Development and Assessment of Renewable Energy–Integrated Multigeneration System for Rural Communities in Nigeria: Case Study

Abstract

This research designed a multigeneration system that meets the energy requirement of a rural community in Nigeria. This system is powered by the biogas produced from maize silage and chicken manure. Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa, but the country is faced with serious electricity challenges. About 40% of Nigerians still do not have access to electricity, and most of these people dwell in rural communities. The multigeneration system developed in this research produces power, cooling, hot air, hot water, and hot air for green houses. Three power cycles are used for power production, namely the Brayton cycle, the Rankine cycle, and the organic Rankine cycle. The system was analyzed at the steady state condition with more emphasis on the energy and exergy performance. The Emure-Ekiti community in Southwestern Nigeria was used as a case study for this research. The estimated power requirement for this area is 944 kW, and the multigeneration system designed in this study produces 969.8 kW of electricity. The overall energy and exergy efficiency of the multigeneration system are 62.72% and 23.49%, respectively.