In recent years, the concept of hybrid energy systems (HESs) has been widely considered in the rural electrification of isolated or off-grid areas. Many cases have been studied since 2015, and the results indicate that an optimally designed HES is more reliable and economical than single energy source systems. Serving electricity to rural areas which are isolated from the central grid and thus suffer from lack of access requires an appropriate technology selection. In the provision of non-fluctuating electricity to a village on an island located in Mersing, Malaysia, solar energy is perceived to be the best addition to the existing power system that runs with a diesel generator as the main and single source. The area receives 4.46 kWhm−2 of solar radiation per day on average having the hybrid photovoltaic-diesel-battery system set up to supply the energy demand from about 16 households with other public buildings. This paper discusses the feasibility of the proposed system design for rural electrification at Kg Teluk Berhala, Aur Island Mersing, Malaysia and its performance is analysed using HOMER Pro®. A comparative analysis against existing configuration (baseline) and hypothetical configuration was conducted in justifying the hybrid-PV-diesel-battery as the best option for this rural electrification.
Performance of Hybrid Solar Photovoltaic–Diesel Generator and Battery Storage Design for Rural Electrification in Malaysia