Renewable Energy 106 (2017) 264e273

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Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Techno-economic feasibility analysis of a solar-biomass off grid system

for the electrification of remote rural areas in Pakistan using HOMER
software
M. Kashif Shahzad*, Adeem Zahid, Tanzeel ur Rashid, Mirza Abdullah Rehan, Muzaffar Ali,
Mueen Ahmad
Energy Engineering Department, University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, Pakistan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Off-grid electricity generation using renewable energy technologies has become a more reliable source to
Received 7 September 2016 fulfill the needs of rural areas at limited level without considering conventional resources. The main
Received in revised form purpose of this study was to propose an economical and optimized design for electricity generation using
1 January 2017
hybrid energy source PV/Biomass for an agricultural farm and a residential community centered in a
Accepted 17 January 2017
Available online 21 January 2017
small village of district Layyah in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The electric load data was collected for
the irrigation and residential needs. Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) was
used to design and perform techno-economic analysis to meet the load requirements using PV/biomass
Keywords:
Hybrid PV-Biomass system
hybrid configuration. The solar irradiance data and the available biomass potential on the farm was used
Techno-economic analysis in the HOMER software to perform the analysis. Total net present cost (NPC) and cost of electricity (COE)
Sensitivity analysis were obtained as a solution by the HOMER analysis and then these results were refined further by
HOMER performing sensitivity analysis. Sensitivity parameter such as biomass potential, biomass price, solar
Pakistan irradiance and variations in loads were used in the sensitivity analysis. This analysis compares the
performance of the system and shows that system is techno-economically viable based on the net
present cost and cost of energy.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction economic growth of any country. Moreover, due to increased cost of

Pakistan is facing worst electricity crisis since 2008, which has
led the agriculture, industry and commerce to the decline. As a
result, GDP of Pakistan has declined from 8.0% to 2.0% in the last
decade and country's 20% of GDP relies on the agricultural sector
[1]. As, the country is considered to be the world's fourth largest
user of ground water for the agricultural irrigation and the area
covered by the agricultural purpose. Agricultural sector is the 3rd
largest consumer of electricity in the country and most of the
electricity is consumed for the irrigation purposes. Due to the
regular spans of intense electricity shortfall, agricultural irrigation
system is affected badly. It is impossible to supply water properly to
the crops due to long term shortfalls in electricity supply to the
electric powered irrigation system, sometimes of about 18 h.
Renewable energy technologies can play an essential role in the
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: shahzadk7861@gmail.com (M.K. Shahzad).
fuel and the problems caused by the energy crisis in the country,
the use of renewable energy resource have become vital. These
energy resources and technologies like solar, biomass and wind are
environment friendly, clean and can be used at micro levels.
Renewable energy based micro-grid systems are the best means to
make agricultural farms independent of the conventional grid
systems and can provide electricity on the continuous basis
without causing any disruption [2]. Moreover, efforts have been
focused in using single source based renewable energy technolo-
gies like solar powered residential systems and micro hydro power
systems, but these systems often are not available to the consumers
and these system rely only on these limited resources. Such systems
leads to oversizing issues that may increase initial installation costs.
Instead of utilizing these systems, hybrid systems can help us to
overcome the oversizing issues and can enhance the reliability of
electricity supply. So, using such micro-off grid system utilizing
hybrid energy resource like solar and biomass can be a best cost
effective solution for reliable electricity supply to the rural areas to

