Design and cost analysis of a decentralized hybrid renewable energy system-based microgrid for insular rural area: Hatiya of Bangladesh as an off- grid solution

Abstract

A large number of people in Bangladesh, especially in the coastal areas, are still deprived of on-grid electricity power, especially in the country's coastal islands and hilly regions. Getting the motivation to bring them under the blessings of electric power, a design consisting of multiple renewable energy sources is proposed in this paper. Geographically, the country is located in a suitable position for exploiting renewable energy since it locates near the tropical region. This paper presents the design of a hybrid topology-based renewable energy system consisting of solar and wind power and battery support. The design is mainly proposed for the insular coastal region people. Since solar and wind powers have fluctuating natures, feedback circuit-based Multi-Input-Single-Output Single Ended Primary Inductor Converter (SEPIC) is used. The DC-DC SEPIC converter is utilized in boost mode operation. Also, batteries are connected to the system for backup as storage devices in case of gloomy weather. The topology is validated in MATLAB/Simulink environment. Moreover, the design is fed into Homer Optimization Tool with a view to justifying the technical feasibility and economic analysis. Different intermittence situations, solar irradiance, and seasonal fluctuation were also taken into consideration throughout the software assessment. The reason behind using wind and solar energy for hybridization is the lack of infrastructure to utilize hydro power and geothermal energy everywhere in Bangladesh. Although numerous earlier research works analyzed hybrid systems, this work presents a thorough techno-economic analysis of hybrid systems with backup and comprehensive simulation findings. Hatiya, a largely rural island detached from mainland Bangladesh is considered here for analysis. A small community of Hatiya is considered during the simulation in HOMER. All of the analysis is done based on the geographical position of Hatiya in this paper.