Design of International Airport Hybrid Renewable Energy System

Abstract

This paper presents the design and simulation of a hybrid renewable energy system utilizing solar and wind energy sources with a backup generator. The demand for reliable electric energy in support of investments in large social and economic development activities such as airport operations has been an agenda worldwide. In Tanzania, Mwanza International Airport (MIA) expects to consume about 18 MVA of electric power annually to support its operations for the next 25 years. About 78-80% of the world's commercial energy comes from fossil fuels. Non-renewable fuels and other negative effects contribute to global warming through greenhouse gas emissions and carbon dioxide emissions. Additionally, most centralized conventional power generation methods require transmission systems, adding complexity and poor power quality. Therefore, the proposal to use a mixed-coupled hybrid renewable energy source to power the airport is necessary. The energy mix considered is solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, diesel generator and a battery. There is an average solar irradiation of 5.38 kWh/m2 and a wind speed average of 4.20 m/s that could be converted to electricity by installing a 10-kW wind turbine (this is enough to generate power for MIA). The diesel generator and the battery designed at 140 kVA and 400 Ah, respectively, take the intermittency. The project will be in operation for 25 years; hence its costs are reasonable, and the justification is the potentiality of harvesting that estimated energy output of 18 MVA, which will meet the load for MIA. Some mathematical computations were performed, and, in the end, simulation results displayed different techno-economic Hybrid Renewable Energy Source (HRSE) configurations. The selected system's complete design would include a 78.48 kW PV system comprising 314 pieces of 200 W poly-crystalline modules, 608 batteries of 83.4 Ah, 12 V rating, 140 kVA diesel generator, and 41.64 kVA bidirectional converter. The net present cost of the selected design is US$357,780.8, the energy cost is 0.93US$/kW, and the minimum renewable fraction is 40.2%.