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Lidetu Abu - Design and Optimization of Off-Grid Hybrid Renewable Power Plant With Storage System For Rural Area in Rwanda
Lidetu Abu - Design and Optimization of Off-Grid Hybrid Renewable Power Plant With Storage System For Rural Area in Rwanda
DOI: 10.1049/rpg2.12267
1
African Center of Excellence in Energy for Abstract
Sustainable Development, University of Rwanda,
In this paper, a system comprising a solar photovoltaic (PV)/micro-hydropower/battery
Kigali, Rwanda
2
bank/converter has been designed, modelled, simulated, and optimized for the rural area
Department of Electrical Power Engineering,
Defence University, Bishoftu, Ethiopia
of Wimana village, Rwanda. The total load has been fairly estimated for the residential
electric utility needs. To satisfy the load demand, solar photovoltaic (4 kW) and micro-
Correspondence hydro (15 kW) power capacity were considered as the main sources of energy to supply
Mulugeta Gebrehiwot GebreMichael, DU, College of electricity. Either in peak load times or during low generation of primary sources, storage
Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering,
battery banks can also be discharged. The simulation and optimization were done based
P.O. Box: 1041, Bishoftu, Ethiopia.
Email: mulu4geta@gmail.com on the load demand, climatic data, the economics of integrated system components, and
other parameters in which the total net present cost has to be minimized to select an eco-
nomically feasible and technically capable hybrid power system. Based on the load pro-
file of the data collected for the village, the daily energy consumption was found to be
180.99 kWh/day with a peak load demand of 18.56 kW. The net present cost and the
cost of energy for the optimized power system amount to $78,763.26 and $0.0757/kWh
respectively. HOMER Pro simulating software tool was used to design optimal off-grid
and energy management systems.
KEYWORDS
hybrid, micro-hydropower, solar PV, optimization, cost analysis, HOMER Pro
1 INTRODUCTION vital role in minimizing the gap between the increased demand
for electricity and produced power [7, 8]. The use of renew-
Energy is among the principal elements that are needed for the able sources aims to minimize the rate of utilization of fossil
development of the socio-economic pace of a country. It is the fuels and hence global warming [9, 10]. Environmental pollu-
main way to achieve goals such as the health of people with tion and climate change due to the greenhouse emissions have
a high standard of living, a maintainable economic status, and become a serious issue for the global community [11]. Due to its
a hygienic atmosphere [1]. Among different types of energies, availability, greenness, less pollution and environmental friendli-
electrical energy is one of the most vital and backbone for the ness nature, photovoltaic (PV) technology is the most promising
growth and prosperity of a country and human well-being that among all renewable energies [12–14]. However, fluctuations in
is generated from both renewable and non-renewable energy solar insolation levels are the major limitations of these renew-
resources [2, 3]. able sources.
The power grid faces major transmission and distribution Micro-hydro plants are suitable renewable energy sources
challenges to satisfy demand with unforeseen regular and sea- [15] that provide a perceptible solution to electricity particu-
sonal fluctuations [4]. The various fossil fuels, non-renewable larly for the areas that are not connected to the grid [16]. The
energy, resources like petroleum products, coal, natural gas, and construction of a micro-hydro power has a minimal impact on
nuclear energy are likely to be finished at some time as a result of the environment mainly related to the effects of fish diversity
limitless utilization [5, 6]. Recently, renewable energy is playing a reduction due to changes in flow rates. Such impacts can be
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
© 2021 The Authors. IET Renewable Power Generation published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Institution of Engineering and Technology
reduced by using modern technologies. In this design, a fish- TABLE 1 Connected loads and their power ratings
friendly hydro turbine technology called Archimedean screw Unit power
turbine is proposed as suggested in [17]. Comparatively to indi- S/N Load connected rating (W)
vidual PV/micro-hydro systems, the hybrid PV/micro-hydro
1. Lamps 11
integrated system provides high steady power generation [18].
