Design of a cost effective hybrid renewable energy system for coastal and inland rural community in Africa

Southern African countries to this day remain one of the regions with the lowest electricity access rates, particularly in rural areas. The main reason for the low rate of services is the distance between these communities and the electricity grid. In many cases extension of the grid to rural communities is difficult due to high costs. Off-grid power systems are self-sufficient electrical networks, consisting of small-scale power generation and distribution, which can supply electricity to a community that is not yet connected to the grid. In this paper, off-grid solutions for two remote areas were designed and analysed using the Hybrid Optimization for Electric Renewables (HOMER). The two selected areas are both in sub-Saharan Africa and have the distinct particularity of one being coastal and the other being inland. It is concluded that the ideal solutions are a Solar – Wind system with storage for Mbandana and a Solar-Biomass system with storage for Dikgomo, to provide reliable and cost effective solutions to the off-grid systems.