Cost (NPC) of $16,457 and Cost of Energy (COE) of $0.259/kWh compared to other system cases. The outcome also shows that the optimized solution is environmentally friendly as it presented an acceptable carbon dioxide emission of 1304 kg/year, which was about 80% and 82.5% less than that of system case 3 (DG/battery) and system case 5 (DG-Only). To have a good understanding of the operation of various system configurations considered, details of the system’s battery storage status and power flow are discussed via the energy balance of the various system configurations. This analysis shows operating cost, fuel cost, COE, fuel consumption, and renewable fraction are sensitive to the variation in all the considered sensitivity parameters.