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Cost Effective Solar-Biogas Hybrid Power

Generation System
Joan D’Rozario Shahinur Rahman
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Telecom Engineer, Robi Axiata Limited
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Gulshan-1, Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh
Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA Ahmed Sharif
Sabrina Shams Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Daffodil International University
Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh
Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh Enamul Basher
Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology
Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh

Abstract—Energy challenges of today include increasing domestic product (GDP), which is one of the key measures to
energy dependency, growing energy consumption, ensuring understand the economy of a country.
security of energy supply, reaching for sustainable development Currently about 63% of power generation of
and tackling environmental concerns, most importantly climate Bangladesh is based on natural gas. About 26% of its energy
change. Bangladesh is one of the low energy consuming
supply is based on imported oil and coal, 8% on diesel and
countries of the world. Still the national grid can so far cover
49% of the total population. Renewable energy sources offer the remaining 3% is hydroelectricity [1].
considerable opportunities to respond to growing energy crisis At present, consumers cannot be provided with
and have multiple advantages over conventional energy sources. uninterrupted and quality supply of electricity due to the
In Bangladesh most of the electricity generation is by non- inadequate generation compared to the national demand.
renewable energy sources like furnace oil, natural gas etc. But High dependency on natural gas in power generation, over
the reserves for these non-renewable sources are limited and will population, limited use of renewable energy, improper
be exhausted soon. Therefore, searching alternative sources is transmission and distribution policy, lack of timely
the only option to solve the problem of electricity shortage. In implementation of allocated money are the main reasons of
order to meet sustained load demands during varying natural
electricity crises.
conditions, different renewable energy sources need to be
integrated with each other like solar, wind, ocean, geothermal,
II. SOLAR-BIOGAS HYBRID
biomass, wave energy, fuel cell technologies and hydro. Biogas
technology combined with solar technology can have a huge In power engineering, the term 'Hybrid' describes a
positive impact on the present power sector of Bangladesh. This combined power and energy storage system. A combination
paper will discuss on design of a cost effective biogas-solar of different complementary energy generation systems based
hybrid power generation system and also feasibility analysis of on renewable energy and/or conventional energy is known as
that system considering different types of sensitivity and Hybrid Power System or Hybrid System. A hybrid energy
environmental aspects.
system usually consists of two or more renewable energy
sources combined together to provide increased system
Index Terms—Renewable Energy, Solar, Biogas, Biomass, efficiency as well as greater balance in energy supply [2].
Hybrid, GDP, STPP, HOMER Software, PV, BDT, COE, GHG Components for electricity generation can utilize renewable
energy sources like wind turbines, photovoltaic, hydro power,
I. INTRODUCTION wave power or biomass etc. Furthermore, fossil power plants
Electricity is a typical form of energy. It is a vital like diesel generators, gas turbines or fuel cells etc. can be
ingredient to upgrade the socio-economic condition and to added. In addition, it may include power electronics and
alleviate poverty. Human civilization has advanced electricity storage batteries.
tremendously by versatile use of electricity. Electricity is At present electricity generation from solar sources has
necessary for all aspects of development. Proper and enough reached a remarkable efficiency. Electrical energy can be
electricity supply results in a positive impact on the gross generated in large scale using Solar Thermal Power Plant
(STPP) with storage system. It is a fact that STPP cannot

978-1-4799-7800-7/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE 2756


Scaled data Monthly Averages

operate stably and continuously due to variability of solar


25
max
daily high
mean

irradiation. An optimal operating mode of STPP can be daily low


min

obtained by combining biomass technology with it. Fig. 1 20

shows the hybrid system that would operate stably and


continuously and will ensure 100% electricity generation 15

from renewable energy sources with optimized operation

A verag e Value ( kW )
strategies. The storage system of STPP contributes to save
biomass fuel that will increase the overall efficiency of the
10

power plant. In fact, the diversities of these two energy


sources make the system self sufficient and cost effective [3- 5

4].
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Ann
Month

Figure 2: Load Curve over a Year [X: Month, Y: Average Load (kW)]

B. Components of the System


¾ Solar Photovoltaic (PV) System
1) Solar Panel with charge controller
2) Battery (For storage)
3) Converter (Inverter i.e. DC to AC)

