How can a low-income household procure small-scale hybrid renewable energy system?

Abstract

Purpose The application of hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) can mitigate inadequate access to clean, stable and sustainable energy among households in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Available studies on HRES seem to concentrate only on its techno-economic and environmental viability. In so doing, these studies do not seem to underline the likely challenges that follow the acquisition of HRES by especially low-income households. The ensuing reality is, of course, a limitation in the use of HRES in homes with low incomes. It is therefore imperative to analyze how a household with low income can afford this kind of energy system. The purpose of this study, therefore, lies in presenting a techno-economic, environmental and affordability analysis of how HRES is acquired. Design/methodology/approach To arrive at a grounded analysis, a typical household in SSA is used as an example. The analysis focused on the pattern of energy use, and this is obtained by visiting an active site to evaluate the comprehensive load profile. In the course of analysis, an optimal techno-economic design and sizing of a hybrid PV, wind and battery were undertaken. Additionally, an acquisition analysis was done based on loan amortization. Findings The interesting result is that a combination of the photovoltaic-gasoline-battery system is the most cost-effective energy system with a net present cost of $2,682. The system combination can lead to an emission reduction of approximately 98.3 per cent, compared to the use of gasoline generating sets, common mostly in SSA. If an amortized loan is used to purchase the energy system, and the payment plan is varied such that the frequency of payments is made quarterly, annually, semi-annually, bi-monthly, semi-monthly and bi-weekly, it will be observed that low-income household can conveniently acquire a HRES. Originality/value The result presented a framework by which a low-income household can purchase and install HRES. To facilitate this, it is recommended that low-income households should be given interest-friendly loans, so as to enhance the acquisition of HRES.

A Comprehensive State-of-the-Art Survey on Hybrid Renewable Energy System Operations and Planning

“…The economic and social metrics are concerned with how affordable the proposed HRES is to all across all income levels. The social and environmental indicators investigate how bearable the optimal system is, while the economic and environmental indicators determine how viable the optimal system is [113]. For sustainability, a balance must be achieved among these indicators.…”

“…It however becomes an issue when powering sensitive loads and large scale customers who cannot afford to stay off electric power. Some of the reliability indices that have been applied in handling reliability issues include: minimum renewable fraction [1], [113], [123], loss of power supply probability [37], [124]- [131], loss of load expectation [132], [133], level of autonomy [134], deficiency of power supply probability [135], minimum annual capacity shortage [136], loss of load risks [132], [133], excess of power generation [135], equivalent loss factor [137], expected energy not supplied [138]- [141].…”

Remittances and renewable energy: an empirical analysis

“…literature, covering almost all areas including regulatory (Painuly, 2001;Reddy and Painuly, 2004;Mirza et al, 2009;Asongu and Odhiambo, 2021), economic (Verbruggen et al, 2010;Sen and Ganguly, 2017;Ghimire and Kim, 2018;Babatunde et al, 2019;Villanthenkodath and Velan, 2022), financial (Mirza et al, 2009;Byrnes et al, 2013;Ghimire and Kim, 2018;Kwakwa, 2020), technological (Mirza et al, 2009;Ghimire and Kim, 2018;Moorthy et al, 2019), public awareness (Mirza et al, 2009;Zyadin et al, 2014;Ghimire and Kim, 2018) and information barriers (Al-Badi et al, 2009;Kulkarni and Anil, 2018;Ghimire and Kim, 2018).…”

“…Despite the potential benefits, several obstacles continue to stagnant the development of renewable energy consumption. Several barriers have been identified in the literature, covering almost all areas including regulatory (Painuly, 2001; Reddy and Painuly, 2004; Mirza et al , 2009; Asongu and Odhiambo, 2021), economic (Verbruggen et al , 2010; Sen and Ganguly, 2017; Ghimire and Kim, 2018; Babatunde et al , 2019; Villanthenkodath and Velan, 2022), financial (Mirza et al , 2009; Byrnes et al , 2013; Ghimire and Kim, 2018; Kwakwa, 2020), technological (Mirza et al , 2009; Ghimire and Kim, 2018; Moorthy et al , 2019), public awareness (Mirza et al , 2009; Zyadin et al , 2014; Ghimire and Kim, 2018) and information barriers (Al-Badi et al , 2009; Kulkarni and Anil, 2018; Ghimire and Kim, 2018). The most significant barriers to implementing renewable energy in developing countries are economic and financial ones.…”

Stakeholder engagement by power system experts of Indonesia electricity sector for sustainable energy transition

“…The unique characteristic of residential electricity consumption poses new challenges for future strategies for the supply of electricity (Avordeh et al, 2021;Marszal-Pomianowska et al, 2016), especially with the emerging availability of residential microscale renewable energy power plants that can be operated by the residents themselves (Babatunde et al, 2019;Rahman and Ahmad, 2013;Ruostetsaari, 2020;Siepermann et al, 2021). However, in this particular situation, we need to consider the unique characteristics of renewable energy plants, especially the operation of renewable energy power plants driven by natural activities (Harjanne and Korhonen, 2019;Sunitiyoso et al, 2020).…”