Design and Installation of a Solar and Wind Hybrid System in Kano State, Nigeria

Abstract

This project aims to design and install a hybrid power system that combines two renewable energy sources, namely solar and wind energy, to produce reliable and sustainable electricity. Three solar panels and a wind turbine were installed in order to transform solar and wind energy, respectively, into electrical energy. Additionally, a hybrid charge controller was added to “multiplex” the inputs from the solar panel and wind turbine and give an output voltage sufficient for the 12 V battery. A charge controller was also added to avoid overloading the hybrid controller. A 1kVA inverter also transformed the battery’s DC output to usable AC. For this study, ten-year wind data was analyzed using Weibull distribution through the standard deviation method. According to the results, the test period’s wind speed in Kano at 4.2 m/s for a height of 10 m yielded a turbine output of 72.3 watts. It was less than what the turbine needed to create the system’s 12 V DC output. However, the test results revealed that the solar panels could create or generate at least 12 V for several hours, particularly during the day. The study concluded that, the battery in the system was mainly for stability and backup for use at night. The turbine generated 1.104 kWh and the Solar generated 2.335 kWh.