Improving rural isolated diesel powered electric utility services by hybrid solar and wind energy system

The increase of oil price during last five years has effected the performance of utility electricity services in remote area in Indonesia. Currently, almost every isolated remote area electricity is powered by diesel generation system. This is due the inexpensive, quick set-up of diesel power plant installation in the past. However, since the oil price become more expensive the ever, the Utility Company suffers of high fuel and operation cost, resulting in less reliable electricity services, not only in electricity availability, but also the duration of service. This paper describes a pilot project of Hybrid Solar and Wind Energy System that is developed for improving the rural diesel powered electricity. The system consist of 40 kWp PV system, 4 by 10 kW Wind Turbine, 135 kVA diesel, backed-up with 700 kWh battery system, serving about 300 households in Nemberala Village, Rote Island, East Nusa Tenggara Province in Indonesia, and in operation since March 2008. The design consideration is briefly described in this paper, while the expected performance is estimated using computer modelling. The simulation using computer modelling suggests that the system provides an improvement in services and generation costs. Using the Hybrid system, the electric utility may increase the duration of service from 12 hours to 24 hours, while keeping the energy cost at 0.55 US$/kWh as compared to if otherwise produced by diesel gen-set at 0.69 USD/kWh.