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2017.01.033
0960-1481/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 M.K. Shahzad et al. / Renewable Energy 106 (2017) 264e273
overcome the problem in irrigation system at micro levels [3].
Moreover, most of these renewable source based systems have
inconsistent supply issues contrary to those of conventional sour-
ces, due to intermittent characteristics under varying climatic
conditions, which influence the energy production. To overcome
this issue and provide energy supply in reliable ways, these
renewable source based systems can be combined with energy
storage technologies or other non-renewable systems. A vast
research on such standalone and hybrid systems has been in the
past, integrating two or more types of renewable sources and
storage appliances. Researchers and energy modelers have been
using different tools or programs for the modelling, to assess the
performance and reliability of these systems. HOMER is one of such
energy modelling tools, which is being used by the researcher for
the optimization and modelling purposes. Hybrid optimization
model for electric renewables (HOMER) is cost and system opti-
mizing tool used for the prefeasibility of any project, developed by
NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA). This tool can
handle all type of the emerging technologies such as PV, wind, fuel
cell, hydro etc. and is able to do hourly simulations. This tool has
been used for the prefeasibility analysis and studies of the off-grid
power systems in the world. A number of studies have been done
previously using single and hybrid energy based systems until now
such as the investigation made by Khan M. and Iqbal M. for the
hybrid system using hydrogen as energy source in Newfoundland
[4]; Karakoulidis et al. [5]; Barsoum and Vacent [6] and Giatrakos
et al. [7]. Givler and Lilienthel [8] performed a study on the
photovoltaic-diesel engine based hybrid electric power system
identifying that hybrid system is cost effective than that of a small
solar based system of 50 W with storage. This study considered a
small household with peak load of 40 W and 5 W based load.
Moreover, this does not define productive energy usage as it focus
only basic needs.
Munuswamy S. et al. [9] performed a cost comparison analysis
of the grid based supply to the health center in a rural area with the
fuel cell based generation system using HOMER software. This
study concluded that the grid electric supply is cheaper form an off-
grid system than a grid based supply if it is beyond 44 km distance.
This study was performed for a small entity but not for a rural
community. Similarly, Anand Singh et al. [10] performed the cost
optimization using HOMER software for a solar, biomass and fuel
cell based on hybrid energy source for the Bhopal Energy Center.
This study was performed for the primary load of 101 kWh/day
using solar, biomass and fuel cell but cost comparison analysis was
performed only by taking biomass quantity variation neglecting
demand changes and hydrogen fuel used in fuel cell.
Hafez O et al. [11] considered the micro grid hybrid system
based on the wind, hydro, solar and diesel resources for the
1183 kW peak load and 600 base load of the rural community. This
study was done by assuming unrealistic overdesigned assumptions
for the system. Smruti et al. [12] presented a cost analysis study
based on the PV-biomass hybrid system for a small house of 3.6 kW
peak load in a remote area using animal manure as biomass. This
system was cost effective with respect of conventional grid system
and system's payback period was about 12 year. But this study was
also performed for a house not even at community level.
Luiz et al. [13] presented a prefeasibility report of a hybrid PV-
diesel system for a small village of 100 families. This hybrid sys-
tem was supposed to be cost effective than that of diesel based
system which reduces the cost of fuel consumption. Similarly, Lau
et al. [14] performed a cost analysis for the hybrid (PV-diesel)
system considering the load requirements of residential sector
using HOMER software. The system was designed and analyzed for
the peak demand of 2 kW for 40 homes. This study does not
considered any productive use of electricity as the system was
265
overdesigned using PV array of 60 kW and two 50 kW generators,
while the load requirement was 80 kW.
Examples of the studies performed for the rural communities
includes Olatomiwa et al. [15] who studied different feasible elec-
tricity generation schemes consisting of solar, wind and diesel
generator for different locations of Nigeria using HOMER. Study
