Study the Potential of Solar, Wind and Micro-Hydro Power for Rural

Electrification: A Case of Magna Lege Buna Village

Department of Thermal and Aerospace Engineering

School of Mechanical, Chemical and Material Engineering

Adama Science and Technology University (ASTU), Ethiopia

Emails: [email protected]

ABSTRACT
Rural electrification by renewable energy resources is a modern technology to provide
electricity for populations far away from grid extension. Specifically, like other
Ethiopians, the people of Magna Lege Buna village with a site location is 7° 58' 28" N
latitude and 39° 40' 36" E longitude uses nonrenewable energy for every daily activity
(cooking, milling, lighting, etc.) even though this village is rich with many rivers and
high solar intensity and wind forces that can produce a huge amount of energy.

The work was begun by visiting the site, collecting data and analyzing those data with
the help of HOMER software, sizing different components, investigating the power-
producing potential of solar, wind, and micro-hydro turbine of the desired site, energy
demand of the village, finding feasible and suitable hybridization for electrification of
the site under study. The result shows the annual average potential of solar energy at
the site is 6.3 k𝑘𝑊ℎ⁄𝑚2 /𝑑𝑎𝑦, average wind speed at the required hub height of 50m
is 5.46 m/s, and unchanged run-off of the river has a flow rate of 0.21 𝑚3 ⁄𝑠 and net
head height of 13.99 m.

The overall simulation results indicate that the proposed off-grid hybrid with battery
storage would be a feasible solution for electric power generation of a remote village
with 740 households with an average of six family members per household and other
community services such as the clinic, school, mosque, churches, mill flour, and water
pump.

Keywords: Renewable energy potential; Hybridization; Primary and deferrable load;

Run of the river; HOMER; Optimization and Simulation.
1. Introduction
Ethiopia is among the least developed countries on the globe with total access to
electricity not exceeding 16%. This means that about 85% of the population lives in
places where access to electricity is less than 2%. One such place, which is the subject
of this study, is the Arsi, Chole district having a total population of 111,831 within 20
villages (CSA 2005 National statics archived). About 17 villages (corresponding to
92,000 people) make the task of their electrification nonrenewable energy systems such
as Kerosene for lighting, diesel for milling and pumping, biomass for cooking, and dry
cells for radio are being used in the non-electrified villages. Nothing has been done so
far in developing renewable energy resources, such as small-scale hydro, solar, and
wind energy in these districts. Off-grid electricity is currently used for lighting,
charging mobile phones, and the provision of electric power to rural health centers,
schools, and water pumping systems, among other uses, and has seen remarkable
growth in the past five years (Hilawe et al., 2017).
With efficient, reliable, and cost-effective renewable energy resources, off-grid supply
can be used as an alternative to the power supplied by a diesel generator for rural
electrification. However, due to the intermittency nature of renewable resources, the
use of any particular renewable energy resource-based system may lead to component
over-sizing and unnecessary operational and life cycle costs. Such limitations can be
overcome by combining one or more renewable energy resources in a form of a hybrid
system.

For an optimal combination of different renewables, various types of hybrid systems

and methods of techno-economic analysis are used. Excel-based, linear programming,
artificial intelligence LINGO and HOMER are the most commonly used methods of
hybrid system optimization techniques (Girma, 2016).
2. RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES

2.1 Hydro-power Generation Principles

Hydro Power generation from water depends upon a combination of head and flow.
Water is diverted from a stream into a pipeline, where it is directed downhill and
through the turbine (flow). The pressurized water emerging from the end of the pipe
creates the force that drives the turbine. The turbine turns the generator rotor which then
converts this mechanical energy into electrical energy as the turbine shaft rotates the
generator.

Table 1. Hydropower plant classification by installed capacity (ESHA, 2004).

S/N Types of plant Installed capacity Consumer
1 Pico hydro Less than 5KW Mostly single households
2 Micro-hydro 5KW-100KW Usually provided power for a small
community or rural industry in remote
areas far away from the grid
3 Mini-hydro 100KW - 1MW Ether standalone schemes or more often
feeding into the grid
4 Small-hydro 1MW - 15MW Usually feeding into the grid
5 Medium-hydro 15MW - 100MW Feeding grid
6 Large-hydro More than Feeding into the large electricity grid
100MW

2.2 Solar Energy for Rural Electrification.

The sun is the ultimate energy source of all alive on earth and the source of most renewable
energy. Solar energy can be used to generate electricity directly with the use of
photovoltaic modules. PV technology is now spreading into terrestrial applications
ranging from powering remote sites to feeding utility grids around the world.

