Performance analysis of photovoltaic, hydrokinetic, and hybrid diesel systems for rural electrification in Malaysian Borneo

Abstract

The current work compares the feasibility of using a non-renewable system, a standalone renewable system, and a hybrid renewable system to power up a remote community in Malaysian Borneo. The analysis shows that both the photovoltaic (PV) and hydrokinetic systems can be used to generate renewable electricity, either as a standalone or a hybrid system. Specifically, using a non-renewable system (50 kW standalone diesel system) based on a conventionally high diesel price ($ 1.482/L) resulted in a high net present cost (NPC) of $ 1.788 million. In contrast, a standalone renewable system, i.e., a 280 kW standalone PV system, resulted in a lower NPC ($ 1.615 million) than the standalone diesel system, and it can cater for highly fluctuated solar output with 100% renewables generation. Alternatively, the use of a hybrid PV/hydrokinetic system with a 100 kW PV, 60 kW hydrokinetic turbines, and an 85 kW converter was both economically and technically feasible (with $ 1.714 million NPC), with low water speed. Meanwhile, the use of a hybrid PV/diesel system with 60 kW PV, a 50 kW converter, 120 batteries, and a backup diesel generator could effectively reduce the dependence of electricity generation on diesel supply and resulted in the lowest NPC ($ 1.129 million) among all the analyzed system types. Significantly, the current work demonstrates that the use of PV and hydrokinetic renewable sources of energy in Malaysian Borneo is feasible and deserves more attention to electrify remote communities in Malaysian Borneo.