Techno-Economic Analysis of PV-Biomass Based Microgrid for University Campus

Abstract

The cost effective, green and technically consistent energy to fulfil the 511.61 kWh per day load demand of a hostel of the university has been evaluated in this paper. The techno-economic analyses of a Solar (PV) and biomass generators based stand alone and grid connected microgrids are performed to ensure uninterrupted power supply. The utilization of agriculture waste to tackle the stubble burning of crop residues in nearby area has been considered for electricity generation through biomass and to reduce the environment pollution and various global warming factors. A 27.6 kW solar array, 62 kW biomass generator, 27.2 kW converter and 38 lithium-ion batteries for standalone grid and 62 kW biogas generator, 26.3 kW PV array and 18.8 kW system converter for grid-connected system has been considered to carry out the load demand of 60.34 kW as peak load and 511.61 kWh/d as average consumption of energy throughout the year. The analyses shows that 79.1% electricity generated through biomass and 20.1% by PV for 100% renewable based standalone microgrid system, while 91.9% energy generated from renewable sources in grid connected system. The energy cost for standalone and connected grid, microgrid systems were $0.187/kWh and $0.148/kWh, each. The standalone microgrid system have lesser CO2 emission compared to the grid connected system, whereas grid connected system provides cheap and reliable supply by selling excess energy to the grid.