The hybrid power generation and balancing energy supply–demand for rural village in Ethiopia

• Published date: 01 March 2023
• Author: Getachew Tesfaye Gezahegn,Samuel Dagalo Hatiye,Melkamu Teshome Ayana,Abebe Temesgen Ayalew,Thomas Torora Minda
• Date: 01 March 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/opec.12264

1Bureau of Water, Irrigation and Energy,

Wag Himra Zone, Ethiopia

2Arba Minch Water Technology Institute,

Arba Minch University, Arba Minch,

Ethiopia

Correspondence

Samuel Dagalo Hatiye, Arba Minch

Water Technology Institute, Arba Minch

University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia.

Email: samueldagalo@gmail.com

Abstract

Ethiopia has a wide range of environmentally-friendly, renewable energy resources

that can assist the country to overcome its rural electricity problems. The Hybrid

Optimization Model for Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software package

was used to evaluate the viability of solar, hydro and wind hybrid power generation

for a remote community in Ethiopia's Geba catchment. The hydrologic, climatic

and demographic data were used to analyze the community's electrical supply and

demand. Using survey data from chosen residences, the community's hourly and

daily electricity demands were calculated. Two or more schemes were investi-

gated besides the standalone scheme to assess the hybrid system's capacity. Wind,

micro-hydro and solar can generate an average annual power of 96.8, 272.4 and

161.8kW, respectively. A mix of energy sources can meet the community's elec-

tricity demand. During peak demand periods, however, the hybrid system's mean

hourly variability in power production showed inadequacy, which could be reme-

died by power stored in the battery and generator output. The economic analysis

showed that the hybrid system proposed here is less expensive, indicating that

hybrid energy generation might be employed to electrify Ethiopia's remote settle-

ments. We advise decision-makers and power authorities to use hybrid systems for

rural electrification.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

The hybrid power generation and balancing energy

supply–demand for rural village in Ethiopia

Getachew Tesfaye Gezahegn1 | Samuel Dagalo Hatiye2 | Melkamu Teshome Ayana2 |

Abebe Temesgen Ayalew2 | Thomas Torora Minda2

DOI: 10.1111/opec.12264

1 | INTRODUCTION

The UN's Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) targets to ensure access to reliable, affordable and sustainable energy for

all (Taylor etal.,2017). Globally, in the year 2016, 940million (i.e., 13%) and 3billion (i.e., 40%) of the world population did

not have access to electricity and clean fuels for cooking. In Sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 591million people are without access

to electricity and 86% of the population is without clean energy for households in 2016 (Barber,2020).

The provision of sustainable, dependable and cost-effective energy services is one of the world's key concerns today.

Renewable energy is environmentally beneficial, long-lasting and economical. However, in many developing countries, the

development and availability of renewable energy sources are hampered by the status of human settlements. Sparse rural

settlements physically detached from the major grid system are one of the main reasons for insufficient electricity coverage in

many regions of the world (Ritchie & Roser,2019). Although electricity demands in communities located in remote areas are

© 2022 Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/opecOPEC Energy Rev. 2023;47:55–70. 55

continually increasing, most developing countries (especially Sub-Saharan and South Asian countries such as Kenya, Tanzania,

Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, etc.) have found it financially and physically difficult to link sparse settlements to the national

grid system (Pode,2013).

Renewable energy resources, such as micro/mini/small hydropower, solar and wind, are critical for off-grid rural and peri-urban

regions to overcome severe energy supply–demand mismatches. When two or more renewable energy sources are combined (a

hybrid system), it can improve efficiency and balance the energy supply and demand (Asrari etal.,2012). First, renewable energy

resources are dependent on natural systems, especially climatic conditions, which are variable and uncertain. Secondly, the oper-

ation of single renewable energy systems is not reliable due to the nature of the energy sources and the high initial investment.

Therefore, hybrid renewable energy systems are becoming common in remote regions (Hoseinzadeh etal.,2020; Ye etal.,2020).

There is abundant renewable energy resource in Ethiopia to generate over 60 GW of electric power from water, wind, PV

and geothermal sources (Kebede & Mitsufuji,2017). However, only about 23% of the total population has been supplied by

the national grid system. The rural areas are almost disconnected from the national grid while the urban areas are connected

to the grid with nearly 87% of the total power supply (Girma,2016). The use of solar power is highly feasible and becoming

common in many rural villages in Ethiopia. The production of power from wind is also an attractive industry for power gener-

ation (Mazengia,2010). Ethiopia is ranked fifth in Africa with 324 MW installed wind power capacity and a national potential

of 10 GW. There are large wind farms installed in Ethiopia (for example Ashegoda (120 MW installed capacity), Adama I and II

(51 and 153 MW installed capacity); Teffera etal.,2021). However, there is very limited attention on the use and rehabilitation

of small wind power for small off-grid villages (Hailu & Kumsa,2020).

There is limited use of renewable energy sources for electricity generation in Ethiopia. For instance, micro/mini/small

hydropower, solar photovoltaic and wind power systems were not extensively utilized in the nation. The hybrid systems can

easily be provided to isolated environments unlike the power supply from the national grid system. However, very little atten-

tion was given to hybrid systems and few attempts were made to estimate a reliable supply of electricity from the hybrid

systems. Several scholars have studied the use of renewable energy systems and techno-economic viability for off-grid elec-

trification using HOMER (Gebrehiwot etal.,2019; Hailu Kebede & Bekele Beyene,2018; Nigussie et al.,2017). However,

most of the studies were limited to either solar or wind resource assessment and lonely application of standalone systems with

limited use of hydropower as an alternative source. The study on hybrid systems, which included hydro, PV and wind systems

are very few and are less conclusive in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aims to (i) assess the potential power production from

wind, micro-hydro and solar hybrid system in the Geba catchment for rural electrification; (ii) estimate the power demand of

a typical rural village (Seyemtribua) and compare the different temporal power generation scenarios of the hybrid system and

(iii) the economic feasibility of the hybrid systems considering different configurations.

2 | METHODS AND MATERIALS

2.1 | Study area

The Geba catchment (3870 km

2) is located in the upper part of the Tekeze basin, Ethiopia. It is located between 13.3° to 14.14°N

latitude and 39.07° to 39.78°E longitude. The elevation of the catchment varies from 1364 m above mean sea level (a.m.s.l) at the

outlet of the catchment to 3064 m a.s.l. at the upper part of the northern Mugulat Mountains. River Geba is the main tributary of

the Tekeze River that drains into the northeastern part of the basin. Seyemtribua is one of the villages located in the Geba catch-

ment. The village is located near the outlet of the Geba catchment, some 95 km from Mekelle, Ethiopia. The annual total rainfall,

mean minimum and maximum temperatures of the village are 1272 mm, 6.4°C and 21.4°C, respectively. The village has about

3978 inhabitants dwelling in 663 households. The Seyemtribua's community livelihood is mainly dependent on agricultural activ-

ities and traditional mining. Figure1 shows the location of the study area and hydro-meteorological stations used in this study.

2.2 | Methods

2.2.1 | Site selection criteria for off-grid rural electrification

We chose the Seyemtribua village (Figure1) as a case study community for rural off-grid electrification based on the follow-

ing reasons. First, Ethiopian rural villages are located in scattered areas making their connectivity to the national grid system

difficult. Second, the settlement of Seyemtribua is located far from the national substations of Mekelle and Yechila. Third, the

GEZAHEGN Et Al.56