Design of a Hybrid Microgrid for a Rural Community in Pacific Island Countries_

In Pacific Island Countries (PICs) villages are scattered due to the inherited islanding nature hence access to electricity from utility grids becomes difficult. As a result, rural communities depended on electricity that generated from fossil fuels (FFs) powered generators and renewable energy sources (RES). Localized hybrid microgrids can be designed to cater electricity needs for such communities. The prerequisite for the design of a rural microgrid is: a load model which can be extrapolated either from a similar system or loading information gathered from FF based existing systems. In this paper such an extrapolated model has been simulated to obtain optimum microgrid design for the Nasau Village (Koro Island, Fiji) located in the pacific region which includes a methodology for designing a hybrid microgrid. An estimated load model has been designed for the village based on the existing system load and then the system has been simulated using HOMER Pro (microgrid software by HOMER Energy) to determine the supply required from Photovoltaic (PV) cells, Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) and Diesel Generator in the hybrid microgrid. This paper will help to design a microgrid for a rural community which can serve as a reference for the future development of rural microgrid in PICs.