• Sisay Fitwi Abadi

Ethiopia is one of the largest populated countries of the world, where more than 80% of the population is living without electricity. Being a developing country, the demand of electricity is increasing tremendously. Meanwhile, fossil fuel based electricity generation plants are lagging behind to supply the rising demand and the fossil fuel sources are very limited. Consequently, rural areas are dependent on local solutions for electricity supply. As an alternative, renewable energy based systems are becoming popular in Ethiopia, particularly solar, wind and hydro based systems, which are being set up in different sizes and configurations. This paper presents assessment of resource potential and modeling of renewable energy based hybrid system for the village of Kutur village, in the western area of Axum. It also compares the cost of the hybrid system against the cost required to electrify the village by extending the grid. The system is designed based on the resources available at the location. The sources considered in the analysis are solar PV, wind, diesel generator and battery backup system. HOMER simulation model has been developed for simulating the system with real weather data and nominal load profile. The cost of the system is determined based on the real market price of the components. Sensitivity analysis has also been carried out on the best suitable system to prove the system sustainability in the future. For sensitivity analysis, the change in load and change in rate of interest has been considered. Based on the factors such as initial cost, replacement cost, operating cost, total net present cost (TNPC), cost of energy (COE) and exhaust gas emission, the results show that PV-Wind-Battery based system is a feasible solution for the situation. The optimum system has the initial cost of 95,640 $, and operating cost of 2026 $/year, TNPC of 115,541 $ and COE of 0.125 $/kWh with no exhaust gas emission. Foremost, the emission is zero, which means it is green energy system. The hybrid energy system optimized by HOMER for this village is cost effective as compared to the cost required to electrifying the village. The breakeven grid extension distance is found to be 12.2kms, which implies that this hybrid energy system is cost-effective for areas greater than the breakeven distance.

Hybrid power system, renewable energy, photovoltaic, wind, HOMER, Optimization, sensitivity analysis.

"ASSESSMENT OF RESOURCE POTENTIAL AND MODELING OF STAND-ALONE PVWIND HYBRID SYSTEM FOR RURAL ELECTRIFICATION-A CASE STUDY IN AXUM DISTRICT", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.5, Issue 8, page no.54-65, August-2018, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1808906.pdf

"ASSESSMENT OF RESOURCE POTENTIAL AND MODELING OF STAND-ALONE PVWIND HYBRID SYSTEM FOR RURAL ELECTRIFICATION-A CASE STUDY IN AXUM DISTRICT", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.5, Issue 8, page no. pp54-65, August-2018, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1808906.pdf