Alemu, Demiss (Associate Professor)Girma, Misrak2018-07-312023-11-182018-07-312023-11-182016-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/10680The tendency to use renewable energy resources has grown continuously over the past few decades, be it due to fear over warnings of global warming or because of the depletion and short life of fossil fuels or even as a result of the interest which has developed among researchers doing scientific research into it. This work can be considered as joining any of these groups with an objective of supplying drinking water to the society living in rural areas of the country. The aim of this research is to study the Viability of solar/wind and hybrid water pumping system to remotely located communities detached from the main grid line in Ethiopia. Three regions of Ethiopia selected for the study; there solar and wind energy potential determined based on the data of National Metreology Services Agency (NMSA) and NASA satellite data. The regions are Tigray, Amhara and Oromia. In addition, for hybrid water pumping system Afar region included. Generally, in this study four geographically different regions considered for standalone solar /wind and hybrid water pumping system. One potential site selected from each regions for solar photovoltaic water pumping system. From Amhara region Siadeberand Wayu site with an latitude 9º46' N, longitude 39º40' E and altitude 3009 m a.s.l; from Oromia region wolmera site with latitude 9º13' N, longitude 38º39' E and altitude 2400 m a.s.l and from Tigray region Enderta site with latitude 13º48' N, longitude 39º55' E and altitude 2247 m a.s.l. PVsyst 5.56 software used to study the feasibility of solar photovoltaic water pumping system. The designed system is capable of providing a daily average of 10.5, 7 and 6.5 m3/day for 700, 467 and 433 people in Siadberand Wayu, Wolmera and Enderta sites respectively. Average radiation determined from the data used as an input for software The output of the simulation of solar photovoltaic water pumping expressed in terms of annual water delivered , missing water, excess ( unused) PV energy, and system efficiency during the year ( performance ratio) and economic analysis expressed by global investment, yearly cost and cost of water pumped. Viability of Solar/Wind and Hybrid Water Pumping System for Off-Grid Rural Areas in Ethiopia Misrak G. iii Similarly, one potential site selected from each regions for wind power water pumping system. From Amhara region Siadeberand Wayu site with an latitude 9º46' N, longitude 39º40' E and altitude 2625 m a.s.l; from Oromia region Adami Tulu Site with latitude 7º52' N, longitude 38º42' E and altitude 1665 m a.s.l and from Tigray region East Enderta site with latitude 13º42' N, longitude 39º37' E and altitude 1926 m a.s.l. The design results show that a 5.7 m diameter windmill is required for pumping water from borehole through a total head of 75, 66 and 44 m for Siyadberand Wayu, Adami Tulu and East Enderta to meet the daily water demand of 10, 12 and 15 m3, respectively. MATLAB software was used for simulation of the performance of the selected wind pump and the result showed that monthly water discharge is proportional to the monthly average wind speed at the peak monthly discharge of 685 m3 in June,888 m3 in May and 1203 m3 in March for Siyadberand Wayu , Adami Tulu and East Enderta sites, respectively. An economic comparison was carried out, between windmill and diesel water pumping system using LCC (life cycle cost) analysis method and the results show that windmill water pumping systems more feasible than Diesel systems. In this research, a hybrid (solar/wind) water pumping system capable of supplying 20 m3 of water per day for 1000 people with average daily water consumption of 20 liter per person at a total head of 50, 75 and 100 m has been designed. The feasibility study of hybrid water pumping system was carried out by selecting four sites from three different administration regions. Atsbi site from Tigray region, Awash Fentale site From Afar, Borena and Adami Tulu site from Oromia region. The system consists of two technologies: wind pump and solar pump. The MATLAB software was used to study the feasibility of hybrid water pumping system for the selected sites. Comparison of unit cost of water shows that Standalone PV and Windmill system are economically optimal compared to the hybrid system.enThermal and Energy ConversionThesis