concluded that hybrid renewable configuration comprising of solar,
wind, diesel and batteries is most feasible with lowest carbon
emissions. This study focused only the basic rural community
needs but not included the productive energy usage.
Ankit Bhat et al. [16] performed optimal planning and feasibility
analysis for rural community by considering photovoltaic, biomass,
hydro and diesel as resources to generate electricity for the peak
load of 55.49 kW. They performed simulations using HOMER and
concluded that system comprising 6 kW biogas generator, 16 kW
biomass, 60 kW PV and 10 kW diesel generator with storage bat-
teries is more suitable option for the studied area. Bhattacharyya S.
et al. [17,18] analyzed optimal planning and system designing of
small grid system for Bangladeshi rural community having based
load of 24 kW. This study considered hybrid system comprising of
solar, hydro, diesel and wind resources for power generation. These
studies considered the electricity needs at domestic level but didn't
considered agricultural need such as irrigation and other usages.
It is evident from the literature review that hybrid renewable
energy systems are more cost effective and reliable source of en-
ergy than conventional grid system. The main focus in aforemen-
tioned studies was the electrification of rural areas at domestic
level ignoring the electricity requirement for the agricultural and
irrigation purposes. To the best of author's knowledge, there is no
comprehensive study on the HOMER based techno-economic
analysis of such hybrid renewable energy systems in Pakistan. Be-
ing an under-developed country, Pakistan is economically depen-
dent on the agricultural sector which is badly effected due to
electricity shortfall since a decade. Moreover, about 61.74% popu-
lation of the country is in rural areas, out of which only 46% has
access to grid electricity [19,20]. As a result, the main idea of this
study is to provide an optimized and most feasible solution for the
electrification of residential entities and agricultural farms located
in the remote areas of Pakistan where grid electricty is not avail-
able. To achieve these objectives, electricity load, biomass and solar
radiation data was used to apply techno-economic analysis using
HOMER simulations based on sensitivities.
2. Methodology
HOMER software developed by NREL (National Renewable En-
ergy Laboratory, USA) has been utilized for optimal designing and
to assess the techno-economic feasibility of the hybrid solar/
biomass system. This software is a powerful tool for the optimal
designing, sizing and planning of hybrid renewable energy systems
by carrying out techno-economic analysis for off-grid and grid
connected power systems. It takes inputs such as electric or heating
loads to perform simulations based on different system's configu-
rations or the hybrid combinations of components and generates
the optimized system configurations sorted in term of COE and
NPC. Optimization of system design configurations is performed by
minimizing the objective function to the constraints. The objective
function in this analysis is NPC, which is the present cost of system
excluding the sum of revenues. The constraints are charging and
discharging of batteries, power balance and other technical con-
straints. HOMER simulates the system configurations by making
energy balance for each hour and takes the electric or thermal loads
per hour that a system can supply [21].
This analysis demonstrates the impact of renewable penetration
and storage on the COE and NPC. As HOMER performs the
266 M.K. Shahzad et al. / Renewable Energy 106 (2017) 264e273
Fig. 1. A schematic diagram indicating methodology utilized for analysis.
prefeasibility analysis and optimization of the micro-grid systems
before the installation. Usually, three tasks can be performed by
using HOMER are: running simulations, performing sensitivity
analysis and optimizing the simulated system [22]. Before per-
forming HOMER based analysis for the hybrid solar/biomass sys-
tem, a Pre-HOMER analysis was performed by making an
assessment of the load requirements for the agricultural irrigation
system, the community around the farm and for the available en-
ergy resources in the farm. After that load data was fed into the
software interface and analysis was performed for the hybrid micro
off-grid system by using available equipment in the software.
Loads, components and grid are three main types of hybrid
renewable system's equipment. For this study, loads include the
electric load and the components include PV, generators, batteries
and converter. The characteristics of these components, which are
modeled in HOMER are described in Ref. [23]. For this study, these
