Design and Analysis of a Stand-alone DC Hybrid Microgrid for a Rural Base Transceiver Station in Nigeria

The proliferation of mobile base transceiver station sites in Nigeria comes with a growing need to address those sites’ source of power. Sustainability and mitigating harmful environmental impact caused by the diesel-only method of power generation is of great concern. This article examines the optimal sizing of a small DC microgrid to power an outdoor base station site in Agbaja, a rural settlement in Kogi State, Nigeria. A DC system has better performance because multiple energy conversion experienced in the AC system is eliminated. HOMER pro is used to size the system based on the measured load and available renewable resources. The PV/Diesel/Battery configuration resulted in the least Net Present Cost (NPC), Cost of Energy (COE), and unmet energy. A comparison between this proposed system and the current system shows a reduction in operating expenditure (OPEX) by 75% with zero unmet energy.