2. Cell phone 5
The location of Rwanda is in the Savanna climate that is
approximately two degrees below the equator in East Africa 3. Radio 10
and its topographical location endows it with abundant sunshine 4. TV 120
and adequate global solar energy on a horizontal surface rang- 5. DVD player 30
ing between 4.8 kWh/m2 per day minimum and 5.5 kWh/m2 6. Refrigerator 500
per day maximum. The average annual daily mean global solar
7. Computer 200
radiation is about 5.2 kWh/m2 per day and peak sun hours are
8. Photocopy machine 900
nearly 5 h per day, which makes solar energy become an optional
energy source [19, 20]. 9. Printer 300
As of December 2019, the off-grid access rate for households 10. Water pump 500
in Rwanda is 14.3% and the population which is connected to 11. Iron 1000
the grid accounts for around 51% of the whole population [21]. 12. Three-phase motor 3000
The remaining population in the rural areas of Rwanda does
13. One-phase motor 1000
not have access to electricity. In addition to this, these areas are
14. Ceiling fan 100
sparsely populated as compared to urban areas. This shows that
meeting the electricity demand in the remotely located areas is a 15. Hair-cut machine 15
big challenge in technical and economic terms [22].
Therefore, one way of overcoming this challenge over con-
ventional generations is the appropriate selection of renewable
energy sources that can generate electricity sustainably. Even [25]. This is an increment from the 160 MW installed capacity at
though single sources of renewable energy have low efficiency the same time as the previous energy sector status profile [26].
and are dependent on weather, the hybrid of these renewable The grid mix has also been diversified. Hydropower takes 45%
sources gives more efficiency and produces enough electricity of installed capacity, Methane gas 14%, Diesel & heavy fuel oil
to meet the electricity demand of the area [23, 24]. 27%, peat 7%, and solar 6% [25].
In Rwanda, there are several rivers from small-scale to large- A variety of government agencies are in charge of the Rwanda
scale, which can be used for electricity generation based on energy, market where the Ministry of Infrastructure is in charge
their size. However, most small-scale rivers in the country are of policy and enforcement, whereas Rwanda Utilities Regulatory
not gauged and time data handling is very weak, this leads to Authority (RURA) regulates the sector, and the Rwanda Energy
finding pertinent data very hard. Research and published arti- Group, through its subsidiaries, is responsible for implementa-
cles that are related to the title of this paper are very limited tion [27].
to find for Rwanda particularly on hybrids of renewable energy.
However, this paper will be relevant for further researches in the
area. 3 ELECTRIC ENERGY DEMAND OF
This paper deals with the design and optimization of a THE STUDY VILLAGE
micro-hydro and PV hybrid system with a storage system
that can be executed in one of the rural areas of Rwanda In this paper, a village called Wimana, which is found in
in the southern province, where most communities do not Mbuye Sector, Ruhango District, Southern Province of Rwanda,
have access to electricity. This kind of design is to ensure located at 2◦ 08’36.2“S latitude and 29◦ 48’45.6”E longitude was
that the hybrid energy source can still supply the load if the selected for the case study of the design of the off-grid hybrid
load side demand shows some increment in the future. A system. Due to the scattered placement and the low income
well-regulated voltage at the load can be found, but there is of the society in distant rural villages, the need for electricity
no guarantee of the reliability of the power supplied. There- is not as high as in urban areas. The need for electricity is for
fore, battery banks are extensively used to improve the reli- domestic use for appliances such as compact fluorescent lamps,
ability of the standalone hybrid system. HOMER Pro soft- cell-phones, TV’s, radios, refrigerators, DVD players, iron and
ware is used to accomplish the optimization analysis and design computers, in the community, such as in schools, community
configurations. halls, health posts, and small-scale industrial activities and rural
commercial such as small processing factories for cassava flour
and sorghum flour, cold storage, and cottage industries. Table 1
2 RWANDA ENERGY SECTOR STATUS represents the list of all connected loads to the system with their
unit power rating in Watt. All the necessary data and informa-
The installed electricity generation capacity in Rwanda is 218 tion was required to be collected and surveyed at the selected
MW of which 212.5 MW is generated and 5.5 MW is imported site.
BEDADI AND GEBREMICHAEL 3
14
12
10
TABLE 2 Daily energy demand of households, public and commercial clearance index and daily radiation from the village are obtained
loads of the community from NASA surface meteorology at 2◦ 08’36.2“S latitude and
Daily energy 29◦ 48’45.6”E longitude. For a photovoltaic system to supply
consumption sustainable power, the daily radiation should be greater than
Community load type (kWh) 4 kWh/m2 /d. The solar resource profile (the clearness index
Medium class households (15) 34.5 and the daily radiation) for Wimana village is shown in Figure 3
Low class households (121) 42.35 which was generated from the HOMER Pro input parameters
result.