¾ Biogas Generation System


1) 4 Generators of 4.2 kW rating
2) Efficiency 83 % (3.5 kW output)
Figure 1: Solar-Biogas Hybrid Power System 3) Fuel consumption 2.5 m³ per hour
III. MODELLING HYBRID POWER GENERATION SYSTEM C. Proposed Plant Model with Cost
At first, a random Housing Complex is considered as the The total area of the proposed plant model is
load model. The Housing Complex has 30 apartment 80×45=3600 sq. ft. Fig. 3 shows the full plant design. In the
buildings. Each apartment building is assumed having 5 context of Bangladesh the land price per sq. ft. is about BDT
floors with flats having 2 bedrooms, 1 living room, 1 dinning 460($6.0). So the total land price required for this plant
space, 1 kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and 1 veranda. There is a would be about BDT 1,700,000 ($22,000).
basement on the ground floor also. The installation cost for this type of plant is about BDT
A Solar-Biogas Hybrid System is modelled in 2,000,000 ($26,000). So the fixed cost becomes about BDT
renewable energy software HOMER [5] and observed 3,700,000 ($48,000) for this project having lifetime of 30
whether the system is cost-effective or not. Finally, various years.
sensitivity analyses are also conducted.
D. Plant Generation Capacity
A. Load Curve of the System On average 7 kg perishable waste can be collected from
The rated load values of different types of electrical one flat. Hence, 7×5=35 kg perishable waste will be collected
appliances are used as shown in the Table I. from one 5 storied building.
TABLE I Total collected perishable waste from the 30 buildings
STANDARD RATINGS OF DIFFERENT HOUSEHOLD LOADS of the whole housing complex will be 35×30=1050 kg.
5 kg of waste produces 1 m³ of biogas. Therefore, 1050
Electrical Rating Electrical Rating
Appliances (W) Appliances (W)
kg of waste will produce 210 m³ of biogas.
Fluorescent Light 25-40 Refrigerator 750 A single generator needs 2.5 m³ of biogas per hour for
CFL Bulb 25 TV 100 continuous generation. So, a single generator can operate 84
Ceiling Fan 70 Air Conditioner 2000 hours by 210 m³ biogas.
Exhaust Fan 70 Water Heater 1000 Each cubic meter (m3) of biogas contains the equivalent
Socket 1000 Pump 1000 of 6 kWh of calorific energy. However, when we convert
Hourly load consumptions for each flat is estimated and biogas to electricity, in a biogas powered electric generator,
then average daily load curves for a complete year is we get about 2 kWh of usable electricity and the rest turns
designed [6] as shown in Fig. 2. Whole year is divided into into heat which can also be used for heating applications [7].
three seasons: Summer, Rainy Season and Winter. The peak From this total generated electricity, power can be
load is found in Summer season which is nearly 24 kW. supplied to all 5 floors of one complete building.

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huge installation cost. More biogas generators can reduce this
cost furthermore.
Using four generators and one PV panel, the most
optimized result is obtained. In that case the system needs
¾ PV unit of 3 kW rating
¾ 53 batteries (130Ah)
¾ Converter of 12 kW
The per unit energy cost for this optimized system is about
$0.242.
F. Cost Analysis
The chart in Fig. 4 shows the net present cost of different
generating unit such as 4 biogas generators, PV array, battery
and converter [8], which is obtained after doing cost analysis
of the system in HOMER software.

Figure 3: Proposed Plant Model

E. Optimizing the System


Most optimized and cost effective result is obtained after
analyzing with different number of generators combined with Figure 4: Cost Summary of the System
Photovoltaic (PV) array, battery bank and converters
The fixed cost and also the operational and maintenance
focussing on per unit Cost of Energy (COE) in $/kWh. The
cost is clearly shown in the chart. The fixed cost consists of
summary of obtained results is shown in Table II.
price of land, price of all machineries and equipments and
TABLE II installation cost. The operational cost includes wages of
SUMMARY OF OPTIMIZING THE SYSTEM
working people, repairing and maintenance cost.
No. of PV No of Converter Cost of
Generator(s) array Batteries (kW) per unit G. Sensitivity Analysis
(3.5 kW) (kW) energy Different parameters such as PV array slope and
($/kWh) interest rate are varied in HOMER software during modelling
1 80 470 25 0.839 our plan and the relation between these parameters and cost
2 49 304 19 0.601
of unit energy are found.
3 25 155 16 0.401 1) PV Array Slope Variation
4 3 53 12 0.242 If PV array slope is varied, it is observed that the cost
It is observed that if less number of biogas generators per unit energy is constant for the slope being 10 degrees or
are used, then larger size of PV array is needed resulting into less, but increases linearly with the slope if it increased above
10 degrees as shown in Fig. 5. Installation of PV array is very

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expensive hence cost increases with more kW of PV unit and the load is allowed to draw some power from the grid
needed. So by keeping PV array slope between 0 and 10 we then the PV array requirement as well as cost per unit energy
can get optimized result. will be minimized. Table III shows the summary obtained
from HOMER. If 5% load is run by grid, the size of PV array
0.2428
is reduced to 2 kW resulting reduction in per unit energy cost
to $0.191. If 10% load is run by the grid then per unit cost of
energy is again reduced to $0.189.
0.2426
3.4
TABLE III
L e v e l i z e d C o s t o f E n e r g y ($ / k W h )

COMPARISON WITH GRID


0.2424

P V A r r a y C a p a c i ty (k W )
3.3
Grid PV array (kW) Cost of Energy ($/kWh)
0.2422 No connection 3 0.242
3.2 5% load 2 0.191
0.242 10% load 2 0.189
3.1
0.2418 IV. OTHER CONCERNS

