The hybrid power generation and balancing energy supply–demand for rural village in Ethiopia

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.