Evaluation of standalone hybrid energy potential of a lighthouse in tropical region

Abstract

The source of electricity supply in remote and island areas are commonly supplied by diesel generator or other fossil fuels based generation system. However, the increasing cost and harmful emissions of fossil fuels have pressured mankind to seek for alternative solution in generating electricity. The earth has vast renewable resources that can be harnessed to produce electricity. Hence, harnessing renewable resources can be an alternative solution in lowering the dependency on fossil fuels. This research focused on the possibilities of harnessing the energy around the offshore of a lighthouse located in the Strait of Malacca to reduce its dependency on diesel generator as its primary source of power supply. With the fact that the Strait of Malacca is blessed with tidal current energy, this research was conducted to design a hybrid renewable energy system that consists of tidal current and solar energy as its primary resources along with backup power such as generator and battery banks to support the electrical demand of a lighthouse. There were five hybrid system scenarios of different combination components were evaluated. A HOMER software was used to determine and compare the optimal configuration of the hybrid renewable energy system with the diesel generator based system. An evaluation of all possible combinations of standalone systems was carried out by considering the amount of fuel consumption, capacity shortage, excess electricity production, unmet energy, and renewable fraction parameters of each system scenario. The best among the five hybrid system scenarios was validated with diesel generator based system. The simulation results showed that the hybrid renewable energy system consisting tidal turbine, PV solar, generator, battery and converter is the best configuration system where it can reduce the consumption on diesel fuel by 84% in comparison to an entirely dependent diesel generator based system. Therefore, the hybrid renewable energy system is highly recommended for isolated or rural areas that have high potential on harnessing renewable energy sources.