3 A. Environmental Impacts
0.2416
Environmental impact is an inherent part of electricity
production and energy use. Electricity generated from
renewable energy sources ensures more clean and safe
Figure 5: Relation of Cost and PV Size with PV Array Slope Variation environment than powered from fossil-fuel or nuclear sources
(the major impetus for moving away from fossil fuels to
2) Interest Rate Variation
renewable sources). Developing renewable energy
Fluctuation in the interest rate brings variation in the technologies that exploit the sun, wind and geothermal
cost of per unit energy. Fig. 6 shows that the cost of energy is energy is necessary for addressing concerns about climate
linearly proportional to the interest rate. The present interest change and some environmental issues. However, using
rate according to Bangladesh Bank is 7.17% [9] and using renewable energy sources will not eliminate all
this rate we get per unit cost of energy $0.242. environmental concerns. Although renewable energy sources
produce relatively very low levels of Green House Gas (GHG)
emissions and conventional air pollution, manufacture and
4
x 10
0.245 1.545

transportation process produce some pollutants. The


0.2445
manufacturing of some PV cells, for instance, generates toxic
0.244
1.54
substances that may contaminate environment. Renewable
energy plant installations can also disrupt land use and
0.2435
wildlife habitat.
L e v e liz e d c o s t o f e n e r g y ($ /k W h )

1.535
)
t($ /

0.243 TABLE IV
GAS EMISSION OF EXISTING SYSTEM
d

0.2425 1.53
li

Pollutant Emissions (kg/year)


T t l A

0.242

1.525
Carbon dioxide 49.80
0.2415
Carbon monoxide 1.87
0.241 Unburned hydrocarbons 0.207
1.52

0.2405
Particulate matter 0.141
Sulphur dioxide 0.00
Nitrogen oxides 16.70

Figure 6: Relation of Cost with Interest Rate Variation Table IV shows the amount of different emitted gases from
this system obtained after simulation in HOMER. Emission
H. Comparison with Grid of carbon dioxide is nearly 50 kg per year, but for a whole
The power generation system we are proposing is a year this amount is negligible. The table shows no Sulphur-
standalone system. If it is connected with grid then the cost dioxide content, because kitchen wastes having sulphur
will be minimized. Conventional grid energy is cheaper than contents are separated from other wastes at the beginning.
renewable energy. Thus the proposed plan has some environmental
For the standalone system 3 kW PV array is needed and benefits like:
cost of energy is $0.242. If the system is connected to grid

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¾ Clean and green energy REFERENCES
¾ Proper disposal of huge amount of household waste [1] Bangladesh Power Development Board, "An overview of power
¾ Reduction in Global Warming effect sector of Bangladesh", August, 2014
¾ Reduction in air & water pollution than fossil fuel [2] Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE), "Hybrid power systems
based on renewable energies"
¾ Non-hazardous to public health and wildlife [3] Kanwardeep Singh, "Study of solar/biogas hybrid power generation",
¾ Provides sustainable electricity without toxic Thapar University, Patiala, 2010
pollution [4] Faiz Arith, S. Anis, M. Idzdihar. Idris, M. M. Yunus, "PV-mini hydro-
diesel hybrid system in a village", IJECS-IJENS vol 13, no 02, April
B. Limitations of The Model and Ways of Solution 2013
[5] homerenergy.com/software.html
The power generation system proposed here has some [6] Bernhardt G. A. Skrotzki, William A. Vopat, "Power station
limitations also. Battery bank was used for storage of PV engineering and economy", Tata McGraw Hill, 1972
energy. The installation cost of battery is high. They also [7] Electrigaz, Biogas principles, CRAAQ, Journée sur la méthanisation,
2007
have some negative impact on environment. When they are [8] alibaba.com/countrysearch/BD/solar-panel-price.html
out of use, it is very difficult to dispose them. [9] Bangladesh Bank, Central Bank of Bangladesh, Economic Statistics,
Biogas generation is an anaerobic reaction process. A 2014
fixed temperature should be maintained for proper biogas [10] Prakash C. Ghimire, "Final report on technical study of biogas plants
installed in Bangladesh", December 2005
generation and that is 35-38◦C. In Bangladesh it is very
difficult to maintain this temperature during winter [10]. But
excess generated energy can be used to heat the digester of
biogas plant during winter.
The most challenging task of biogas generation is the
desulphurization process. Sulphur contents from wastes must
be separated before being used in the biogas plant. Different
containers for keeping different types of waste such as
perishable, recyclable and toxic should be introduced to make
this process smooth and easy.

V. CONCLUSION
This is a study of proposing solar photovoltaic and
biogas hybrid system for generation of electricity. In hybrid
systems, energy has greater diversity, higher reliability and
can be cost effective improving the quality of energy. Hybrid
power system aims to increase the system efficiency and
increase the use of renewable sources. Hybrid renewable
power system is environment friendly too. It is seen that
biogas is a promising tool for generation of electrical energy.
Biogas combined with solar generation brings self sufficiency
and reduction of green house gases and recovers global
warming effect. Energy, economy and environment are the
three interrelated areas having direct correlation for
development of any nation. Per capita energy consumption is
an index for development of any nation. Aim of our proposed
hybrid renewable energy system is to increase the per capita
energy consumption in Bangladesh while keeping
environment clean and safe.

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