Abstract:
Renewable energy technologies offer clean abundant energy gathered from self-renewing
resources such as the sun, micro hydro, etc. Nowadays, due to the ever increasing demand of
electricity, renewable energies are becoming the best option for electrification especially for
rural areas. This thesis presented the performance analysis and design study of hybrid
renewable energy combining micro-hydro and photo-voltaic system in the case study of
Menko Toli Kersu kebele, Serbo Woreda. Optimized design of a Photo-Voltaic (PV) array
system and micro hydro Hybrid Electric Power System has been modeled with the aid of
HOMER software.
Primary and secondary data had been collected for the success of this thesis work. Solar sun
shine hour, minimum and maximum temperature data had been collected from the Ethiopian
meteorology agency. With standard empirical formula, the collected sunshine hour data have
been changed to solar radiation. The result from empirical formulas was compared with
NASA and SWERA data. The selected area has 5.13kWh/m2/d amount of annual average
solar radiation, which shows the area is rich of solar energy. Primary river flow data had been
taken for modeling the existing micro-hydro power at Menko Toli River. The river has an
annual average flow rate of 1.131m2/s. HOMER software had been used for modeling
optimized result of the hybrid power generation system.
On these studies, 500 households had been studied with a total annual consumption of 31,911
kWh/yr Electric Energy. The study included primary school and clinic, which serve the
community.
From the HOMER software optimization result, 10KW PV, 14KW hydro, 14KW converter
and 32 battery string had been selected as an optimized option for electrifying Menko Toli ,
with an initial capital cost $55,200, total net present cost of $76,128 and COE of $0.045. In
the study all combinations of hybrid sources for the HOMER software have been observed
for cost effective design. System performance evaluation had been done as per the standard
requirements. The study found that a combination of PV with micro-hydro power generation
is the best option for electrifying MenkoToli with a cost effective way.
