A pre-feasibility study for electrification in Nijhum Dwip using hybrid renewable technology

Electricity being an integral part of modern age technology, is an imperative element for sustainable development. Using fossil fuel for the generation of electricity has been the norm but alarming reasons such as depletion of fossil fuel at an increased pace and their tremendous negative impact on environment have led to growing interest in using renewable resources for generating electricity which can ensure the fulfilment of energy demand both for us and our posterity. This paper has done a pre-feasibility study on a hybrid renewable power system in Nijhum Dwip of Bangladesh which is a detached island from national grid system. The prospect of Solar, Wind and Biomass as renewable components of a hybrid system has been explored with the inclusion of a diesel generator to compare the renewable vs. conventional system both economically and environmentally. Using HOMER the most efficient system was found to have an electricity generation cost of almost BDT 20/kWh for an average load of 5.5 MWh/day with a 950 kW peak. An assessment visit to the island contributed towards load calculation. An emission reduction of almost 3422 ton CO₂ by replacing an equivalent diesel based plant with the optimized system is possible to be accomplished.