Cost Comparative Analysis of Solar/Utility and Diesel/Utility Hybrid Power System for a Typical Residential Building

For a typical residential block in Ugbowo, Benin City, this article compares the costs of renewable energy sources, including solar/utility and diesel/utility power systems. Numerous hybrid power solutions have been implemented for various purposes as a result of Nigeria's epileptic power issue. For a normal residential construction, appropriate ones must be identified. Therefore, the goal of this study is to compare the costs of a diesel/utility hybrid power system with a solar/utility hybrid power system for a typical residential home in Benin City. A simulation program named HOMER (Hybrid Optimisation for Electric Renewable) was used to do this. The study is being conducted in Ugbowo, Benin City. A load study was conducted to determine the household's overall power consumption in order to accomplish the goal. We were able to ascertain the capacity of the diesel generator, inverter, PV system, battery storage, and energy obtained from the utility grid thanks to this load study. Each load's working hours were also established. The size, capacity, and beginning capital of the diesel generator, photovoltaic system, battery, and converter were modelled into HOMER in order to do the cost (NPC and COE) analysis of the various energy sources. The most cost-effective hybrid system was identified by comparing the costs of the various hybrid combinations (diesel/utility and solar/utility) over a one-year period. When the diesel and utility were combined and modelled into HOMER, the COE, NPC, O&M, and fuel usage/cost decreased in the hybrid energy system. This was because HOMER extended the diesel generator's downtime hours and extended the main's operating hours because the main is more cost-effective and emits no carbon emissions. The energy purchased from the grid decreased when the PV/utility was integrated and modelled into HOMER. This combination turned out to be the best because it has the lowest COE, NPC, O&M cost, and zero carbon emission; however, the unreliability of the grid is a challenge that led us to integrate the three energy sources. It was shown that HOMER decreased the working hours of the polluting and uneconomical energy sources when more energy sources were merged. This resulted in a drop in COE, NPC, O&M costs, and fuel consumption and carbon emissions.