Grid-connected microgrid: design and feasibility analysis for a local community in Bangladesh

Abstract

Abstract Global demand for electricity is growing significantly in developing nations. Renewable energy accounts for barely 3% of total energy consumption in Bangladesh. Sources of renewable energy, e.g. solar, are increasingly being acknowledged as viable supply-side choices for microgrids. This article presents a grid-connected microgrid design based on meteorological data for a local community situated in Mohammadpur, Dhaka. This study presents a feasible design of a system that gives the lowest cost of energy production and emissions that is evaluated using software named Hybrid Optimization Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER Pro). Comparison and assessment of the net present cost, cost of energy, operating cost and environmental emission for five different feasible microgrids are analysed concerning real-time data. Also, a suitable case is sorted out and proposed for the local community for electrification. The proposed case offers a $0.0442/kWh cost of energy, which is ~32% cheaper than the current rate with a 57.5% renewable fraction and a payback period of 16.86 years. People of this local community will have access to considerably more clean energy at a lower price by this study; also this design could sell the excess energy to the grid to avoid frequent electricity outages.