Abstract:
Ethiopia has a wide range of environmentally-friendly, renewable energy resources
that can assist the country to overcome its rural electricity problems. The Hybrid
Optimization Model for Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software package
was used to evaluate the viability of solar, hydro and wind hybrid power generation
for a remote community in Ethiopia's Geba catchment. The hydrologic, climatic
and demographic data were used to analyze the community's electrical supply and
demand. Using survey data from chosen residences, the community's hourly and
daily electricity demands were calculated. Two or more schemes were investigated
besides the standalone scheme to assess the hybrid system's capacity. Wind,
micro-hydro and solar can generate an average annual power of 96.8, 272.4 and
161.8 kW, respectively. A mix of energy sources can meet the community's electricity
demand. During peak demand periods, however, the hybrid system's mean
hourly variability in power production showed inadequacy, which could be remedied
by power stored in the battery and generator output. The economic analysis
showed that the hybrid system proposed here is less expensive, indicating that
hybrid energy generation might be employed to electrify Ethiopia's remote settlements.
We advise decision-makers and power authorities to use hybrid systems for
rural electrification.
