Integration of Renewable Energy Resources to Utility Distribution Network: A Case Study of Hussaini Adamu Federal Polytechnic Kazaure Jigawa State Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria is a country in West African region of the world blessed with enormous potential of renewable energy resources such as wind, hydro, solar, animal waste and municipal waste. Despite the availability of these energy resources in large quantity, the country is still ranked among the countries in the world with very poor access to electricity. This paper tends to suggest an approach towards solving the problem of irregular supply of electricity in Hussaini Federal Polytechnic located in Jigawa, a state in northwestern part of Nigeria. This approach involves sectionalizing the polytechnic into two sections and integrating photovoltaic energy system to an already existing utility distribution network in each of the sections. These interconnected energy sources are to be used in charging the storage systems located within each of the sections. Electricity will be supplied to the load in a particular section from the storage system located within the section, through existing distribution network in the polytechnic. The sizing of the storage system, the inverter, the charge controller and the photovoltaic array were done by normal renewable energy system calculation. From the results obtained, each of the sections will require a set of 250kW 480V hybrid inverter, twenty thousand pieces of 250W/24V photovoltaic panels and 2,798.5kWh battery capacity.