Optimal modeling of solar/biogas/biomass based IRE system for a remote area electrification

Integrated renewable energy systems (IRES) are increasingly being installed where the grid extension are considered uneconomical. Modeling of IRES is highly site specific and dependent on locally available renewable energy resources and load profile. This study proposes solar, biomass and biogas based IRES model for remote rural areas in Karnataka, India. For this study, seven villages of Chamarajanagar district were selected. On the basis of field data, seasonal load demand for summer as well as winter was calculated. `HOMER´ software was used to determine and compare the different configurations of the IRE system in terms of net present cost (NPC), cost of energy (COE) and pollutant emission. On the basis of simulation results, three scenarios of the IRE system were considered in the present study. In the three scenarios, COE in scenario- I was lower by 1% and 12% as compared to COE in scenario-II and scenario-III respectively. Therefore, scenario-I was found to be Lowest and feasible for the proposed system. Sensitivity analysis was also carried out for different biomass fuel prices. The analysis revealed that as biomass fuel prices increased, CO2 emissions decreased. Therefore, the increase in biomass fuel prices does not significantly affect the feasibility of the system.