Study, Design and Analysis of an Optimized Off-gird Renewable AC/DC microgrid for a Rural School in Swabi, Pakistan

On-Grid and off-grid electricity generation systems using hybrid Renewable Energy System (RES) have become a more reliable energy source to fulfill the energy requirement in remote areas. The main objective of this research is to propose an optimized and economical hybrid energy sources for a school in a remote area in Swabi Pakistan. Electrical load data was collected on-site. Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) was used to design, to analyze the performance of load requirement using different energy sources available. We have proposed an off-grid electricity generation system for analysis. Three different energy generation systems were considered i.e. solar energy, wind energy, and Li-ion batteries. NET Present Cost (NPC), Initial Capital, Cost of energy (COE) and operating cost were obtained using HOMER as a solution of analysis and the results were further refined by applying sensitivity analysis. Different sensitivity like life cycle, solar radiation, and wind speed were used. The results show that real-time optimized solution was obtained using HOMER software.