Grid Extension via Designing a Hybrid Renewable Energy System - A Case Study in Nepal

This paper scrutinizes viability of a hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) encompassing wind turbine, photovoltaic (PV), and energy storage device for Kagbeni village in Nepal from both economic and technical points of view. From the economic standpoint, the Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables (HOMER) is utilized aiming to 1) recognize the optimal size of required assets (i.e., PV module, wind turbine, and battery pack) to be integrated into the current system and 2) explore the optimal configuration of the designed HRES to increase the renewable fraction of the system. For the technical analysis, we used Electrical Transient Analyzer Program (ETAP) to practically model the proposed HRES to evaluate feasibility of the optimized HRES in operation modality (e.g., power flow and short circuit analysis). The outcomes of this work verify that the addition of PV and wind units to the Kagbeni's power grid can economically result in a more reliable microgrid enhancing social well-being of Kagbeni's residents.