Stand-alone hybrid renewable electrical system for powering schools in Remote area

Abstract

Algeria plays a key role in world energy market as a leading producer and exporter of natural gas and liquefied natural gas. Algeria’s energy mix in 2010 was almost exclusively based on fossil fuels, especially natural gas (93%). However the country has enormous renewable energy potential, mainly solar, which the government is trying to harness by launching an ambitious renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. Despite being a hydrocarbonrich nation, Algeria is making concerted efforts to harness its renewable energy potential. Algeria’s renewable energy program is one of the most progressive in the MENA region [1] and the government is making all-out efforts to secure investments and reliable technology partners for ongoing and upcoming projects. The general objective of this study is to contribute to the promotion of renewable energy and to provide, in a viable way, electrical energy to the remote areas that actually suffer from a lack in electrical energy. The aim is to design and size a standalone system for the electrification of a school compound in a remote area. In this study HOMER will be used to simulate the standalone system for different configurations. Two different sites are considered: the first one is located in Beni-Ounif in the district of Bechar and the second one in Had-Sahhary in the district of Djelfa. Taking into account the school compounds needs and different renewable energy sources and technologies, the system is optimized by carrying out a techno-economic study. The first system configuration is a photovoltaicbattery system, the second is a wind-battery system, the third is a hybrid photovoltaic-windbattery system ,the fourth is a photovoltaic-wind-electrolyzer-fuel cell system ,the fifth is a photovoltaic -fuel cell ,next is wind -fuel cell ,lastly is a diesel generator . The aim of these designs was to compare between the costs of the different systems and their performance under Algerian Sharan conditions and the high lands weather conditions. After the systems designing the most suitable system for the first case of study in the region of Becher was the PV wind, batteries system (configuration 03A) with a very interesting levelized cost of electricity equal to 0.235$ / kWh which is less than the diesel system .the system is 100% renewable ,it has a 26.9kW made of PV ,02 wind turbines , 23.6kW of convertor and 30 batteries ,with a total electricity production of 120.739kWh/yr ,43.7% coming from PV and 56.3% from wind. The wind, FC system represents as well the optimum system among the systems that use hydrogen. But even though its levelized cost of electricity xii still too high comparing to other RE system that uses batteries. on the second case of study in the region of Djelfa ,the cheapest system was the diesel system ,with a levelized cost of electricity equal to 0.370$ ,then the PV wind battery system comes after with levelized cost of electricity equal to 0.397$ . The difference between the two systems is not very big, while the PV wind battery system is better. Because it has no emissions and it does not require a fuel supply, which represents a serious issue for the isolated areas, especially during the winter period. so this is the cause of choosing the hybrid system as the suitable system for this region ,the system is made of is 7.23kW made of PV ,3 wind turbines , 4.04kW of convertor and 24 batteries .The total electricity production is 21.336 kWh/yr ,a 59.4% of electricity comes from PV and 40.6% comes from wind electrical conversion system . The wind, FC system represent as well the optimum system among the systems that use hydrogen, but even though it levelized cost of electricity still too high comparing to other RE systems that uses batteries.