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Building a Sustainable Energy Community: Design and Integrate Variable Renewable Energy Systems for Rural Communities

Author

Listed:
  • Jawed Mustafa

    (Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Najran University, P.O. Box 1988, Najran 61441, Saudi Arabia)

  • Fahad Awjah Almehmadi

    (Department of Applied Mechanical Engineering, College of Applied Engineering, Muzahimiyah Branch, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia)

  • Saeed Alqaed

    (Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Najran University, P.O. Box 1988, Najran 61441, Saudi Arabia)

  • Mohsen Sharifpur

    (Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield 0028, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
    Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung 404, Taiwan)

Abstract

This study proposes a decentralized hybrid energy system consisting of solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind turbines (WT) connected with the local power grid for a small Najran, Saudi Arabia community. The goal is to provide the selected community with sustainable energy to cover a partial load of the residential buildings and the power requirements for irrigation. For this, a dynamic model was constructed to estimate the hourly energy demand for residential buildings consisting of 20 apartments with a total floor area of 4640 m 2 , and the energy requirements for irrigation to supply a farm of 10,000 m 2 with water. Subsequently, HOMER software was used to optimize the proposed hybrid energy system. Even considering the hourly fluctuations of renewable energies, the artificial neural network (ANN) successfully estimated PV and wind energy. Based on the mathematical calculations, the final R-square values were 0.928 and 0.993 for PV and wind energy, respectively. According to the findings, the cost of energy (COE) for the optimized hybrid energy system is $0.1053/kWh with a renewable energy penetration of 65%. In addition, the proposed system will save 233 tons of greenhouse gases annually.

Suggested Citation

  • Jawed Mustafa & Fahad Awjah Almehmadi & Saeed Alqaed & Mohsen Sharifpur, 2022. "Building a Sustainable Energy Community: Design and Integrate Variable Renewable Energy Systems for Rural Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-21, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:21:p:13792-:d:951914
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    References listed on IDEAS

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