HOMER modeled equipment's capacity was customized according
to the current system's requirement. Suitable constraints were used
for the sensitivity analysis according to the system requirements for
life cycle cost analysis. After this HOMER based analysis, post
analysis was performed to make final decision based on the market
energy costs. These energy market costs includes the supply tariffs
(cost of electricity) set by the NTDC1 Pakistan and MEPCO2 public
sector distribution companies of Pakistan. Methodology utilized for
the complete prefeasibility analysis is indicated in Fig. 1.
2.1. User load assessment
This hybrid off-grid system was designed to fulfill the electricity
need of an agricultural farm and the small community consisting of
six households. Agricultural farm is centered in a small village of
Karor Lal Eason, district Layyah in the Punjab province of Pakistan.
1
National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) Pakistan.
2
The Multan Electric Power Company, Pakistan.
In current case demand for rural residential electricity is not high as
compared to the urban areas, electricity consumption in the resi-
dential community is due to the lighting, fans and small water
pumps. The main electricity consumption in the current case is due
to the agricultural needs of the farm such as irrigation system and
electric grass cutting machine.
Electric load assessment was performed carefully by considering
the load requirements of the households and the agricultural farm
holders for the summer peak season for the residential needs. Load
calculations for agricultural and residential sector are listed in
Table 1 and Table 2, respectively.
Agricultural primary and peak load requirement is calculated to
be approximately 137.48 kWh and 12.16 kWh, respectively. While
for the residential sector, primary and peak load requirement for
the six households was estimated to be 30.882 kWh and 4.92 kWh,
respectively. So, total peak load for the overall system was
17.08 kWh.
The daily electric load profiles of the residential community and
agricultural farm with combined load for the summer season is
shown in Fig. 2. Load profiles are clearly showing the load variance
throughout 24 h of a day, the maximum load requirement in the
morning and the night for the residential community. During the
day, most of the family members may not be at home that's why
load profile is lower. During the night all the family members will
be at home, which leads to increase in the load. Similarly the
agricultural load profile is showing that the peak load is during the
day times due to irrigation needs. Irrigation pumps is used mostly
during the day time from 6:00e18:00, which maximizes the peak
load, during the daytimes. Combined load profile is showing the
total electricity load for agricultural and residential sectors with
peak hours during the day time from 6:00e18:00 due to the
maximum electricity consumption for irrigation purpose.
Load profile for the monthly average electricity consumption of
the agricultural farm including the residential community is shown
in Fig. 3, with maximum electricity consumption in the months of
April to August. This consumption is due to the agricultural irri-
gation during the rice crops season.
2.2. Available resources assessment
For the current case, hybrid solar/biomass electric system was
considered. So, the complete assessment of the available biomass
and resources is given below:
2.2.1. Available solar radiation
Solar radiation data obtained by using HOMER software for the
location “Karor Lal Eason” of 31
13.60 N latitude and 70
57.10 E
longitude from “NASA surface meteorology and Solar Energy
Database”. The annual scaled average solar radiations were found
to be 5.18 kwh/m2/day and the maximum solar radiations were
found to be 6.95 kwh/m2/day. Data shows that the location has
good solar potential and can produce power in efficient way using
photovoltaic (PV) panels. A profile indicating solar radiation and
clearance index created by the HOMER for the location is shown in
Fig. 4.
2.2.2. Biomass resource
Biomass is a plentiful and oldest source of energy in the world,
composed of the organic matter of including agricultural residues,
wood, animal and human wastes. It is a mixture of the gases such as
carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), which is produced by
micro-organisms in the absence of oxygen [24].
Utilization of biomass for the power generation purpose is
becoming very popular by the time and is the easily available
source of energy in the rural areas of Pakistan. Moreover, it is a
 M.K. Shahzad et al. / Renewable Energy 106 (2017) 264e273 267

