Techno-economic Effects of Renewable Energy Technologies on a Microgrid System for Residential Buildings

The availability of solar energy has encouraged the application of renewable energy technologies in the grid-connected power system. A microgrid (MG) system provides electricity to the local areas based on the load requirements and variations of local renewable energy resources. The objective of this study is to assess the technical and economic feasibility of an MG system. The economics of an MG is investigated with the aim of promoting renewable energy technologies such as photovoltaic and battery system. In view of this, the optimal configuration of the proposed MG system is achieved with the application of the HOMER software. In this study, the green technologies are applied in the grid-connected system that serves a medium-sized residential building. It can be seen from the study results that the proposed configuration of the MG system is cost-effective and environmentally friendly. This leads to the improvement in the annual cost savings and reduction of energy purchased, cost of energy, total net present cost and greenhouse gas emissions respectively.