Designing Rural Electrification Solutions Considering Hybrid Energy Systems for Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is amongst the least developed countries in the world and has an unusual topography. About 90% of its population lives in rural areas and has little or no access to electricity. At a minimum, achieving PNG's target of 70% of the population having access to electricity means rural access rates will need to rise from 7.6% to close to 65%. The rural electricity market is very complex because the traditional model of utility based centralized grid extension cannot cover the entire population for demographic and economic reasons. Renewable Energy sources present unique opportunities for greater fuel diversity and security.In this work feasibility of hybrid electricity systems consisting of small scale Generating sets, Hydro, solar PV with and without energy storage solutions is studied. The potential of various renewable resources like Hydro, solar resource, etc.is estimated. Electric load for the basic needs of rural community including school, recreational and health centre is estimated. HOMER is used for optimization and sensitivity analysis of different hybrid systems. Considering the load profile and resource estimation, the most cost effective system is proposed.