Table 1
Electric load calculations for agricultural farm.

Sr. No. Agricultural load Power (kW) Number in use Utilization time Total load (kWh/day)

01 Water irrigation pump 11.19 01 6:00e1800 134.28

02 Electric grass cutting machine 1.4 01 15:00e17:00 2.8
03 Lights (CFL) 0.024 05 18:00e6:00 0.288
04 Pedestal fan 0.04 01 13:00e16:00 0.12
Total electricity Load for agricultural purposes 137.488

Table 2
Electric load calculations for the residential need of community.

Sr. No. Domestic load Power (watts) Number in use Utilization hours Total load (watts-hour)

01 Ceiling fans 50 02 14 1400

02 Pedestal fans 55 01 08 440
03 Low energy CFLs 24 02 09 432
04 Fluorescent tubes 40 02 05 400
05 Television 175 01 03 525
06 Water pump 750 01 01 750
07 Electric iron 1200 01 01 1200
Total load for 01 household 5.147 kWh
Total load for 06 household 30.882 kWh

Fig. 2. Load profiles for the residential, agricultural and total electricity consumption.

Fig. 3. Monthly average load profile.

clean source of energy than that of fossils in the world. That's why generation in the country by using animal manure through diges-
biomass can be used as potential source of energy for the electricity tion process or residues through combustion process.
268 M.K. Shahzad et al. / Renewable Energy 106 (2017) 264e273
Fig. 4. Solar radiations profile.
In the current case being studied for the agricultural farm,
hybrid solar/biomass system was selected as biomass is available
easily in the form of manure. This hybrid system using biomass
with solar for electricity generation is more sustainable, because it
can generate electricity during the cloudy days also.
Manure production from the livestock of the agricultural farm
can be used for the electricity production by using anaerobic di-
gesters. Estimation of the total manure output [25] from the farm's
livestock throughout the year was calculated by using eq. (1).
X
i
M¼ Ni :mi
n¼1
where:
 M is the total animal manure produced in one year, calculated in
tons.
 n is number of specified groups of animal.
 Ni is the total number of animals.
 mi is the manure produced per head.
Production of biogas from the animal manure is estimated by
summing the biogas produced from the manure by all the animals
throughout the year, which is given by eq. (2).
X
i
VB ¼ Ni :mi :kDMi :KOMi :vBi
n¼1
where:
 VB is the volume of the obtained biogas from manure in one
year, m3.
 kDMi is the dry matter content in the manure of certain animal.
 KOMi is the organic matter content in dry matter.
 vBi is the specific biogas output from the organic matter, in m3/
tons.
Biogas energy that can be obtained from the animal manure is
calculated by using eq. (3) and the electric power generation from
3
The Prices and technical parameters for these equipment are obtained from the
local Pakistani manufacturers and distributors.
the available manure is calculated by eq. (4).
X
i
EB ¼ Ni :mi :kDMi :KOMi :vBi :eBi (3)
n¼1
EB
P¼ (4)
Ke $Tc
where:
 eBi is the specific heat energy obtained from the manure as kWh/
m3.
(1)
 EB is the potential of obtainable energy from manure in kWh.
 P is the electric power generation from the biomass in kW.
 Ke is the coefficient of electric efficiency of the plant, take as 0.4
(40%) normally.
 Tc is the total operation hours of the plant throughout the year.
Using above equations (1)e(4) capacity of power generation was
estimated to be the 8.84 kW from the manure produced by the
livestock as given in Table 3. Total numbers of livestock on the farm
and the surrounding community were estimated to be 45, which
includes 19 buffalos and 26 dairy cows. Manure per head produc-
tion values were taken from an international survey published by a
French agency [26]. So, estimated manure production from all the
animals was about 0.462 tons/day.
(2) 2.3. System design & analysis
In this hybrid PV-Biomass off-grid electricity generation system,
four main components includes the photovoltaic (PV) panels,
biogas fueled generator, convertor and storage batteries. In order to
present prefeasibility report of the hybrid system, system was
designed consisting of 10 kW PV modules, 8.0 kW biogas generator,
convertor and batteries is shown in Fig. 5.
Design specification of each component used in the hybrid
system to fulfill the load requirements are explained below:
2.3.1. Solar modules
In this case, solar modules of 10 kW capacity have been used in
combination with the biomass generator to meet the load
requirement during the day times of maximum agricultural load for
irrigation purposes. PV modules is polycrystalline silicon type with
maximum rated power of 250 W, nominal voltage of 31.02 V and
 M.K. Shahzad et al. / Renewable Energy 106 (2017) 264e273 269

Table 3
Estimation of power generation by using manure and considering biogas characteristics [27] [28], [29].

