Feasibility Analysis and Simulation of Integrated Renewable Energy System for Power Generation: A Hypothetical Study of Rural Health Clinic

Abstract

This paper presents the feasibility analysis and study of integrated renewable energy (IRE) using solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbine (WT) system in a hypothetical study of rural health clinic in Borno State, Nigeria. Electrical power consumption and metrology data (such as solar radiation and wind speed) were used for designing and analyzing the integrated renewable energy system. The health clinic facility energy consumption is 19 kWh/day with a 3.4 kW peak demand load. The metrological data was collected from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) website and used to analyze the performance of electrical generation system using HOMER program. The simulation and optimization results show that the optimal integrated renewable energy system configuration consists of 5 kW PV array, BWC Excel-R 7.5 kW DC wind turbine, 24 unit Surrette 6CS25P battery cycle charging, and a 19 kW AC/DC converter and that the PV power can generate electricity at 9,138 kWh/year while the wind turbine system can generate electricity at 7,490 kWh/year, giving the total electrical generation of the system as 16,628 kWh/year. This would be suitable for deployment of 100% clean energy for uninterruptable power performance in the health clinic. The economics analysis result found that the integrated renewable system has total NPC of 137,139 US Dollar. The results of this research show that, with a low energy health facility, it is possible to meet the entire annual energy demand of a health clinic solely through a stand-alone integrated renewable PV/wind energy supply.