Solar PV/Diesel Hybrid Power System Design using Macroeconomic Analysis

South Africa (RSA) has the most installed Photovoltaic (PV) panels in Africa yet there is a high level of electricity blackouts, and the National Electricity Supply Commission (ESKOM) supplies over ninety percent of the demand. There has been a large renewable energy wave since 2010 when renewables were detailed in the Integrated Resource Plan. This paper presents an approach to system design, by beginning with a macroeconomic analysis on a load in the country before designing a power system to meet the demand. The Hybrid Power System (HPS) designed is found to be technically adequate, cost effective and have a renewable energy fraction of over seventy percent. The benefit of this approach is that economically the HPS will make sense when used as part of a solution for electrifying a rural or urban area.