Hybrid Renewable Energy System Design and Optimization for Developing Countries Using HOMER Pro: Case of Rwanda

HOMER (Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables) is a tool invented by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) used in renewable power systems optimization. This tool is utilized by researchers to design and model various power system and hybrid system configuration. HOMER has different built-in component and devices such as hydro turbines, PV modules, generators, batteries, converters, utility loads transformers and many more. Researchers are able to simulates different power systems designed by HOMER and also find the most optimized power system configurations considering the operating cost, the net present cost, the carbon oxide emission and comparison of economic viability. Currently the energy demand is highly increasing worldwide therefore the design and implementation of new renewable energy systems with zero gas emission is needed for the future energy forecasting and pollution free energy systems implementation to reduce the dependence on conventional energies. This work modeled a hybrid system for Gicumbi district in Rukomo village in which the designed system deals with solar, wind and converters to decrease amount of electricity paid to the national grid. This work evaluates the power generated, emitted gases, net present cost and the cost of electricity. The work presents various optimized system simulated results. The proposed hybrid wind-PV system scheme is generalized to the most economic comparing to other systems considering the operating cost, the NPC and the toxic gases emission.