Shops (3) 18.765
As it is observed from Figure 3, August is the bright-
School (1) 12.638
est month of the year, at which time solar energy resource
Church (1) 18.564 is 5.42 kWh/m2 /day, while in November it drops to
Flour mills (2) 64.592 4.76 kWh/m2 /day. From August to November the daily radi-
Salon (3) 2.223 ation reduces to 5.42, 5.32, 4.94, and 4.76 respectively, and from
Total 180.994 February to May to 5.24, 5.16, 5.02, and 4.87, respectively. In
these months, the micro-hydro can compensate for the power
generation reduced from the PV during the dry season.
However, from May to July the daily radiation increases to
In Figure 1, the daily estimated load demand for the village 4.87, 5, and 5.31, respectively and from November–February to
is shown. According to the figure, the highest power demand 4.76, 4.83, 4.93, and 5.24, respectively. In these months, the dis-
hours lie between 10 and 12 o’clock. Also, the total energy charge of the run-of-river decreases and the radiation increases,
demand of the village for each load type is shown in Table 2. when hydropower production is lower, there is expected to be
sufficient solar energy to make up for the loss in micro-hydro-
electricity.
4 SOLAR AND MICRO-HYDRO Therefore, the maximum possible daily sunshine hour of the
RESOURCE ASSESSMENT OF THE site in August is calculated to be 12 sun hours using Equations
VILLAGE (1)–(3):
( )
4.1 Solar resource assessment of the village 284 + nd
𝛿 = 23.45 sin 360◦ (1)
365
In Figure 2, the solar energy distribution in the country is shown
𝜔s = cos−1 (− tan (∅ ) tan (𝛿 )) (2)
and the district Ruhango where the village is located is from the
high solar radiation location of the map. 2
The solar energy data collected shows the 22 years N = 𝜔 (3)
15 s
monthly average solar resource of the village varies from
5.42 kWh/m2 /d in August and 4.76 kWh/m2 /d in Novem- where δ is the solar declination angle (◦ ), nd is the day number
ber, which is the period of the dry season in Rwanda of the year starting on January 1st as 1, 𝜔s is the sunset/sunrise
even though the dry season starts in June [29]. The aver- angle is given by, N is the day length, the maximum possible
age solar radiation for the village is 5.067 kWh/m2 /d. The daily sunshine hour.
4 BEDADI AND GEBREMICHAEL
TABLE 3 Optimal ratio parameters of Archimedes screw for various These external parameters are usually determined by the site
numbers of blades [32] of the screw and the materials available for its construction
Optimal [32]. In this paper, these three parameters are taken as fixed
Optimal Optimal volume-per-turn Optimal because they are directly subject to the site’s natural character-
radius pitch ratio volume ratio istics. The R0 determines the value of the nominal discharge
Number of ratio 𝝆∗ ratio 𝝀∗ 𝝀∗ v(N, 𝝆∗ , 𝝀∗ ) v(N, 𝝆∗ , 𝝀∗ )
rate of the screw turbine to be capable of carrying the site
blades N(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
discharge rate. Whereas, the K and L are found based on the
1 0.5358 0.1285 0.0361 0.2811 value of the head of the site using Equation (9). Since the
2 0.5369 0.1863 0.0512 0.2747 screw turbine needs to be operated at its highest efficiency,
3 0.5357 0.2217 0.0598 0.2697 the inclination of the turbine from the horizontal is fixed at
4 0.5353 0.2456 0.0655 0.2667 θ = 22◦ , K = tan(θ) [33].
