Techno-economic analysis of a hybrid solar PV-wind system powering an off-grid community

Abstract

With continuous population increase in the rural communities of Uganda, there has been an increase in demand for electricity to foster socio-economic development. However, access to the national grid has been a challenge for most rural areas in Uganda, hence the need to explore the use of distributed renewable energy sources. This project report aims at assessing the technical and economic feasibility of implementing a sustainable energy source for electricity generation, by integrating a solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbine technologies into a hybrid system powering an off-grid community. In order to implement the hybrid system, a review was carried out on the main components of the systems which include the PV modules, wind turbines, batteries, inverters and the backup generator. In order to achieve the project objectives, meteorological data was obtained from the NASA POWER website as well as the HOMER Pro software resources tab. Furthermore, field survey of the case study location was carried out to determine the energy demand. The HOMER Pro software was used to carry out the cost and technical analysis. The last phase of this project involved the design of a low voltage distribution network to carry out power systems analysis using DIgSILENT Power Factory, with the aim of evaluating the technical performance of the developed solar PV-wind system.