Feasibility analysis of a hybrid off-grid wind–DG-battery energy system for the eco-tourism remote areas

Abstract

The electrification process of the remote areas and decentralized areas is being a vital fact for the improvement of its eco-tourism issues such as the Cameron Highland of Malaysia. Renewable energy (RE) resources can be used extensively to support and fulfill the demand of the expected loads of these areas. This article presents an analysis of a complete off-grid wind-diesel-battery hybrid RE model. The main objective of the present analysis is to visualize the optimum volume of systems capable of ful- filling the requirements of 85 kWh/day primary load in coupled with 8.7 kW peak for 2 residential hotels of Cameron Highlands. The hybrid power system can be effective for the tourists of that area as it is a decentralized region of Malaysia. The main motto of this analysis is to minimize the electricity unit cost and ensure the most reliable and feasible system to fulfill the requirements of the desired or expected energy system using HOMER software. From the simulation result, it can be seen that 15 wind turbines (10 kW), 1 diesel generator (4 kW), and 2 battery (Hoppecke 4 OPzS) hybrid RE system is the most economically feasible and lowest cost of energy is nearing USD 0.199/kWh and net present cost is USD 77, 019. The decrement of the CO2 emissions also can be identified from the simulation results using that most feasible RE system including the renewable fraction value which is about 0.0914, 0.3 % capacity shortage and 20.3 % electricity as storage as compared to the other energy system.