Now, let’s calculate the optimal values of the inner cylinder
5 0.5352 0.2630 0.0696 0.2647
radius (Ri∗ ),Pitch of one blade (P ∗ ), The volume of water in
6 0.5353 0.2763 0.0727 0.2631
one cycle of the screw (VT∗ ), The volume of one bucket (Vb∗ )
7 0.5354 0.2869 0.0752 0.2619 using the following equations:
8 0.5354 0.2957 0.0771 0.2609
9 0.5356 0.3029 0.0788 0.2601 Ri∗ = 𝜌∗ Ro (4)
10 0.5356 0.3092 0.0802 0.2592
= 0.5357 ∗ 0.9 = 0.48213 m
11 0.5358 0.3145 0.0813 0.2586
2𝜋Ro ∗ (5)
12 0.5360 0.3193 0.0824 0.2580
P∗ = 𝜆
13 0.5360 0.3234 0.0833 0.2574 K
2 ∗ 𝜋 ∗ 0.9 ∗ 0.2217
14 0.5360 0.3270 0.0841 0.2571 = = 1.25 m
tan 22
15 0.5364 0.3303 0.0848 0.2567 (6)
2𝜋2 Ro3 ∗
16 0.5362 0.3333 0.0854 0.2562 VT∗= 𝜆 v (N , 𝜌 ∗ , 𝜆 ∗ )
K
17 0.5362 0.3364 0.0860 0.2556
2 ∗ 𝜋2 ∗ 0.93 ∗ 0.0598
18 0.5368 0.3380 0.0865 0.2559 = = 2.13 m3
tan 22
19 0.5364 0.3404 0.0870 0.2555
V
20 0.5365 0.3426 0.0874 0.2551 VB = T (7)
N
21 0.5370 0.3440 0.0878 0.2553
2.13
22 0.5365 0.3465 0.0882 0.2544 = = 0.71 m3
3
23 0.5369 0.3481 0.0885 0.2543
so, the flow rate is calculated by the equation as
24 0.5367 0.3500 0.0888 0.2538
n
25 0.5371 0.3507 .0.0891 0.2542 Qnom = NVB ∗ 1000
. . . . .
60
33.79 l
. . . . . = 3 ∗ 0.71 ∗ ∗ 1000 = 1205 = 1.205 m3 ∕s
60 s
. . . . . (8)
∞ 0.5394 0.3953 0.0977 0.2471 where
50 50
n = 2
= 2
= 33.79 rev∕s
D 3 1.8 3
N = 3 is given in Table 3:
and D is the diameter of the screw turbine.
𝜌∗ = 0.5357 The head is calculated using the equation found below:
Hence, S1 T1 = S2 T2
34T1 = 1530T2
Pin = 1000 ∗ 9.8 ∗ 1.205 ∗ 1.7 ∗ 0.9 = 17713.5 W (12)
T1
= 45 (14)
The power output of the shaft, Pout = 𝜂 ∗ Pin T2
The mechanical shaft power connected to the generator after The summation of magnetization impedance and the rotor
the gearbox is impedance (ZP ) is calculated as
ZP = 7.5∠159.87◦ Ω (20)
The parameters of the induction generator used in this paper
have been obtained from [36]. The induction machine used where Rfe is the core resistance and Xm is the magnetization
as an induction generator in this investigation is a three-phase reactance.
squirrel-cage 20 kW induction motor with specification on the The total impedance of the induction generator is repre-
nameplate: 4 poles, 400 V star connected, 20 kW, 50 Hz, and sented by Zin .
1500 rpm.
The parameters of the induction generator obtained are
Zin = (R1 + j X1 ) + ZP
R1 = 0.2 Ω, R2 = 0.15 Ω, R fe = 320 Ω, = (0.2 + j 1.2 ) + 7.5∠159.87◦
X1 = 1.2 Ω, X2 = 1.29 Ω, Xm = 42.0 Ω Zin = 7.99∠151.073◦ Ω (21)
Synchronous speed (Ns ) of the generator is given by where R1 is the terminal resistance and X1 is the terminal reac-
tance.
120 f
Ns = The line-neutral voltage of the Induction generator will be
P
120 ∗ 50 400∠0◦
= = 1500 rpm VL−N = √ = 230.94 V
4 3
120 ∗ 50 Therefore, the line-neutral current of the generator is
= = 1500 rpm (17)
4
VL−N
The difference between the synchronous speed of the IPh =
Zin
induction generator magnetic field, and the shaft rotating
speed is called slip denoted by S, which is measured in rpm or 230.94
IPh = = 28.9∠ − 151.073◦ A (22)
frequency. This slip of the induction generator from the syn- 7.99 ∠151.073◦
chronous speed can be calculated as
Hence, the total terminal power of the induction generator
N − Nr from three-phase quantities is given by
S = s
Ns
ST = 3VL−N IPh∗
1500 − 1530
= = −0.02 (18) ∗
1500 ST = 3 ∗ (230.94∠0◦ ) ∗ (28.9∠ − 144.18◦ )
where Nr is the shaft rotating speed (rev/m, rpm), Nr > Ns . ST = 20, 025∠151.073◦
From the equivalent single-line diagram of a three-phase
induction generator in Figure 7, the impedance of the rotor (Z2 ) ST = −17, 515 + j 9706 VA (23)
is determined by the following equation:
From the total power generated above, the real part signi-
R fies the real power produced by the induction generator and the
Z2 = 2 + j X2
S imaginary part represents the reactive power required from the
0.15 system for the generator to operate.
