Energy supply optimization of the microgrids. A case of Wasini Island

Chiro, J. K.

Energy supply optimization of the microgrids. A case of Wasini Island

Date

2024

Authors

Chiro, J. K.

Publisher

Strathmore University

Abstract

The energy transition topic from fossil fuel to non-fossil fuel and non-energy efficient appliances to energy efficient appliances has been gaining momentum since the realization that human socio-economic activities form the major catalyst to climate change. It is therefore clear that conventional power generation sources can hold rapid growth of technological innovations that are putting more pressure on the existing regimes. The pressures put on existing regimes have resulted to innovations of microgrids that uses variable power generation sources from solar and wind to cushion rural communities who are likely to defer their electricity connection due to the rush of providing charging stations for plug in electric hybrid vehicle and EV, also use of cleaning cooking relying on the National grid which has a reserve of only 1100MW. This study looked at the essence of reliable and sustainable microgrids for rural areas such as the case study area. The island of Mkwiro - Wasini is not connected to the national electricity grid and its future access to electricity cannot be immediate. The study identifies multisource hybrid power supply systems that represent the use of renewable technology. In this study wind turbine generators, solar photovoltaic panels, tidal wave energy converters and storage batteries were used to build a block chain microgrid that is optimal based on the performance criteria in terms of cost and reliability. In this study, an energy supply model was designed and simulated using MATLAB 2016a as platform for particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. The algorithm was simulated to generate an annualized system cost and energy index reliability of non-dominated solutions. Three energy supply models were designed to find the best configurations using particle swarm optimization technique. The intermittent nature of wind speed and solar insolation together with random load variation, a time series models were adopted to reflect the stochastic nature. A robustness and reliability test was conducted to determine the impacts of intermittent sources in the microgrid universal performance. Keywords: Energy Reliability, Microgrids, Particle swarm Optimization, wind generators, solar photovoltaic, tidal wave energy converters, annualized system cost and energy index reliability.