Design And Development Of A Solar-Biomass Hybrid Energy System For Remote Palm Oil Mill And Host Community

This study centered on the design of a solar-biomass hybrid energy system to power remote oil mills and host community. The renewable energy sources considered in this project are solar energy and biomass energy from the oil-palm wastes at Ada Palm Oil Mill, Etekwuru-Egbema in Imo State Nigeria. Ada Palm has an oil mill with capacity of ۳۰tons FFB/hr with an average output of ۱۲۱.۵ tons/day biomass fuel. The total load demand for both the oil mill and host community was calculated using the point load and area survey methods. The area has a daily solar radiation average of۴.۵۳kWh/m^۲/day. HOMER PRO was used for the simulation to obtain an optimal system. The design is a hybrid configuration consisting of solar PV, biogas generator, storage battery and a system converter. The optimal system obtained has a net present cost (NPC) of $۵۱۹,۹۴۲, an initial capital cost of $۱۹۰,۹۸۳ and a COE of $۰.۰۱۷۰۹ which is slightly higher than the COE for the existing power supply system to the mill alone. The optimal system obtained consisted of a ۴۰۰kW biogas generator and a ۱۷۶kW PV with the PV producing ۱۸۵,۶۰۴kWh/yr. amounting to ۷.۶% of total system power output

Keywords:

Biomass , Hybrid system , Optimization , Renewable energy , Rural electrification