Economic Assessment of a PV/Diesel/Battery Hybrid Energy System for a Non-Electrified Remote Village in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria has a large number of remote areas that are not being electrified, this is because the power generated is less than the demand of the country. Garundole village is a typical example, with a population of about 270 is not connected to the main grid. Currently load shedding is being practiced by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to dispatch the power being generated. Moreover, majority of the people leaving in these remote villages depend mostly on diesel power generator. Thus, there is a need to have an independent generating station for such kind of remote village to ease the living conditions of its inhabitants. This paper therefore, reports the economic assessment of PV/diesel/battery hybrid off-grid energy system as an alternative solution to these remote villages. In this regard, three different system configurations is being be studied and analyzed using HOMER optimization software to carry out the economic analysis of the systems and its technical feasibility. The systems include; standalone diesel generator, hybrid PV/diesel with battery storage and hybrid PV/diesel without battery storage.  The result obtained from the study shows that a hybrid PV/diesel with a backup battery has the potential capabilities of replacing diesel powered generator used by individual households independently.