= + j 1.29 = 7.6∠170.24◦ Ω (19) Therefore, generated active power (P) = –17,515 W (nega-
−0.02
tive represents the power is delivered) and reactive power (Q) =
where R2 is the rotor resistance and X2 is the rotor reactance. 9706 VAR.
8 BEDADI AND GEBREMICHAEL
The power factor (PF) of the machine is calculated by Step 5: Calculating the total number of PV modules required
pf =
P
× 100% Total module = Ns ∗ N p
ST
17515 = 3 ∗ 5 = 15 (30)
= = 87.46% (24)
20025
The selected PV module has an area of 1956 × 991 mm2 =
This PF can be improved by introducing the same magnitude 1938396 mm2 = 1.94 m2 , the total area required by the PV array
of star-connected capacitor banks in the system. will be
The efficiency of the induction generator considered in this
paper is ηg = 0.95. The electrical power generated at the termi- Aarray = N ∗ A pv
nals of the generator is calculated below:
= 15 ∗ 1.94 m2 = 29.1 m2 (31)
Pele = 𝜂g ∗ Psha ft
= 0.95 ∗ 15.624 kW = 14.84 kW (25)
Vn,batt
BS =
Vbatt
48
= = 4 batteries (35)
12
where Vn,batt is the terminal voltage of the battery bank and Vbatt
is the voltage of a battery.
The total number of batteries required by the system is B p ∗
BS = 4 ∗ 4 = 16 batteries.
Converter size = Maximum Power FIGURE 9 HOMER Pro representation of the designed system
FIGURE 11 Annual time series detail analysis of the system energy production and consumption
TABLE 5 Details of micro-hydro output information TABLE 6 The detail output information of the storage system
Quantity Value Units Quantity Value Units Quantity Value Units Quantity Value Units
one year. The energy used from the battery bank in a year 7.5 Battery status at the worst state of the
is 1330 kWh/yr and the energy used to charge the storage system
system is 1662 kWh/yr. The energy used for charging pur-
poses is greater than the energy supplied to the system, this is After running the system to understand the output power for
because the battery bank takes an extended time to charge and each component for one-year simulation, September 13 was
responds fast to meet peak demand. Slow charging is recom- found to be the worst day for the lowest micro-hydro output
mended for lead-acid batteries to prolong the lifetime of the and maximum charging and discharging of the battery. There-
storage by reducing the amount of flowing current through the fore, the variation of the power from each component in 24 h is
terminals. analyzed to show the status of battery charging and discharging
From Figure 16, the storage system operated at high charging using Figure 17 and Table 7.
and discharging rate from July to September. The worst scenario From Figure 17 and Table 7, the battery is charging 0:00–
in which the battery discharged maximum is on September 13, 05:00 from the micro-hydro consuming power of 7.36 to
reached 54.06% of the state of charge. 0.79 kW power demand that means the battery needs only
14 BEDADI AND GEBREMICHAEL
TABLE 7 Worst day of the state of power variation for each component in 24 h
Hours Load Hydro PV Battery Batterystatus Hours Load Hydro PV Battery Batterystatus
0:00 2.2 9.94 0 7.36 Charging 12:00 12.05 9.94 2.86 0.64 Charging
1:00 2.65 9.94 0 1.97 Charging 13:00 6.91 9.94 2.66 1.58 Charging
2:00 2.61 9.94 0 1.19 Charging 14:00 7.96 9.94 1.89 0.39 Charging
3:00 2.37 9.94 0 1.04 Charging 15:00 9.51 9.94 1.46 0.34 Charging
4:00 2.99 9.94 0 0.91 Charging 16:00 8.33 9.94 0.93 0.29 Charging
5:00 2.62 9.94 0 0.79 Charging 17:00 5.34 9.94 0.29 0.26 Charging
6:00 11.32 9.94 0.39 -1.06 Discharging 18:00 3.76 9.94 0 0.22 Charging
7:00 5.18 9.94 1.15 2.23 Charging 19:00 12.69 9.94 0 -2.89 Discharging
8:00 3.99 9.94 1.87 0.57 Charging 20:00 13.43 9.94 0 -3.67 Discharging
9:00 13.36 9.94 2.51 -1.08 Discharging 21:00 14.11 9.94 0 -4.39 Discharging
10:00 12.24 9.94 2.88 0.46 Charging 22:00 12.65 9.94 0 -2.84 Discharging
11:00 13.38 9.94 3.25 -0.36 Discharging 23:00 2.48 9.94 0 7.09 Charging
0.79 kW to fully charge. At 06:00 the demand is high and the 7.7 Optimization results
battery is forced to discharge 1.06 kW for an hour and start
charging to the highest load demand. From 19:00 to 22:00 the Based on the input data entered to HOMER Pro for the selected
battery bank discharged 2.89, 3.67, 4.39, and 2.84 kW each hour. village called Wimana, several combinations of components of
The negative sign indicates the state of battery discharging and PV, micro-hydro, converters, and batteries were obtained to
positive for charging. electrify the village from the off-grid optimization simulation
output.
