ABSTRACT
This paper presents a novel use of the HOMER Software for the multi-year economic, environmental, and energetic assessment of a proposed multi-source standalone renewable microgrid. A rural-but-rapidly-commercializing community in Nigeria's middle belt was used as a case study, with an average power demand of 975 kW and average consumption of 23.028 MWh/day. A generation mix of flat-plate photovoltaic (PV) array (3 MW nominal), concentrated solar thermal (CSP, 9 MW nominal), and small hydropower (SH, up to 200 kW), with battery storage (200 strings), system converter (2.5 MW nominal) using the Oshin River was recommended as the optimal system for minimizing the cost of electricity (LCOE) in HOMER. A diesel-based system was also simulated and a multiyear analysis for a 25-year period shows that the Net Present Cost (NPC) of $55.7 million for the renewable microgrid is vastly superior to the $408 million for the diesel microgrid, with LCOE of $0.26 and $1.01 per kWh respectively. The system also saved up to 7540 metric tons of CO2 per year in emissions. The results of the study indicate the proposed microgrid as an economically and environmentally superior alternative to diesel generators in the long term, and as deserving consideration for similar applications.