The solar cell is the elementary building block of photovoltaic technology. Solar cells
are made of semiconductor materials, such as silicon. To perform its task solar system
uses the components such as a Solar panel, battery, charge regulator, and inverter
together.
2.3 Wind power production

The wind is simple air in motion. It is caused by the uneven heating of the earth’s
surface by the sun. Since the earth’s surface is made of very different types of land and
water, it absorbs the sun’s heat at different rates. During the day, the air above the land
heats up more quickly than the air over water. The warm air over the land expands and
rises, and the heavier, cooler air rushes in to take its place, creating winds.
Depending on the orientation of the shaft and position rotational axis of the wind, two
distinctly different design configurations are available for a wind turbine, the horizontal
axis configuration is known as the horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) and the
vertical axis configuration is known as vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT)
correspondingly. The major components of a commercial wind turbine are the rotor and
its blades, hub assembly, main shaft, gearbox system, transmission, yaw mechanism,
over-speed protection, nacelle, electric generator, sensor and yaw drive, Power
regulation and controlling equipment, and the tower of the system (Ahmad et al., 2018).

2.3.1 Wind Turbine Components

The major components of a commercial wind turbine are the rotor and its blades, hub
assembly, main shaft, gearbox system, transmission, yaw mechanism, over-speed
protection, nacelle, electric generator, sensor, and yaw drive, Power regulation and
controlling equipment, and the tower of the system. The tower is the base structure that
supports and elevates a wind turbine rotor and nacelle (Ahmad et al., 2018).

Temirat (2007) works on a comparative analysis of solar PV, Micro hydropower, and
wind turbine power generation for two rural villages the Dillamo village in Amara
regional state and Gode village in Somalia regional state. The study indicates that three
and two renewable energies were identified for Dillamo and Gode village respectively.
The result shows that solar radiation and wind speed of the Gode site have the potential
of 6.23 𝑘𝑊ℎ⁄𝑚2 /𝑑𝑎𝑦 and 5.93m/s respectively.

Berihun (2013) presented a case study of a rural area in Ethiopia entitled “Modeling
and Simulating of a Micro Hydro-Wind hybrid power generation system for rural areas
of Ethiopia” by using HOMER software. The objective of the study was to develop a
hybrid system cost competitively to supply energy for remote villages for a model
community of 660 households with one primary school two churches one mosque and
one health center. He concluded the micro-hydro system is the most economical and
can only satisfy the energy demand of the village and technically feasible option.

3. DATA COLLECTION
3.1 Micro-hydro Resource Assessment of the Village
During the field survey, the primary data necessary for this study are the available head
of ungagged run of the river and flow rate of the river, the number of religious institutes,
and types of community services, such as schools, and health posts, and small-scale
industries. The gross head is measured by 72HGPS, with an accuracy of 3.4m, whereas
the number of schools, clinics, mosques, churches, and community services is collected
from Chole Woreda Administration, Chole Woreda agricultural office, Chole Woreda
Education office, and the local people live near to the selected River.
For micro-hydro power generation of data collection, two-site of waterfalls with a
height of 35 and 15m are respectively identified.

Figure 1. Micro-hydropower recourses in Magna Lege Buna village

To measure the mean velocity of the river under study, the velocity area method is
applied by taking a leaf of Bergamo tree to travel for 5m in length. Hence the result
shows that the mean velocity of the river is about 0.1156 𝑚⁄𝑠 and the correctional
area of the river is 2.435𝑚2 and the required river flow rate is calculated to be
0.21 𝑚3 ⁄𝑠.
3.2 Solar Resource Assessment of the Village

The Ethiopian meteorological service collects only the average sunshine hours of the
country and the solar radiation is calculated from the average sunshine hours. Hence
solar resource assessment of the village is calculated from sunshine hours data from Adama
meteorological station and ten years average sunshine hour duration of the site under
study is shown below.

