Off grid PV/Diesel/Wind/Batteries energy system options for the electrification of isolated regions of Chad

Abstract

Access to reliable energy is fundamental for the development of any community. The electricity is produced in Chad solely from thermal plants that use fossil fuels, which are not environmentally friendly. In addition, the electrification rate of Chad is less than 11%. This work aims to propose some reliable electrification options for Chad, through hybrid energy systems. To achieve this objective, autonomous hybrid PV/Diesel/Wind/Batteries feasibility to meet the demand of electrical load in isolated regions of Chad is evaluated using HOMER software. The design is done considering three types of daily load profiles in each of the 16 regions that are not yet electrified in Chad; the low, medium and high community load profiles. From the simulation, it was observed that the optimal configurations were: PV/Battery, PV/Diesel/Battery and PV/Wind/Diesel/Battery for various consumers and sites. The COE was found to be in the range of 0.367 and 0.529 US$/kWh which shows that, the COE of some sites are less than the production cost of energy in Chad (0.400 US$/kWh) and therefore profitable. Using these hybrid systems, compared to single diesel generator will result in less CO2 emission per year (between 0 and 15670 kg/year). These results may guide investors and policies makers in the planning and implementation of various optimal feasible options that may be used to increase the electricity access rate of Chad, especially in remote areas.