HYBRID MICRO GRID POWER SYSTEM TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS USING HOMER LEGACY SOFTWARE

Inadequate capacity of the Nigerian grid system force consumers of electricity to search for an affordable alternative source of energy. This paper studies the load pattern of the Department of Electrical Engineering of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria with an aim of finding out economic viability among different alternative sources available at the department. The energy sources were solar Photo Voltaic (PV), generator, battery bank, and grid supply. Power and Harmonic Analyzer (PHA) was used to determine the load pattern of the department at diverse hours of days and months of a year. Subsequently, HOMER software was used to determine the best arrangement of the proposed system. Simulation results show that the solar/grid/diesel generator system with storage configuration is the most appropriate formation based on Net Present Cost (NPC) Approach which was found to be N38, 415,556:43 for the projection of a 25years operation period providing 43.6% and 44.66 % savings as compared with hybrid PV/ diesel with battery backup and Hybrid PV/ diesel without battery storage respectively.