Design Of Hybrid Renewable Energy Power Source With Energy Management Control System (Case Study In The Village Of Fogera Wereda, Northern Ethiopia)

Abstract

Ethiopia is a developing country, where the majority of the population lives in rural areas without access to electricity. The country is endowed with sufficient renewable energy resources. These resources are mainly micro hydropower, biomass, and sun which can be used individually or in hybrid form. The application of hybrid renewable energy system has become an important alternative solution for rural electrification program. This study deals with the design and simulation of hybrid power generation system and the energy management system to be used in rural village in Ethiopia. The overall power management strategy for coordinating and/or controlling the different energy sources is also presented in the thesis work. The site consists of 426 households with a total electric demand of 120 kW. To satisfy this demand, 50%, 30% and 20% is to be contributed from hydro, solar, and Biomass respectively. To use the power economically fuzzy logic controller is used. The controller monitors the demand and the available sources and then switches to the appropriate power supply according to the protocol developed. Simulations have been carried out to verify the system dynamic performance using a practical load profile and weather data. The result shows that the overall power management strategy is effective and the load demand is balanced. This is done by the artificial intelligence system effectively.