Number of Manure production per head Total manure Dry matter Organic matter Biogas output Heat energy of biogas Estimated power production
animals (ton/year) (ton/year) content content (m3/ton) (kWh/m3) (kW/day)

N mi M KDM KOM VB EB PE

Buffalo (19) 4.38 83.22 0.18 0.86 236 5.8 5.03

Cows (26) 3.285 85.41 0.18 0.86 204 3.8 2.92
Total estimated electricity production by the manure of 45 animals 8.84

Table 5
Biogas generator cost and other technical parameters.

Sr. No Parameters Units Values

01 Capital cost PKW/kW 90,000

02 Replacement cost PKR/kW 60,000
03 Lifetime Years 08
04 Load factor % 25
05 Rated current A 18
06 Rated voltage V 110/220, 220/380

2.3.3. Storage batteries

The main purpose of the batteries is to store the PV output
during the day time to be used in the absence of solar radiations. 32
Li-ion, 6.0 V batteries of 167Ah were used in this hybrid system.
Data sheet available in the HOMER software indicates that the
battery has round trip efficiency of 74% and the life time of 5 years.
Capital cost of the battery was considered to be 20,000 PKR.4

Fig. 5. Configuration of hybrid PV/biomass system. 2.3.4. Converter

operating current of 8.06 A. Installation cost3 of the solar modules
in Pakistan is 110,000 PKR/kW with life time of 25 years. Complete
details of solar modules used for the current system is listed in
Table 4.
A converter is used to convert the dc power obtained from solar
panel to ac power. Usually, a converter is rated according to the
power of solar modules selected and the typical convertor effi-
ciency of 85%, as:
CConverter ¼ Parray  100=85

CConverter ¼ 10kW  1:18

2.3.2. Biogas fueled generator CConverter ¼ 11:8x12:0kW

To fulfill the 17.08 kWh requirement of the farm and the resi-
As, electricity consumption for the agricultural purpose
dential sector a biogas fueled generator of 8 kW capacity was
covering the maximum of the load curve is during the peak hours
selected combined with 10 kW of PV modules. Because solar
(6:00e18:00) and is being fulfilled by hybrid off grid system. The
modules will fulfill the load requirements during the day times and
main objective of the hybrid system is to share the load during the
there will be zero output in night. In this condition, hybrid system
peak hours, taking maximum from PV during the day and the rest is
using biogas will fulfill the energy requirements. Fuel Cost have
from biogas generator and batteries. By considering the load
been neglected because animal dung is being used as biomass.
sharing during the peak hours, a converter of 12 kW capacity was
While the electricity generation of 1.0 kW using biogas power
selected for the PV array of 10 kW output. Convertor efficiency was
plants costs 90,000 PKR including installation cost [31]. Generator
considered to be 90% and the initial capital cost of the convertor
related cost and other technical parameters are listed in Table 5.
was assumed to 15,000 PKR/kW.

Table 4 2.4. Analysis

Solar Modules Cost and technical parameters [30].

Sr. No Parameters Units Values As HOMER software is used to provide the system designers
01 Capital cost PKR/kW 110,000 with feasibility and economic report of the system being designed,
02 Replacement cost PKR/kW 75,000 in order to check systems viability and the main purpose of the
03 Operation & maintenance cost PKR/year 1000 HOMER is to minimize the net present and operating costs of the
04 De-rating factor % 80
system based on the sensitivity inputs. For the economic analysis,
05 Lifetime Years 25
06 Slope Degree 23.5 the annual discount rate of 10% and 25 years project lifetime was
07 Rated power W 250 considered. After that's system configuration was simulated using
08 Open circuit voltage, Voc V 37.5
09 Short circuit current Isc A 8.76
10 Maximum power voltage, Vpm V 30.3 4
The Prices and technical parameters for these equipment are obtained from the
11 Maximum power current, Ipm A 8.24
local Pakistani manufacturers and distributors.
270 M.K. Shahzad et al. / Renewable Energy 106 (2017) 264e273