Average sun shine duration

10
9
Sunshine hour (h)

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Jan Feb Mar App May Jun Jul Aug. Sep Oct Now Dec
Months in the year

Figure 2. Monthly average sunshine hours for Magna Lege Buna village

3.3 Wind Resource Assessment of the Site of the Village

The wind speed data of the study site have been taken from a nearby metrological
station (Adama station) which is measured at 10-meter height and calibrated at the
required height.

v at 10m
6
5
Wind speed in m/s

4
3
2
1
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Months in the year
Figure 3. Average wind speed of village understudy
The highest wind speed was observed in July while the lowest was in March at all the
heights of wind speed measurements. To estimate the wind speed at the selected turbine
hub height (50m), the following equation has been used.

𝐻𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝐻
𝑉𝐻 × 𝑙𝑛 = 𝑉𝑟𝑒𝑓 × 𝑙𝑛 𝐻 --------------------------------------------------------------------(1)
𝐻𝑜 𝑜

ln(𝐻 ⁄𝐻𝑜 )
𝑉𝐻 = 𝑉𝑟𝑒𝑓 [ ]
ln(𝐻𝑟𝑒𝑓 ⁄𝐻𝑜 )

Where
𝐻 → the hub height of the wind turbine[m]
𝐻𝑟𝑒𝑓 →the anemometer reference height [m]
𝐻𝑜 →the surface roughness length [m]
𝑉𝐻 →wind speed at the hub height of the wind turbine [m/s]
𝑉𝑟𝑒𝑓 →wind speed at the anemometer height [m/s]
Since minimum wind speed is observed in march (a critical month) according to the
collected, then let analysis this data based on daily analysis.

7
v at 10m v at 50m
6
Wind speed in m/s

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Hour in the day

Figure 4. July 15 minimum potential of wind speed based daily

The figure may show that wind speed is varying from hour to hour and maximum wind
speed is recorded during the nighttime on daily basis status. Even though wind speed
and wind direction are varying from day to day and from hour to hour, to extract power
from wind turbines it is necessary to maintain (yaw) wind as required means wind
turbines were always facing the headwind and incurred no losses due to lagging
dynamic yawing control.
 3.4 Load Estimation of the Village

The load on power stations varies from time to time. These variations during the whole
day (24 hours) are recorded hourly and plotted against time on the graph.
200
180 Load
160
Load in kW

140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Time of the day (h)

Figure 5. Daily Load curve for Magna Lege Buna Village

4. RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES ANALYSIS OF THE STUDY SITE

4.1 Solar Potential (Solar radiation assessment of the village)

Monthly average solar radiation is one of the principal parameters used by HOMER
software as input. Unfortunately, there is no properly recorded solar radiation data and
hence from the number of sunshine hours and local atmospheric conditions, sunshine
duration data can be used to estimate monthly average solar radiation, with the help of
an empirical equation.
4.1.1 Monthly average, daily global Radiation
n
H = (as + bs N) 𝐻𝑜 --------------------------------------------------------------------------(2)

where H is monthly average daily radiation on a horizontal surface (𝑘𝑊ℎ⁄𝑚2 ).

𝐻𝑜 is monthly average daily extraterrestrial radiation on a horizontal
surface (𝑘𝑊ℎ⁄𝑚2 ).
N is the maximum possible daily hours of bright sunshine,
n is the monthly average daily number of hours of bright sunshine,
𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑠 are regression coefficients and have been calculated from the relationship
given by (Duffie and Beckman, 2006).
 𝑛
𝑎𝑠 = −0.11 + 0.235 cos 𝜑 + 0.323 ( )
𝑁
𝑛
𝑏𝑠 = 1.449 − 0.533 cos 𝜑 − 0.694 ( )
𝑁
Daily extraterrestrial radiation (Ho ) on a horizontal surface for each day of the year and
different latitudes can be estimated from the solar constant, the solar declination, and
the time of the year (Duffie and Beckman, 2006) as follows.
24×3600 π
Ho = Gsc × dr × {180 × ωs × sin(φ) × sin(δ) + cos(φ) × cos(δ) ×
π

sin(ωs )} ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(3)

where Gsc is the solar constant (which is equal to 1367w/m2);

dr the inverse relative distance Earth-Sun;
ωs the sunset hour angle(𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛);
δ declination angle
𝜑 the latitude (𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛)
This total solar radiation arrives earth's surface in three distinct forms. Such as diffuse,
reflected, and direct solar radiations. Then, the summation of these three components
is the total (or global) irradiation that strikes the absorber unit (Keller & Costa, 2011).

