OPTIMIZATION OF SUSTAINABLE HYBRID MICROGRID FOR RURAL ELECTRIFICATION: TECHNO-ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVES

The energy crisis problem in rural communities of developing countries is fast becoming a contemporary challenge to advancing global socioeconomic systems. Finding sustainable solutions for improving the energy supply to rural communities is significant. Thus, this paper presents the optimization of a hybrid microgrid with integrated energy components of Photovoltaic (PV) systems, Diesel Generators (DG) and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). These energy components were configured and techno-economically investigated in three different scenarios of PV/BESS, PV/DG/BESS and DG only for load power supply to an isolated unelectrified Nigerian community. To the relevant decision factors, the chosen objective functions of the Deficit Power Supply Probability (DPSP), the Cost of Energy (COE), and the Net Present Cost (NPC) were minimized. In addition, new intelligent multi-objective computational methods such as Ant Colony Optimisation (ACO), Flower Pollination Algorithm (FPA), Genetic Algorithm (GA), and Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO) were applied to handle the optimization problems. Based on the input techno-economic and meteorological data applied for the simulations, the best solution for the optimal sizing configuration was obtained by the PV/BESS through the FPA with the NPC value of $95,432.02, COE of 0.165 $/kWh and zero GHG emissions. A value of 1.72% DPSP was also obtained for the PV/BESS hybrid configuration. This indicates that unlike PV/DG/BESS and DG alone, PV/BESS is techno-economically viable for the electrification of the case study community.