Abstract
This paper performs a technoeconomic comparison of two hybrid renewable energy supplies (HRES) for a specific location in Ghana and suggests the optimal solution in terms of cost, energy generation capacity, and emissions. The two HRES considered in this paper were wind/hydrogen/fuel-cell and wind/battery storage, respectively. The necessity of this study was derived from the rise and expansion of hybrid renewable energy supply in a decentralised network. The readiness to embrace these new technologies is apparently high, but the best combination for a selected location that brings optimum benefits is not obvious and demands serious technical knowledge of their technical and economic models. In the methodology, an analytical model of energy generation by the various RE sources was first established, and data were collected about a rural-urban community in Doderkope, Ghana, to test the models. HOMER software was used to design the two hybrid systems based on the same load profiles, and results were compared. It turns out that the HRES 1 (wind/hydrogen/fuel-cell) had the lowest net present cost (NPC) and levelized cost of electricity (COE) over the project life span of 25 years. The energy reserve with the HRES 2 (wind/battery storage) was huge compared to that with the HRES 1, about 270% bigger. Furthermore, with respect to the emissions, the HRES 2 was environmentally friendlier than the HRES 1. Even though the battery storage seems to be more cost-effective than the hydrogen fuel-cell technology, the latter presents some merits regarding system capacity and emission that deserve greater attention as the world looks into more sustainable energy storage systems.
Highlights
Transition to renewable energy usage is a global and unprecedent trend in the twenty-first century
Methodology is paper proposes a comparative analysis of two hybrid renewable energy configuration and storage systems for a residential community in Ghana. e first hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) scenario is wind/hydrogen/fuel-cell from water electrolysis and the second Hybrid Renewable Energy System (HRES) scenario is a configuration of wind and battery storage. e proposed system analyses the technoeconomic potential of the hydrogen fuel cell and battery storage from wind energy technology. is section modelled, simulated, and optimized the two hybrid configurations using HOMER software and further compared their performance based on metrics such as net present cost (NPC), cost of energy (COE), and amount of generated energy to determine the optimal solution for the residential community
Two sets of hybrid energy supplies based on RE were defined, modelled, simulated, and compared on the basis of performance parameters, namely, Net Present Value (NPV), cost of electricity (COE), and generated electricity
Summary
Transition to renewable energy usage is a global and unprecedent trend in the twenty-first century. A considerable number of previous studies considered the optimal design, challenges, and limitations of solar/wind and battery storage hybrid system [4,5,6,7,8]. Iqbal [14]; Khan and Iqbal [15]; and Samaniego et al [16] considered the reliable design of wind/hydrogen/ fuel-cell hybrid energy system to supply constant electricity continuously for one year by simulating different operation schemes of the fuel cell with the TRNSYS 15 software. 3. Methodology is paper proposes a comparative analysis of two hybrid renewable energy configuration and storage systems for a residential community in Ghana. E first hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) scenario is wind/hydrogen/fuel-cell from water electrolysis and the second HRES scenario is a configuration of wind and battery storage. Ρ is the air density at the study area in kg/m3
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