A hybrid renewable-based solution to electricity and freshwater problems in the off-grid Sundarbans region of India: Optimum sizing and socio-enviro-economic evaluation

Abstract

Stand-alone hybrid renewable energy systems have been proven as a promising pathway towards reliable and sustainable electrification of remote rural off-grid communities. The present study proposes such a system for a location near the Indian part of the Sundarbans, an area rich in biodiversity and endangered species. The hybrid system comprises solar photovoltaic modules, wind turbine, biomass generators with an electrolyzer-fuel cell-based storage system and can potentially replace the current kerosene-based arrangements, which have a significant damaging effect both on the surrounding ecosystem and the health of the residing population. The excess generation from the system is diverted to a reverse osmosis desalination system to meet the fresh water demands of the community. The sizing optimization of the hybrid configurations, performed in the MATLAB environment using a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II, minimizes the cost of energy ($/kWh) and the damage to human health (DALYs) caused by the system while maintaining a demand supply reliability defined by the loss of power supply probability index. The optimized systems are analyzed based on crucial socio-enviro-economic indicators such as: cost of water ($/m3), lifecycle emission (kg CO2-eq/yr), carbon emission penalty ($/kg), ecosystem damage (species·year), job creation, and human development index. The results indicate that the best configuration has an energy cost of 0.1967 $/kWh with a water cost of 0.86 $/m3. With the least carbon emission of 56,345 kg CO2-eq/yr, 7.89E-2 DALYs of damage to human health, and 4.47E-4 species·year damage to the ecosystem, this system also imparts a positive effect on the community by creating 2.484 jobs and improving the living standards of the people with a human development index value of 0.5885. Moreover, the proposed hybrid system is able to mitigate 75,832 kg/yr of CO2 emissions, preserving the ecological quality of the region.