Stand-alone hybrid energy system for sustainable development in rural India

Abstract

Renewable energy system such as solar, wind, small hydro and biogas generators can be used successfully in rural off-grid locations where grid connection is not possible. The main objectives of this study are to examine which configuration is the most cost-effective for the village. One renewable energy model has been developed for supplying electric power for 124 rural households of an off-grid rural village in eastern India. The load demand of the village was determined by the survey work, and the loads were divided into three sub-heads such as primary load I, primary load II and deferred load. Locally available energy sources such as solar radiation and biogas derived from cow dung and kitchen wastes were used as sensitivity variables. This study is unique as it has not considered any diesel generator for supplying unmet electricity to the households; rather it completely depends on locally available renewable resources. Here in this paper, two different models were taken and their cost and environmental benefit were discussed and compared. The net present cost, levelised cost of energy and operating cost for various configurations of models were determined. The minimum cost of energy of $0.476/kWh with lowest net present cost of $386,971 and lowest operating cost ($21,025/year) was found with stand-alone solar–biogas hybrid system.