HOMER software according to the load requirement of the farm.
Capacity of the generator and PV arrays was varied to assess the
system operating costs during the different loads throughout the
day from 8 to 20 kW and 10e20 kW, respectively.
3. Results and discussions
In this study, hybrid PV/Biomass power generation system
designed to fulfill the needs of agricultural farm for its irrigation
purposes and the small residential entity. System was simulated by
using HOMER software to optimize the designed system configu-
ration according to the load profile and the results obtained are
presented in this section. System was analyzed and optimized by
considering different sensitivity parameters.
3.1. Sensitivity analysis results
For techno-economic analysis purpose, system should be
defined with some system control variables or constraints, which
are effective on the system outputs and the operating costs of the
system. As the designed system is renewable and the uncertainties
such as amount of the biomass supply and the changes in solar
radiations were considered for the sensitivity analysis. Price of
biomass was neglected in this system design as biomass is available
in the form of animal manure free of cost. It helps the designers and
planners to select the most optimal and economical system for the
given design conditions.
The amount of biomass supplied and solar radiations were
varied to determine the variation effects in the system economy. As
the amount of biomass supplied was 0.462 tons/day, for the
sensitivity analysis purpose it was varied from 0.462 to 0.5 tons/day
and the solar radiations were varied from 5.18 to 6.6 kWh/m2/day.
Results obtained from the sensitivity analysis of the hybrid system
by are shown in Fig. 6, which illustrate the variation in the net
present cost, cost of electricity (COE), operation costs due to the
variation in biomass supply and solar radiations. From the results it
can be observed that by increasing the amount of biomass and by
considering the variations in solar radiation, net present and
operating costs also increases.
The cost of electricity (COE) generated from the hybrid system is
plotted on the surface plot superimposed with net present cost
(NPC), as shown in Fig. 7. Biomass daily average supply is taken
along y-axis and solar radiations along x-axis. It can be seen from
the plot that by increase in solar radiations, net power production

Fig. 6. Sensitivity results for the hybrid PV/Biomass system.

Fig. 7. Surface plot for the net cost of electricity (COE).

 M.K. Shahzad et al. / Renewable Energy 106 (2017) 264e273 271

Fig. 8. Optimal system analysis results.

from PV-arrays increases and cost of energy is reduced. So, it can production of the different components of the system also in-
said that by increasing the sensitivity variable, capacity and power creases. Therefore, a hybrid PV-Biomass system can be more cost

Fig. 9. Monthly average electricity production from the hybrid system.

