Comparative Economic Viability and Sensitivity Analyses of a Hybrid PV/Battery/Diesel Generator for Water Pumping in Nigeria

Abstract

The importance of electricity supply in agricultural processing, production and storage in any community or location cannot be over-emphasized. One critical aspect of agricultural production is the availability of water, which requires the supply of electricity. However, one of the factors affecting this sector of the economy in Nigeria is the fact that several farm facilities lack access to electricity supply from the national grid. This paper is interested in the possibility of a standalone energy supply system for agricultural production and the associated cost implication in light of the global spike in fuel cost. The study presents a comparative economic feasibility analysis of a hybrid PV/Battery/Diesel Generator (DG)/Tank water pumping system (WPS) for a remote farm facility in Akinyele Local Government Area (LGA) in Oyo State, Nigeria. It examines five different energy scenarios such as PV/Tank, PV/Battery, PV/Battery/Tank, DG/Tank and DG/Battery systems based on standard sizing approaches. The work also employs five different economic indices such as the Discounted Payback Period (DPBP), Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Benefit-to-Cost Ratio (B/C) and Return on Investment (ROI) to determine the most economically-viable WPS configuration. The result reveals that the PV/Tank has the best economic configuration with the DPBP, NPV, IRR, B/C and ROI being 1.61, $ 12583.4, 74.9 %, 5.05 and 74.1 %, while the DG/Tank has the worst economic performance with NPV, B/C and ROI of $-11120.5, 0.59 and -99.6 %. The study also presents a detailed sensitivity analysis on all the economic indices and the results showed considerable effects, which demonstrate the viability of the standalone energy supply for WPS. The analysis can also be useful for decision-making purposes.