Enhancing Rural Electrification in Mauritania through Hybrid Energy Solutions: A Techno-Economic Analysis Using HOMER Software

The African continent remains the least electrified, particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa, where there is a significant gap between urban and rural electrification rates. To address the electricity access gap in isolated rural areas, decentralized electricity production solutions, such as hybrid systems (HS) that combine diesel generators, solar photovoltaics (PV), and batteries, are increasingly being proposed. The present study examines the optimal combination of these hybrid energy sources for three villages across different climatic regions in Mauritania. Using a MATLAB scripts to analyze the load profiles of the selected villages and HOMER (Hybrid Optimization Multiple Energy Resource) software for techno-economic analysis, this research identifies the best hybrid system configurations based on the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and net present cost (NPC). The results provide a comprehensive analysis of generation plant hybridization options, allowing to reduce the energy cost of a kWh to approximately $0.3, approximately half of the current cost of electricity production in isolated areas (26.36 MRU/kWh, equivalent to $0.66/kWh). In addition, this work offers valuable data to support the Mauritanian government’s rural electrification initiatives.