A Hybrid Renewable Energy System for a Rural Area in Africa

Abstract

In Africa, as a developing region, the introduction of sustainable energy presents an opportunity to provide a large number of people with a better source of energy resulting in a better quality of life while reducing the impact of global warming. Electricity is not available to many communities in Africa because the large capital investment required for the traditional electrical infrastructure has resulted in that a good reliable supply is only available in regions with strong economic and industrial activity and an existing grid infrastructure. The fact that renewable energy sources are also distributed sources offers an opportunity to save on the capital investment for the transportation and distribution of electricity. Ikem in Nigeria has been chosen to be studied in this research. The proposed hybrid renewable energy system for Ikem consists of PV array, biomass combustion stirling engines and batteries. The continuity supply of renewable energy resources is sufficient and the performance of the whole hybrid renewable energy system is good due to the simulation. The further research could be done to investigate the possibility of using hydro-power whether the data of rivers on Ikem is collected.