Micro-Hydrokinetic for Remote Rural Electrification

Authors: S. P. Koko, K. Kusakana, H. J. Vermaak

Abstract:

Standalone micro-hydrokinetic river (MHR) system is one of the promising technologies to be used for remote rural electrification. It simply requires the flow of water instead of elevation or head, leading to expensive civil works. This paper demonstrates an economic benefit offered by a standalone MHR system when compared to the commonly used standalone systems such as solar, wind and diesel generator (DG) at the selected study site in Kwazulu Natal. Wind speed and solar radiation data of the selected rural site have been taken from national aeronautics and space administration (NASA) surface meteorology database. The hybrid optimization model for electric renewable (HOMER) software was used to determine the most feasible solution when using MHR, solar, wind or DG system to supply 5 rural houses. MHR system proved to be the best cost-effective option to consider at the study site due to its low cost of energy (COE) and low net present cost (NPC).

Keywords: Economic analysis, Micro-hydrokinetic system, Rural-electrification, Stand-alone system.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1096600

References:

[1] K. Kusakana, J.L. Munda, “Design of a reliable and low-cost standalone micro hydropower station (Published Conference Proceeding Style),” The second IASTED Africa Conference on Power and Energy Systems, Botswana, 2008, pp. 19–25.
[2] Department of Minerals and Energy, Republic of South Africa, Annual Report 2009/2010. (Accessed: 20 June 2013), Available at: http://www.energy.gov.za/files/Annual%20Reports/DME%20Annual%2 0Report%2009_10%20hr.pdf
[3] S. Sunanda, S.S. Chandel, “Review of software tools for hybrid renewable energy systems” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 32, April 2014, pp. 192–205.
[4] NASA Surface Meteorology Database, (Accessed: 22 March 2014), Available at: https://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/cgibin/sse/ [email protected]
[5] H. Blennow, “Method for rural load estimations – a case study in Tanzania” Master’s Thesis, Department of Heat and Power Engineering, Lund Institute of Technology, 2014.
[6] K. Kusakana, H.J. Vermaak, “Feasibility study of hydrokinetic power for energy access in rural South Africa (Published Conference Proceeding Style),” Fifth IASTED Asian Conference on Power and Energy Systems, April 2012, pp. 433–438.
[7] Alternagy, (Accessed: 20 April 2014), Available at: http://www.alternagy.co.za/
[8] A. Hiendro,R. urnianto, M. Rajagukguk, Y.M. Simanjuntak, Junaidi, “Techno-economic analysis of photovoltaic/wind hybrid system for onshore/remote area in Indonesia” Energy, vol. 59, September 2013, pp.652-657.
[9] ABS Alaskan, “Excel 7.5kW high voltage DC turbine” (Accessed: 29 March 2014), Available at: http://www.absak.com/catalog/ product_info.php/cPath/32_93_107/products_id/146
[10] HOMER Energy Support, “10177-Modeling a hydrokinetic turbine in HOMER” (Accessed: 31 March 2014), Available at: http://support.homerenergy.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/Vie w/136/50/10177---modeling-a-hydrokinetic-turbine-in-homer
[11] Alternative Hydro Solutions, (Accessed: 01 April 2014), Available at: http://www.althydrosolutions.com/
[12] NasefAbd El-Shafy, “Proposed technique for optimally sizing a PV/diesel hybrid system” International Conference on Renewable Energies and Power Quality, March 2010.
[13] Generator Sales, Accessed: (20 April 2014), Available at: http://www.generatorsales.com/diesel-generators.asp
[14] S. Rehman, M.M. Alam, J.P. Meyer, L. Al-Hadhrami, “Feasibility study of a wind-PV-diesel hybrid power system for a village” Renewable Energy, vol. 38, February 2012, pp.258-268.
[15] M. Lu, C. Chang, W. Lee, L. Wang, “Combining wind power generation system with energy storage equipments” IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 45, November 2009, pp.2109-2115.
[16] R. Sen, S. C. Bhattacharyya, “Off-grid electricity generation with renewable energy technologies in India: an application of HOMER” IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications,vol. 62, February 2014, pp.388-398.