TITLE:
Hybrid Power System Options for Off-Grid Rural Electrification in Northern Kenya
AUTHORS:
June M. Lukuyu, Judith B. Cardell
KEYWORDS:
Hybrid Power System, Off-Grid Power System, Wind Energy, Solar Energy, Battery Storage, Multi-Attribute Trade-Off Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
Smart Grid and Renewable Energy,
Vol.5 No.5,
May
2,
2014
ABSTRACT: For domestic consumers in
the rural areas of northern Kenya, as in other developing countries, the
typical source of electrical supply is diesel generators. However, diesel
generators are associated with both CO2 emissions, which adversely
affect the environment and increase diesel fuel prices, which inflate the
prices of consumer goods. The Kenya government has taken steps towards
addressing this issue by proposing The Hybrid Mini-Grid Project, which involves
the installation of 3 MW of wind and solar energy systems in facilities with
existing diesel generators. However, this project has not yet been implemented.
As a contribution to this effort, this study proposes, simulates and analyzes
five different configurations of hybrid energy systems incorporating wind
energy, solar energy and battery storage to replace the stand-alone diesel
power systems servicing six remote villages in northern Kenya. If implemented,
the systems proposed here would reduce Kenya’s dependency on diesel fuel,
leading to reductions in its carbon footprint. This analysis confirms the
feasibility of these hybrid systems with many configurations being profitable.
A Multi-Attribute Trade-Off Analysis is employed to determine the best hybrid
system configuration option that would reduce diesel fuel consumption and jointly
minimize CO2 emissions and net present cost. This analysis
determined that a wind-diesel-battery configuration consisting of two 500 kW
turbines, 1200 kW diesel capacity and 95,040 Ah battery capacity is the best
option to replace a 3200 kW stand-alone diesel system providing electricity to
a village with a peak demand of 839 kW. It has the potential to reduce diesel
fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 98.8%.