Design and optimization of on-grid hybrid renewable energy system for both irrigation and electrification of village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa /

Abstract

Integration of remote areas with a national grid system is an unresolved dilemma for developing economies. Additionally, a significant portion of electrical energy produced in Pakistan is through non-renewable imported fossil fuels. Therefore, it results in an elevated cost per kW-hr along with a huge impact on environmental degradation. To address these issues, this study focuses on devising a novel Hybrid Energy System (HEEs) to manage electrical energy consumption for agricultural irrigation and remote locals in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province having limited electrical supply. The required water volume for the proposed irrigated land is determined by utilizing CROPWAT 8.0 and CLIMWAT 2.0 software tools. On-grid Hybrid Energy System (HES) is presented due to the advantages of high reliability and cost-effectiveness over conventional single-source systems. Using the Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables (HOMER), the research performs the techno-economic analysis of various HES configurations including Hydro, Solar, Wind, and Grid. The financial feasibility of the proposed system is evaluated using the HOMER software. The findings reveal that HES with the integration of hydro, solar, wind, and grid has an economical Cost of Energy (COE) equal to $0.006274. In contrast, other combinations, such as solar, wind, and grid possess COE of $0.0252, and solar, micro hydro, and grid, which result in a COE of $0.0267 respectively.