7.6 Details of converter output power From Table 9, the ultimate cost-effective system that is with
the lowest NPC of the system at $78,763 and the COE with
The bidirectional converter input and output power for the $0.0757/kWh is obtained from the set-up of solar PV, battery
inverter and rectifier are depicted in Table 8. The total oper- Bank, micro-hydro, and converter set-up operating under cycle
ating time of the rectifier is greater than the total operating time charging strategy (the generator operates at its full capacity with
of the inverter. This phenomenon has a direct relationship with excess power to charge the battery bank). From the optimized
the charging and discharging of the battery bank. As discussed system, it is observed that 100% of the generated energy is from
previously, the battery bank requires longer hours to charge than renewable resources.
to discharge. So, to charge the battery, the converter must work
as a rectifier device to convert AC power to DC. For this reason,
rectifier operating hours are longer in the one-year output data 8 PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF
of the system. THE SYSTEM
Based on Figure 18, there is a restless operation of the
inverter and rectifier at the time of the maximum operating 8.1 Archimedean screw turbine
point of the battery bank. The coloured part in the figure shows
the operation of the converter either way of operation while any In earlier days, the Archimedes screws were used as a pump
dark region in the figure indicates the off-state of the converter. to lift water from a certain level to a higher level, especially in
That means there is no power conversion from either side of sewage treatment plants [39]. In recent decades, Archimedean
the AC or DC system implicating that the load demand is com- screw turbines have become a new type of turbine technology,
pletely carried out by the micro-hydropower. particularly suitable under the head difference as low as 1–10m
BEDADI AND GEBREMICHAEL 15
Architecture Cost
sites due to their high efficiency, low environmental impact, less 180.99 kW/d, that is 6.7 kW average power demand and the
cost and maintenance [29–33]. peak of the village including the system loss of 10%, random
Furthermore, with the rapid change of technology these days, variability of 2% and future load growth prediction of 11% is
there is an environmental issue for saving fish and other biota 18.56 kW. Hence, the designed hybrid system can supply the
while using water as a source of energy [41]. An Archimedean load efficiently and the demand can be met by the hybrid power
screw turbine does not hurt fishes and other aquatic habitats plant with excess electricity of 47.6%. Some of this excess elec-
[41]. tricity is used to charge the battery bank during the night to
As per the different laboratory experiments which have been make sure that the battery bank can meet the increase in the
done that support these claims as compared to other turbines, load demand at 6 AM. Most of the excess electricity, for the time
this new ultra-low head technology is still a niche product [40, being, is delivered to a water pump, but in the future, the excess
42]. The turbine selected in this design work is an Archimedean electricity can cover the future energy demand of the village.
screw turbine with a screw-shaped rotor/blade inserted on the
stator of a rapid pipe fitted with a flow guide on the inlet side
and nozzle on the outlet side so that the turbine can be mounted 8.3 Electricity cost comparison with the
at an elevation close to 22◦ . grid cost
This new emerging technology model is resistant to diversi-
fied waterfall levels and can be used in low flow velocity of large The current Rwandan grid electricity tariff reviewed by Rwanda
debit, flood resistance, dirty water (except sand deposits), and Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) in January 2020 for res-
no loss of waterfall height. Infrastructure support for the instal- idential and no-residential electricity consumption is given in
lation of screw turbines is very simple and cheap [43]. Table 10.
The cost of energy determined in this paper was $0.0757
(71.95 RWF) for the standalone hybrid of PV and micro
8.2 System performance hydropower with a storage system. The determined cost of
energy is compared to the cost of electricity of the Rwandan
The performance of the hybrid system is evaluated against grid and it is found the system cost is less than the cost of the
the load. The primary load of the village is found to be grid.
16 BEDADI AND GEBREMICHAEL
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