Average (2010-2019)
Daily Radiation in 〖𝑘𝑊ℎ∕𝑚^2

8.00
7.00
6.00
5.00
/𝑑𝑎𝑦

4.00
3.00
2.00
1.00
0.00
Jan Feb Mar April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Months of the year
Figure 6. Monthly Average daily global radiation of Magna Lege Buna village’ on
horizontal surface`
4.1.2 Hourly Extraterrestrial Radiation on the horizontal surface

Extraterrestrial radiation is defined as the incidence of solar radiation outside the earth’s
atmosphere and is computed with the following equation: The Hourly Extraterrestrial
Radiation, (𝐼𝑜 ) on a horizontal surface at a specific location at a particular hour is may
be obtained in (𝐾𝐽⁄𝑚2 ℎ) by multiplying instantaneous radiation (𝐾𝑤⁄𝑚2 ) by 3600.
 12×3.6 𝜋(𝜔2 −𝜔1 )
𝐼𝑜 = 𝐼𝑠𝑐 𝐸𝑜 × ((sin 𝜑 cos 𝛿 ) × (sin 𝜔2 − sin 𝜔1 ) + (sin 𝜑 sin 𝛿 ))--(4)
𝜋 180

where 𝐼𝑠𝑐 is a solar constant (1367 W/m2); 𝐸𝑜 is the eccentricity correction factor;
𝛿 is the declination angle; 𝜑 is the latitude of location; 𝜔1 and 𝜔2 are the hour
angle at the beginning and end of the time interval, where all angles are given in degrees

4.1.3 Hourly Global Solar Radiation on Horizontal Surfaces

The monthly average hourly global radiation for the representative days of the month
on a horizontal surface can be calculated from the monthly average daily global
radiation on a horizontal surface by using formulae from Collares-Pereira and Rabl for
global irradiance.
𝐼𝑔 𝐼
= (𝑎1 + 𝑏1 cos 𝜔) 𝐻𝑜 ---------------------------------------------------------------------(5)
𝐻𝑔 𝑜

1.2
1.2
Dec Mar
Hourly Global radiation in

Hourly Global radiation in

1 Jan 1 April
Feb May
0.8 0.8
𝐾𝑤h∕/𝑚^2)

𝐾𝑤h∕/𝑚^2)

0.6 0.6

0.4
0.4
0.2
0.2
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 0
Hour in the day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Hour in the day
1.2 1
Sep Jun
Hourly Global radiation in

0.9
Hourly Global radiation in

1 July
Oct 0.8
0.7 Agus
0.8 Nov
𝐾𝑤h∕/𝑚^2)
𝐾𝑤h∕/𝑚^2)

0.6
0.6 0.5
0.4
0.4 0.3
0.2
0.2 0.1
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 Hour in the day
Hour in the day
Figure 7. Monthly averages, hourly global radiation of the village on the horizontal
surface
 4.1.4 Solar Radiation on PV Array

Once the radiation on the horizontal surface is known let's calculate the global radiation
striking the tilted surface of the PV array. The total radiation received by the PV module
surface consists of direct radiation, diffuse radiation, and reflected radiation.

Total hourly irradiance in the plane of PV array tilted with the tilt angle of (𝛽) can be
calculated as
cos 𝜃 1+cos 𝛽 1−cos 𝛽
𝐼𝛽 = 𝑟𝑏 𝐼𝑏 + 𝐼𝑑 [𝑓𝐻𝑎𝑦 (cos 𝜃 ) + ( ) (1 − 𝑓𝐻𝑎𝑦 )] + 𝐼𝑔 𝜌 ( )---------------(6)
𝑧 2 2
cos θ sin δ sin(φ−β)+cos δ cos(φ−β) cos ω
Where 𝑟𝑏 = cos θ = .
z sin δ sin φ+cos δ cos φ cos ω

The following graph shows hourly solar radiation on a tilted surface for the
representative days of each month seasonally for better clarity and the annual hourly
solar radiation is shown below
1.8 1.6
Jan
Feb Mar
1.6
Dec 1.4 April
1.4 May
1.2
1.2
1
1
0.8
0.8
0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

1.2
June 1.6
Sep
Gobal radiation in kW

1 July
Global radiation in kW

1.4 Oct
Aug 1.2 Nov
0.8
1
0.6
0.8
0.4 0.6
0.4
0.2
0.2
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 2 3 …
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Hour in the day
Figure 8. Hourly global radiation reaches on tilt surface Vs hours of the day.
Figure 9 below show months with maximum and minimum hourly solar radiation of
the site for the recommended day of the months respectively
Global Global
Diffuse 4 Diffuse
6
3.5

