Techno-Economic and Environmental Analysis of a Hybrid Renewable Energy System: Al Qurayyat City, KSA

Abstract

Hybrid renewable energy systems (HRESs) are becoming more prevalent as they are viewed as economic off-grid sources of clean energy that could help reduce rural electrification and global warming problems. This paper aims to provide a techno-economic feasibility and environmental analysis of a HRES to be designed for meeting a daily load requirement of 389.4 kWh/day with a peak load of 82.71 kW, represented by the energy demand of thirty houses located in Al-Qurayyat city, Al Jouf Province, KSA. Thus, the aim of this paper coincides with the KSA’s “Vision 2030” and also with the “Net Zero Plan”, which promote sustainable energy solutions and net zero CO2 emissions, respectively. Moreover, the objective is achieved by designing a HRES consisting of PV, WT, a DG, converter and lead-acid BSS after taking into account the weather and operating conditions of Al Qurayyat city, which represents the novelty of this paper. Simulation of the system is achieved by HOMER to obtain the optimum configuration. After considering six arrangements, the results reveal that the ideal arrangement is indeed the PV/WT/DG//BSS with an optimized NPC and COE of $358,616, and $0.166/kWh while attaining a RF percentage of 92.8%. An alternative configuration, consisting of PV/WT//BSS would yield a 100% RF but with a NPC of $475,374 and COE of $0.22/kWh. The technical results show that the proposed HRES produces a total annual energy of 285,750 kWh/year with the PV, WT, and DG contributing 91.2%, 5.21%, and 3.58%, correspondingly. Regarding the environmental assessment, the optimized HRES annually saves a total of 206,678 kg of greenhouse gases.