Optimal Design of Hybrid Renewable Energy for Tanzania Rural Communities

Abstract

Rural communities in developing countries lack access to electricity due to high costs of grid extension. This paper proposes a hybrid system of renewable energy (HRES) as solution. The HRES consists of solar, wind, and battery energy storage (BES). The village called Ngw’amkanga in Shinyanga region of Tanzania, East Africa is selected as a case study. An iterative method to determine the size of wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) generation required assuming a project life of 25 years at minimum annualised cost of the system ( ) is proposed. The project life time is fixed on the life span of the main component, solar PV at 25 years. The iteration is undertaken to meet the energy demand ensuring the BES is charged throughout the year. The required BES has three days of autonomy, and a maximum battery depth of discharge 50%. At minimum ACS, the HRES comprises only solar PV and BES, due to insufficient wind at this site. The levelised cost of energy ( ) of the HRES is 27.18 p/kWh, paid by the users. This is cheaper than the grid connected small power producers of Tanzania as discussed in the paper.

Keywords: Renewable energy; wind energy generation; solar photovoltaic; annualised cost of the system; levelised cost of energy.