Design of a Hybrid System for Rural Area Electricity Supply in Comoros

Abstract

Comoros Islands suffering from energy stress due to rolling power cuts in the country mainly due to problems with failures heat engines fuelled with diesel. These blackouts induce shortages of energy while demand for energy does not cease to grow with the population. An alternative way for the Comoros Islands to get out of this energy crisis is to exploit the existing energy renewable sources, in particular to invest in the hybrid energy, a promising technology in terms of economic efficiency. The north of Ngazidja Island, in the region of Mitsamiouli, is considered among the economic lungs of this Island. It is spread in the field of tourism but also an area developed in agriculture and fishing. The Village of Koua Mitsamiouli located in rural area of this region is well known for its efficient yield in agricultural production, although the latter suffers from an energy stress in its last years. This lack of energy and water permanently to farmers has caused its production capacity to fall. In order to increase its agricultural profitability, and to satisfy the needs of the population for their activities such as trade, health, education, banking transactions, product preserving in retail stores, the energy autonomy of this village is more than necessary. It is important to notice that, the use of renewable energies in Comoros is very limited by photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. Hybrid technology and other renewable energy sources are not yet developed in Comoros Island. The main objective of this work is to propose the best possible sizing of a hybrid system for the production of electricity from renewable and non-renewable energy resources in order to satisfy the electrical needs in a reliable manner of the remote of village, Koua Mitsamiouli, for energetic autonomy. Indeed, two energy resources, composed by solar photovoltaic (PV) system and diesel generator are considered in the hybrid system. This study estimates the community demand with HOMER analysis. In order to check the performance of the overall system combination photovoltaic (PV)/generator, several numerical simulations were performed with the HOMER software using data from the national meteorological agency in Comoros and the results obtained by authors are satisfactory in terms of cost and reliability of the system.