Solar radiation in kW
5 3
Solar radiation in kW

4 2.5
2
3
1.5
2 1
0.5
1
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Hour in the day
Hour in the day

Figure 9. January 17 and July 17, hourly solar radiation on the tilted surface of the
site respectively
The above two figures indicate hourly solar global and diffuse radiation for maximum
and minimum sunshine duration of the month respectively. As it's observed from the
figure global solar radiation is maximum in January and minimum in July (rainy month)
of the year, while diffuse radiation is maximum in July month and minimum in January.
This shows that July is a cloudy month thus why most of the radiation is diffuse
radiation.

4.2 Wind Potential (Energy Productivity) Analysis

The wind energy is extracted by using an appropriate wind turbine and the wind turbine
then converts the kinetic energy of moving air into rotational mechanical shaft energy.
The energy available in the wind can be expressed using the equation.
𝑃𝑤 = 1⁄2 𝜌𝐴𝑉 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------(7)

where 𝑃𝑤 is extracted wind power(W)

𝑘𝑔
𝜌 =Density of air ( ⁄𝑚3 )

𝐴= the swept area (𝑚2 )

𝑉=instantaneous wind velocity (𝑚3 )

4.2.1 Site Selection for Wind Power

The power extracted from the wind turbine has a direct relationship with wind speed;
hence selecting a suitable location for installation of the wind turbine must be located
in an area with strong and constant wind speed.

4.3 Micro-hydropower Potential Analysis

To determine the power potential of water in a stream it is necessary to know the flow
quantity of water available from the stream and the available head. Even though two
hydropower site is identified in the case of this thesis, for micro-hydro power potential
analysis 15m height head of the river is used. Because 30m head is far away from the
village, the location of river is not suitable for installation of turbine and its water flow
rate is not high as that of 15m head run of the river.

5. SIZING AND MODELING OF HYBRID ENERGY SYSTEM COMPONENTS

System design is the process of determining the size of each component of a standalone
photovoltaic, wind turbine, and micro-hydropower system to meet the load
requirement. Total Load of Magna Lege Buna Village, 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐿𝑜𝑎𝑑 = 2470
𝐾𝑊ℎ⁄𝑑𝑎𝑦. Assuming 30% for losses and reserve capacity in case of a sudden load
increase in the future. Then total energy from all sources (i.e. solar PV, wind, and
Micro-hydro).
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐿𝑜𝑎𝑑 = 2470 𝐾𝑊ℎ⁄𝑑𝑎𝑦 ∗ 1.3 = 3211 𝐾𝑊ℎ/𝑑𝑎𝑦
Then let’s assume 45% of the daily energy demand is to be contributed by solar panels,
35% from the wind turbine, and the remaining 20% from micro-hydropower generation
of the system. Then the total energy demand is 3211 𝐾𝑊ℎ⁄𝑑𝑎𝑦 and 45% of total
energy become 1445 𝐾𝑊ℎ⁄𝑑𝑎𝑦; have to be supplied by solar and 35% of total energy
demand is 1123.85 𝐾𝑊ℎ⁄𝑑𝑎𝑦 that required to be obtained from the wind while the
remaining 20% of total energy demand is from micro-hydro and its value is 642.2
𝐾𝑊ℎ⁄𝑑𝑎𝑦. The basis for the assumption is the availability of potential resources in the
village and the cost of installation and maintenance.
5.1 Mathematical Modeling and Sizing of PV System for the Site

Pv system design methods are procedures, techniques, aids, or tools for designing. In
this study, all the steps required for designing and sizing the stand-alone PV system
such as site inspection, load requirements, solar system module sizing, and battery bank
sizing were considered and the result is tabulated in the following tables.

