ABSTRACT

Renewable energy systems such as solar is highly variable and intermittent; thus, they are unreliable for meeting a given energy demand. To address these variabilities and improve their power supply, battery storage systems (BESS), in recent times, have proven to be a variable means of storing up energy for later uses when required.

The BESS allows for easy integration of different renewables, improved energy efficiency, increased reliability of electrical energy supply, and of course, easy access and security of energy. With significant reductions in cost and increased efficiency, BESS will be instrumental to the increased deployment of small-scale power supply systems, particularly for stand-alone applications. As the overall energy efficiency and cost depends on renewable energy sources, designing and modelling a complete energy supply system is imperative to determine the optimal parameters and conditions. This research was therefore carried out to investigate a techno-economic and environmental analysis of a solar PV system with and without a BESS system to determine its viability for use in a selected study location and its optimal performance parameters. The University of Benin (Old ETF 1000LT) at the Faculty of Engineering was used as a case study for the design, modelling, simulation and optimization of a BESS system using the system advisor model (SAM).