Techno-economic and environmental assessment of post-cyclone-resilient hybrid energy systems: A case study of Bhola island, Bangladesh

Abstract

Bhola Island Bangladesh often faces disruption to power infrastructure, causing prolonged outages and compromised emergency response capacity. By utilising HOMER Pro optimization platform, this research evaluates the technoeconomic environmental performance of four hybrid renewable energy system configurations including Case 1: wind/battery, Case 2: biomass/battery, Case 3: wind-biomassbattery and Case 4: wind/biomass/micro hydro/battery under both normal and post-cyclone operational scenarios. Moreover, this study considers post-disaster simulation profiles incorporating realistic cyclone related disruptions, such as, one to two days of biomass generator startup delay, two or three days of 50% decreased micro-hydro output and three to five days of wind turbine shutdown. Results demonstrate that Case 4 offers the most optimal balance, achieving the shortest simple payback period of 5.9 years, the highest annualized savings of 148,400 USD per year and lowest levelized cost of energy of 0.172 USD per kWh. It also records Internal Rate of Return of 19.6%, Return on Investment of 27.6% while reducing NOx to 4.8 t/year, CO2 emissions to 640 t/year and SO2 to 1.1 t/year, representing reductions of more than 50% compared to the least diversified configuration. Meanwhile, in Case 4, the continuous power supply for critical loads remains vulnerable with a 5% outages tolerance for 24 hours battery life and during postcyclone islanded operation mode. Cumulatively, the data indicates that when a diverse group of renewable energy sources are properly integrated with a complement of sufficient energy storage means, a much better resilience level, sustainability factors, and economic viability are made possible for effective disaster resilience.