Browsing by Author "Mekonnen, Abiyot"

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    Feasibility Study of Renewable Energy Resources for Electrification of Small Islands. A Case Study on Tana Lake Islands
    (Addis Ababa University, 2002) Mekonnen, Abiyot; WoldeMariyam, WoledeGiorigs (PhD)
    The energy problem of islands differs from those in mainland countries because islands need to manage their own energy supplies. The islands are good test beds for the utilization of renewable energy production and storage technologies. The present study relates the main renewable energy resources to the electrical production in the small islands in Lake Tana. The necessity to integrate some renewable energy resources is shown and various storage means are classified. Also, the needs for hydro pumping storage are proposed and investigated as a good solution for promoting to the increase of the penetration rate of renewable energies, particularly in island electrical grid interconnections. In Ethiopia there are two lakes which have Islands (Lake Tana and Lake Zeway). Among them, the island on Lake Tana (Deck Island) is the biggest Island in the country having a total population of about 7000 human residents within five villages. Due to the location of the Island is so far the task of their electrification via grid system very difficult. Kerosene is used for lighting; with diesel power generation isfor milling and pumping, leaving biomass for cooking and dry cells for radio which are being used in this Island. Nothing has been done so far in developing the renewable energy resources, such as small-scale hydro, solar, and wind energy in the Island. In this work, feasibility of renewable energy resources for electric supply system to this small Island is studied using HOMER (Hybrid Optimization Model for Electrical Renewables) software as optimization and sensitivity analysis tool. Meteorological data from National Meteorological Agency of Ethiopia and other sources, such as NASA, have been used for the estimation of solar and wind energy potentials. Electric load for the basic needs of the community, such as, for lighting, radio, television, electric baker, water pumps and flour mills, have been estimated. Primary schools and health posts are also considered as energy users for the community. As a result, based on the storage system, PV/Wind/pumped hydro hybrid system combinations is found as having a cost of energy about $0.151/kWh which is much lower than diesel generators and previously studied PV-battery hybrid systems which is estimated to cost about $0.325/KWh Key words: Wind, Solar, Hybrid, HOMER, Pumped hydro, Load Estimation 8 M.sc Thesis by Abiyot Mekonnen in Electrical power Engineering ECE DeptsAAit Table