Techno‐economic analysis of hybrid PV–diesel–battery and PV–wind–diesel–battery power systems for mobile BTS: the way forward for rural development

Abstract

In recent times, hybrid renewable energy systems are increasingly being utilized to provide electricity in remote areas especially where the grid extension is considered too expensive. This study presents the results of techno-economic analysis of hybrid system comprising of solar and wind energy for powering a specific remote mobile base transceiver station (BTS) in Nigeria. All the necessary modeling, simulation, and techno-economic evaluation are carried out using the assessment software package HOMER (Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable). Two best optimal system configurations namely PVdiesel-battery and PV-wind-diesel-battery systems are compared with the conventional stand-alone diesel generator (DG) system. Findings indicated that PV array (10 kW) -DG (5.5 kW) -battery (64 units Trojan L16P) is the most economically viable option with the total net present cost of $69,811 and per unit cost of electricity of $0.409. The sensitivity analysis is also carried out to find the effects of probable variation in solar radiation, wind speed, and diesel price in the optimal system configurations. Finally, the environmental benefit of hybrid systems over the conventional stand-alone diesel system is described. The obtained results show that the hybrid PV-diesel-battery system provides a reduction in CO 2 emissions of about 16.4 tons per year as compared to the stand-alone DG system.

Feasibility Study of Hybrid Wind-Diesel-Battery Power Generating Systems: Parametric and Sensitivity Analysis

“…Battery is a storage unit fundamental for storing electrical energy for maximum utilization of intermittent renewable energies [20]. In addition, the main purpose of having a battery energy storage system is to minimise the demandgeneration mismatch in the absence of the diesel power plant.…”

“…The lead-acid battery, often used in RAHES, is the batteries technology chosen for this study. Modeling of lead-acid batteries for real time analysis of RAHES must taking into account the folling parameters: (a) rate of charge/discharge, (b) ambient temperature, (c) battery storage capacity, (d) state of charge, (e) life and other internal phenomenon, such as gassing, double layer effect, self-discharge, heating loss, and diffusion [20].…”

Green and Sustainable Cellular Base Stations: An Overview and Future Research Directions

“…Approximately 11,692 mobile sites in Nigeria are connected to the national grid, and 9%, 10% and 81% of these sites experience up to 6, 6-12, and over 12 h grid outage/day; by contrast, 12,560 sites in the country are completely off-grid [120]. The uncertain availability of power has driven network operators to use DG, which consumes over 500 million L of diesel and emit 1.3 million metric tons of CO 2 annually [120]. Nigeria has an average monthly solar radiation of 5.8 kWh/m 2 per day and an average daily sunshine of 6 h [121].…”

“…Several studies [120,[123][124][125][126][127] have attempted to encourage a shift toward renewable technologies. Wa et al [120] studied the optimization of various hybrid RESs, including PV/DG and PV/WT/DG hybrid systems.…”

Visualizing National Electrification Scenarios for Sub-Saharan African Countries

“…HOMER Energy is a frequently applied planning tool capable of optimizing and simulating hybrid mini-grid systems [35]. Its application has been demonstrated for a number of developing and emerging countries, such as Nigeria [36], Ethiopia [37], and Cameroon [38]. Furthermore, researchers developed similar tools to HOMER, e.g., Ranaboldo et al [39,40] and Huyskens and Blechinger [41] including additional features, such as a one minute resolution.…”