Grid-connected hybrid microgrids with PV/wind/battery: Sustainable energy solutions for rural education in Bangladesh

Abstract

• Hybrid microgrid simulation utilizing solar PV, WT, and BESS to address power outages in rural schools in Bangladesh. • Economically viable configuration achieves an NPC of $10,981.38 and COE of $0.0363/kWh. • Significant environmental benefits with a 65.03 % reduction in CO 2 emissions compared to traditional grid systems. • High renewable energy fraction maintained at 81 %, ensuring sustainable energy supply. • Robust sensitivity analysis confirms system resilience under varying solar irradiance and wind speed conditions. This work tackles the huge and salient challenge of frequent power outage faced by Bangladesh, particularly in the educational institutions. A remote primary school is considered in order to show a proposed solution using renewable energy-based micro-grid. The designed system includes solar photovoltaic (PV), wind turbine (WT), battery energy storage systems (BESS), and conventional grid integration. The simulations are performed on HOMER Pro software version 3.14.2 analyzing four different system configurations. Among four configurations, Scenario-A (PV-WT-BESS) with 13.3 kW solar PV, six units of 1 kW wind turbines, and two units of 12.8 V 100 Ah BESS units provides the most stable power supply, offering the best balance of economic efficiency and environmental impact. The best configuration yields a Net Present Cost (NPC) of $10,981.38 and Cost of Energy (COE) of $0.0363/kWh. The operating cost and capital cost were estimated at $139.85/year and $9,106.26, respectively, with a renewable fraction (RF) of 81 %. The school can buy 4,294.103 kWh and sell back 10,337.27 kWh to the grid annually, which would add grid stability and reduce dependency. The system design really reduces CO 2 emissions by an amount of 2,713.87 kg/year, decreasing the emissions by 65.03 % compared to a grid-only setup. Moreover, the sensitivity analysis exposed the strength of the system under different climatic and economic conditions, once again proving that renewable microgrids can be one of the sustainable solutions for energy crises within an educational setting.