272 M.K. Shahzad et al. / Renewable Energy 106 (2017) 264e273

Table 6 Monthly average power generation from hybrid PV-Biomass

Annual electricity generation and consumption by the hybrid system.
Production kWh/year % Consumption kWh/year
PV modules 16,872 24.6 AC primary load 65,372
Biogas generator 51,721 75.4 DC primary load 0 0.0
Total 68,593 100.0 Total 65,372
effective than other conventional systems due to its variation with
natural energy resources.
3.2. System optimization results
The designed hybrid PV/Biomass system with sensitivity inputs
were simulated in HOMER software by varying the capacity of PV
and biogas generator to determine the best optimized and
economical system for the agricultural farm. Capacity range of PV
was varied between 10 and 20 kW and of biomass generator was
varied between 8 and 20 kW in the HOMER search space to opti-
mize system fulfilling the electricity load.
Optimal design of the hybrid system for the current study
consisting of the different renewable components comprising
10 kW PV array, 8.0 kW biogas generator, 32 storage batteries and a
convertor of 12 kW resulted as best optimized and economic
configuration simulated, as shown in Fig. 8. As HOMER provides
these optimized results sorted on the base of NPC, COE and initial
capital investment. Total Net present cost (NPC), total capital cost
and cost of electricity (COE) of the best optimized hybrid PV/
Biomass configuration are PKR 4.48M, PKR 2.64M and 5.51 PKR/
kWh. Other configurations having capability to fulfill the same
electricity load with different equipment sizing have higher initial
capital cost, COE and net present cost.
system is shown in Fig. 9, where the red bars represents the po-
% wer generated by the solar modules and blue bars represents the
100.0
power produced by the biogas fueled generator. Comparison of
Figs. 9 and 3 shows that the monthly average electricity generation
100.0 closely matched the monthly electricity consumption.
It is evident from Fig. 9 and Table 6 that power generated by the
biogas generator dominates the PV modules throughout the year.
As our peak load hours are during the day for the agricultural
irrigation purpose that's why being an off grid configuration, sys-
tem utilizes both solar and biomass as resources to fulfill the load
requirements. Biogas generator operates throughout the year ac-
cording to the load requirements and produces about 51,721 kWh/
year with capacity factor of 75.4% and PV modules produces
16,872 kWh/year with capacity factor of 24.6%. PV modules power
generation is lower due to unavailability of solar radiations during
most of the peak hours (6:00e18:00). Moreover, system is meeting
the power consumption of 65,372 kWh/year with excess of power
generation, which can be used for some useful purpose or can be
stored.
A cost summary of the optimized hybrid system for selected
components is shown in Fig. 10. About 50% of the initial capital cost
was due to photovoltaic panels, which is cheaper once it is installed
than that of biogas generator. Moreover, biomass supply is available
free of cost that's why it has been neglected in the fuel category.
As cost of electricity (COE) from the conventional grid for the
agricultural purpose is 10.35 PKR/kWh, while the cost of electricity
generation from this hybrid system is 5.51 PKR/kWh. So, electricity
generated from this hybrid system is cheaper than grid and saves
about 4.84 PKR/kWh to the farm owners. Therefore, by the imple-
menting such hybrid system PKR 0.071M/year can be saved, as
consumption of electricity around the year is about 14530 kWh/

Fig. 10. Cost summary of the hybrid PV/Biomass system.

 M.K. Shahzad et al. / Renewable Energy 106 (2017) 264e273
year. So, the payback period is estimated to be 9.5 years. Except of
COE, this system have lowest net present cost (NPC) as compared to
other system configuration, which is PKR4.48M and have lowest
initial capital investment. For an investor, this system configuration
will be more suitable and attractive having lowest investment and
NPC among all the solutions.
4. Conclusion
This study presents a techno-economic evaluation of various
off-grid configurations for the rural remote areas of Pakistan.
Different system configurations of hybrid PV-biomass units were
analyzed in HOMER by simulating a dynamic hybrid model. These
Hybrid configurations were assessed through sensitivity analysis
using parameters like solar radiations, biomass resource and sys-
tem sizing and an optimal solution was proposed based on the cost
analysis. The results obtained from cost analysis revealed that the
combination of 10 kW PV modules, 8.0 kW biogas fueled generator,
32 storage batteries and 12 kW convertor was optimized solution
for this case study with initial capital investment of PKR 2.64M and
the total net present cost (NPC) of PKR4.48M. This hybrid system
provides electricity to the consumers at low cost of 5.51 PKR/kWh
and saves about 4.84 PKR/kWh as the cost of electricity from grid is
10.35 PKR/kWh for agricultural purposes. This hybrid renewable
system is generating about 65,593 kWh/year with excess electricity
generation of 3221 kWh/year making the studied area independent
of grid. Moreover, the system has reasonable net present cost for
the projection period of 25 years and estimated payback period of
9.5 years.
These hybrid renewable systems are more effective and reliable
source of energy, the government of Pakistan can play a significant
role to overcome energy crises by facilitating rural areas with such
systems. Moreover, the current supporting legislation for the
application of such systems includes only tax reductions or ex-
emptions, which is not sufficient for the low income communities
to employ these systems. Government may change its supporting
policies, provide incentives for the system's employment and start
an electrification program in the country. The hybrid renewable
source based configuration proposed in this study can be employed
in the remote rural area to make them independent of grids.
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