Table 2. Results obtained from the sizing of the proposed standalone PV system
Components Description of components Result
Site inspection Installation must be around an 50m away from
area free from tree shadow sinkile river
Load estimation The total energy required from 1445Kw/day
the PV panel
PV array array capacity 335w
Number of modules in series 4
Number of modules in parallel 186
Total number of modules 741
Module area 1.26 𝑚2
PV module installation area 932 𝑚2
Operation Temperature Range- 0-45
Charge
Efficiency 21 %
Battery sizing Battery bank capacity 88541Ah
Number of batteries in series 8
Number of batteries in parallel 12
The total number of batteries 89
required
Efficiency of battery 95%
Invertor Capacity of inventor 1878
Efficiency 94%
5.1.1 Determination of Selected PV Array Power Output

The PV module generating electrical power depends on the total solar radiation 𝐺𝑇
incident on the PV surface, which in most cases is not horizontal but inclined to have
higher energy production, and better conditions for module cooling. Power out from
solar PV panels depends on the type of material from which the module is made, light
intensity (Sunshine duration), the temperature of the location, area of PV panel, and
other many environmental factors such as shading, accumulation of dust, and cable
losses of the circuit.
Photovoltaic panels convert solar radiation to electricity with efficiencies in the range
of 5% to 20%, depending on the type of the cell. The power out of the PV system at
each hour is given by

𝐺𝑇
𝑃𝑝𝑣 = 𝑌𝑝𝑣 𝑓𝑝𝑣 𝐴𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑦 [1 + 𝛼𝑝 (𝑇𝑐 − 𝑇𝑐,𝑠𝑡𝑐 )] (𝐺 )-----------------------------------------(8)
𝑇,𝑠𝑡𝑐

where 𝑌𝑝𝑣 is the rated capacity of the PV module (power output under STC
conditions).
𝑓𝑝𝑣 is the PV derating factor introduced taking into account additional
factors affecting PV (soiling, losses, shading, snow cover).
𝛼𝑝 is the PV temperature coefficient for the power (%/°C).
𝑇𝑐 is the PV module's instantaneous temperature.
𝑇𝑐, STC is the PV module temperature (°C) at STC.
𝐺𝑇 is incident solar radiation
𝐺𝑇, STC is the incident radiation at standard test conditions.
320.0
310.0
Power output in W

300.0
290.0
280.0
270.0
260.0
250.0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Months in the year

Figure 10. Monthly average PV panel power output of the selected module
The above figure 5.1 indicates that power produced by PV panels is minimum,
especially during the winter season (June, July, and August)
5.2 Hybrid Power Generation Modeling

Total hybrid power generated at any time t is given by:

𝑁
𝑝 𝑤 𝑁 𝐻𝑇 𝑁
𝑃𝑡 = ∑𝑝𝑣𝑔=1 𝑃𝑝𝑣 + ∑𝑤𝑔=1 𝑃𝑤 + ∑ℎ𝑡=1 𝑃ℎ --------------------------------------------------(9)

Where, 𝑁𝑝 is the number of PV cells unit, 𝑁𝑤 is the number of wind generators

units and 𝑁𝐻𝑇 is the number of hydro turbine generator units.
The proposed solar, wind, and Micro-hydropower hybrid schematic diagram and
HOMER simulation of the required system are indicated in the figure below.

Micro-hydro
Charge
PV panel Turbine
Regulator

Wind
Turbine
Inve
ntor
Battery

DC bus AC bus

Figure 11. Schematic diagram of the proposed hybrid system

The DC power generated by the PV array is converted into an AC bus by an inverter
and fed into the AC bus. Wind turbines and micro-hydro provide AC power and fed
into the AC bus. Excess power is stored by battery and used when supply is deficient.

Figure 12. HOMER software simulations of hybrid system components

6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

6.1 Simulation Results of the Site

Overall simulation of the monthly and yearly load profile of the site under study is
indicated by different color codes to distinguish the load difference between each time
of the day.

The hourly usable power output of selected PV panel: Usable energy is energy fed into the
grid for end appliance uses after a drop over different components such as module,
inventors, battery, and temperature effect. The following two figures show maximum
and minimum hourly usable power extracted from solar radiation by considering all
factors minimizing the efficiency of a solar panel for the month of maximum and
minimum sunshine duration.

250 solar power out put

Solar Power Out Put
180
Power Out put in kW

200 160
Power out in kW

140
150 120
100
100 80
60
50 40
20
0 0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23
Hour in the day Hour in the day

Figure 13. January 17 and July 17, Maximum and Minimum hourly usable power
output from solar radiation respectively
Hourly Power out of wind speed: Average monthly wind speed variation of the site
at 50 m heights where the average wind speed was found to be 5.46 m/s. The highest
wind speed was observed in July while the lowest was in March at all the heights of
wind speed measurements.

