Comprehensive Analysis and Optimal Design of Hybrid Renewable Energy System for Rural Electrification in West Papua, Indonesia

The use of renewable energy is becoming the most suitable solution to meet the growing energy needs in developing and developed countries. This is because fossil fuel-based energy sources significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. As an alternative solution to fossil fuel, microgrids with hybrid renewable energy sources are being built to electrify isolated locations where distribution network expansion is not practical or cost-effective. Despite this, hybrid renewable energy systems face numerous challenges concerning resource variability, load demand assessments, and economic trade-offs to guarantee the effective and sustainable sizing of resources. This study aimed to determine the ideal hybrid using solar, diesel, hydro, and battery energy sources to address the load requirements of Anggi District, Indonesia. The experiment was carried out using HOMER software to size the main electricity components, analyze economics, and estimate greenhouse gas emissions. The best model was evaluated using the Net Present Cost (NPC), the Cost of Energy (COE), the Renewable Fraction (RF), excess energy, and fuel cost. A detailed sensitivity analysis was also conducted using fossil fuel costs, as well as flow, discount, and inflation rates to examine model variations. Different configurations of hybrid renewable energy systems, such as Diesel Generator (DG) Only, DG/Hydro, DG/Photovoltaic (PV)/Battery, DG/Hydro/PV/Battery, and PV/Hydro/Battery, are examined and contrasted through the optimization of diverse energy sources. The results showed that the off-grid DG/Hydro/PV/Battery hybrid system was the most technically, economically, and environmentally optimal configuration, comprising 450 kW DG, 157 kW hydro, 15.7 kW PV, and 7 battery storage. The system had the lowest value across all variables, including RF of 67.7%, NPC, and COE at <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\$}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>6.30M and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\$}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>0.311/kWh. It also emitted 4,372 kg/year less than the DG system, serving as a greener system. Hybrid Renewable Energy System (HYRES) improved energy access, jobs, education, public health, economic, and social fairness. In conclusion, the proposed hybrid system showed the potential to be implemented in rural areas as well as in any location worldwide.