Hybrid Off-grid and Decentralized Renewable Electricity Systems Techno-Economic Model (HOTEM): A building block of a comprehensive techno-economic approach based on contrastive case studies in Sub-Saharan Africa and Canada.

Off-grid and decentralized Hybrid Renewable Electricity Systems (OHRES) offer a promising solution for addressing global energy poverty as they provide sustainable and reliable energy, and are adaptable to many geographical contexts. Building scalable solutions to alleviate global energy poverty requires a deeper understanding of OHRES and the factors for their success. This study focuses on the development and optimization of the Hybrid Off-grid and decentralized systems Techno-Economic Model (HOTEM), used to understand the technical and economic factors affecting the feasibility, sustainability, and reliability of OHRES. This model development is part of a comprehensive study methodology that aims to increase the level of understanding, acceptance, and deployment of such systems on a global level. The paper also covers the OHRES technical layout including an integrated 48V DC Hybrid lead-acid & lithium ion Battery Storage System (HBSS). HOTEM is an OHRES sizing and technoeconomic assessment tool. The model can perform feasibility analysis for electrical energy production, in order to obtain the best configuration and sizing of the hybrid system at the off-grid or decentralized location. The development of HOTEM is based on the on-ground experience gained from the deployment of two OHRES in highly contrasting case studies in Uganda and Canada, which allows HOTEM to be a practical tool, reflecting the practical market needs. The presented model includes optimized technical and economical sub-models, covering the technical modeling of Solar PV, Wind, Genset, battery storage, and load profiling. Besides, the calculation of the dynamic economic indicator, using detailed economical modeling through the newly integrated Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) model. HOTEM performance is analyzed using the OHRES case study in Canada and benchmarked against an existing commercial software, showing that HOTEM can be successfully used in the planning and optimization of off-grid hybrid systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]