Wind power Out Put

160
Power Out Put in kW

140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Hour in the day

Figure 14. March 16, Minimum hourly usable power output from wind turbine
6.2 Hybrid Result of the Study

A hybrid off-grid energy supplying system is a suitable solution for solving the problem
of discontinuous energy supply for the user. Here as indicated in the following figure
usable energy from solar is maximum during the mid-day and no energy supply at night
from solar energy. But the energy demand of the village is maximum from 19:00 to
21:00 as calculated in chapter three of this thesis. The best solution for such type of
problem is either using a hybrid system or storage battery as in a case of this study.

250 Wind power output solar Energy

Hydro Energy Load
Out put Power in kW

200

150

100

50

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Hour in the day

Figure 15. January 17, hybrid energy supply vs energy demand of the site
 250 Wind power output solar Energy

Out Put Power in kW Hydro Energy Load

200

150

100

50

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Hour in the day
Figure 16. July 17, Hybrid energy supplying configuration

The above two figure shows the months with maximum and minimum solar radiation
and the integration of energy from wind and hydro turbine respectively.

250 Wind power output solar Energy

Hydro Energy Load
Out Put Power in kW

200

150

100

50

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Hour in the day

Figure 17. March 16, Hybrid energy supplying configuration

From the above figure 17, it's obvious to understand that power extracted from wind is
maximum during the night time due to wind blowing more at night than during the day
time and even though there is no power output from solar radiation at night, there is
excess power from wind and micro-hydro power.

In addition to this, there is a storage battery bank with three autonomy days if there is
a sudden failure of one system is occur unexpectedly. Energy stored by the battery is
excess energy is the difference of energy between overall energy produced by three
renewable energy sources and energy utilized by appliances. Hence the following figure
shows the overall energy produced and excess energy stored by the batter.
 Load Summation of energy Excess energy
450
400
350
Power in kW

300
250
200
150
100
50
0
-50 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Hour in the day

Figure 18. Overall energy produced and excess energy after utilization
As seen in the figure above there is excess (safe) power from the hybrid integration of
the resources during each time of the day. Finally, one thing to be known is the proposed
hybrid off-grid system simulation is based on critical recommended days of the month.
For example, hourly usable power out of the solar panel is based on the worst months
of sunshine duration in July with the value of 6.54h and that of the wind turbine is for
the recommended day of the month march because as data calculated from NMS this
month noted the smallest wind speed of 4.24m/s at the hub height of 50m.

7. CONCLUSIONS AND RECCOMENDATION

7.1 Conclusion

The overall result briefly indicates that the site under study is blessed with a
considerable amount of annual solar radiation 6.23 kWh/ 𝑚2 /day on a horizontal
surface, annual wind speed of 5.46 m/s at 50m and 0.21 𝑚3 ⁄𝑠 a water flow rate of an
ungagged river. Therefore, there is site potential for installation of the hybrid system
configuration of solar, wind, and micro-hydro power for the remote area of Magna Lege
Buna village electrification. Magna Lege Buna village is one of the villages in Chole
kebele and it's 95km far away from the extended electric grid, so grid extension to this
village is not advantageous due to different factors such as topographic location
(terrain) and transmission line costs since its distance dependent.

The crucial objective of this thesis was to access the energy demand of the village and
to find the best way for an off-grid power system to supply to a rural area in Magna
Lege Buna Village in optimum and economical ways. In the design of solar PV, wind
turbine, and micro-hydro turbine for Magna Lege Buna village, the thesis arrived at
8.69 kWh/𝑚2 /𝑑𝑎𝑦 scale annual average daily solar radiation on a perfectly tilted
surface and 5.46m/s scale annual average wind speed at 50m above the ground and
0.21𝑚3 ⁄𝑠 water flow rate for a household with a total number of 740 households and
the total average energy demand was about 2470 kWh/𝑚2 /𝑑𝑎𝑦 with a maximum daily
load of 297 kW/day. Off-grid renewable energy-based power systems cannot provide a
continuous supply of electricity without a storage medium. Consequently, storage
battery banks were added to the hybrid system. After selecting the appropriate
components and studying their characteristics, the hybrid system has been modeled in
HOMER software and simulations have been made to determine the best system which
can supply the village load with the required level of availability. The usefulness cost
of all hybrid structures that can fulfill the continuous load demand has been calculated
to determine the system which provides the lowest cost.

Finally, from this thesis, it's possible to conclude that an off-grid standalone hybrid of
micro-hydro, solar PV, and wind turbine system is economically feasible and even
environmentally friendly to replace the existing nonrenewable energy supplying system
for the proposed village.
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