Comparative Analysis between Biogas Yield of Human Waste, Kitchen Waste and Solar PV for the Generation of Power in A Remote Station

Abstract

High cost of power and environmental hazards such as CO emission and noise pollution produced by diesel generators has made the use of renewable energy source very necessary. Biogas and solar power are renewable energy sources which can be utilized as a backup in case of power interruption. The present work focuses the ability of biogas production using both human and kitchen waste of a selected building to generate electricity. The expected biogas yield, power generated output, total component cost of the system and payback period is compared to total component cost of installing solar PV system for the same load. The analysis enable us to ascertain the viability of biogas compared to other renewable energy resources. These data are used to determine the standalone component sizes, installation cost and the pay-back periods of both systems. Each component part of both systems were sized according to the load and appropriate costing and its equivalent payback period of 8 years 5 months 8 days and 61 days for solar PV and biogas was obtained respectively. The results obtained were used to determine which of the system is economically friendly and cost effective. Analysis shows that it is cheap, profitable, economically friendly, cost effective and reliable when biogas plant is used as an alternative source of power supply compared to standalone solar PV system. However, the sizing and estimation perfectly meets the station energy requirement. Hence, biogas plant is recommended for this application due to its economic viability.