A Techno-Economic Study of a Hybrid PV-Wind-Diesel Stand-Alone Power System for a Rural Telecommunication Station in Northeast Algeria †
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Date
2023-10-27
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Engineering proceedings
Abstract
Telecommunication stations, particularly operating in rural areas are usually powered by
diesel generators due to the lack of access to the utility grid. However, the growing cost of energy
due to the constantly increasing fuel prices and the related greenhouse gas emissions contributing
to the global warming have driven the telecom companies to seek for better energy management
solutions. In this paper, we study the economic feasibility of an environmentally friendly power
supply system for rural telecommunication station in the city of Skikda, northeast Algeria. The proposed system is a standalone hybrid PV-Wind system with pre-existing diesel generators and battery storage. Different system configurations are considered in the study: (a) Diesel generators only,
(b) PV-Diesel-battery, (c) Wind-Diesel-Battery, (d) PV-Wind-Diesel-Battery, and lastly (d) PV-WindBattery, this helps to select the most optimal solution based on the lowest net present cost (NPC)
and the cost of energy (COE) of each configuration. The optimization is performed using HOMER
PRO software. The results showed that a hybrid system of 5 kW DG, 3.81 kW of PV capacity, 3 wind
turbines and 14 battery bank is the best design for the proposed power system with an NPC of
85,673 $ and a COE of 0.214 $. The greenhouse gas emissions were considerably reduced to more
than half making the proposed system a technically, economically and environmentally viable solution.