• Energy Research

In today's world, large scale hydroelectric power plants have an impact in the energy demography; although, the huge potential of pico, micro and mini-hydropower plants are still very much untapped. In this work, a techno-economic viability, of mini hydro power potential from drainage water, has been investigated in four areas of Dhaka city. Considering the head of water fall and the flow rate in the drainage system, technical, economic and environmental parameters are studied. 100 kW to 500 kW power can be generated from the proposed system with economic benefit of around BDT 3. 9M to 28M per year, and emissions reduction of around 500 to 3000 ton- CO2/year.

The incorporation of renewable energy and the transportation system can be significantly beneficial for the economy and environment of Bangladesh. The main energy source for vehicles in Bangladesh are the country’s natural gas and fuel. However, due to the rapid depletion of the gas reserve, soaring gas prices and global warming, alongside the environmental pollution caused by burning fuel, this raises concerns about these energy sources. Renewable energy offers a plausible solution to these problems. This paper’s objective is to focus on the maximum usages of a solar photovoltaic (PV) system in electrical vehicles and to minimize the environmental impact in terms of CO2 emission. This system may be partially used to power up the electric vehicle with a charging facility and contribute excess power to the national grid. The modeling, with its optimal analysis of the green transportation system, is simulated using the Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Renewables (HOMER) software. The energy produced by the PV system can provide up to 13,792 kWh/year. Approximately 21% of the total production can be used in the charging station for charging the electrical vehicles and the rest of the energy can contribute to the national grid. Moreover, using the proposed concept of green transport will ultimately reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 52,944 kg/year.

Bangladesh faces a tremendous energy shortage during the dry season. Agriculture is a very important part of Bangladesh and during the dry season this sector gets severe impact for the outage of electricity. To overcome this problem, many solar irrigation systems are already being implemented but most of the systems are using off-grid system. This paper presents the proposed design of an automated real-time irrigation feedback system in which the content, temperature, and humidity of soil moisture are measured automatically using moisture sensors and provide the extra energy to grid through net metering system. The cost analysis of the proposed irrigation model is being estimated using HOMER simulation tools. This proposed model would help the farmers to get water at a cheaper cost for irrigation, and also benefited the owner to gain revenue by selling electricity to grid during the off period of irrigation.

Power is one of the key requirements for the development of economies and upgrading of standards of living of developing countries. Countries such as Bangladesh depend largely on fossil fuels such as diesel fuel and natural gas to produce the main proportion of their electricity. However, this country’s combination of limited natural gas reserves high fuel prices and escalating costs of transmission and distribution lines has greatly increased the unit cost of electricity generation and it is becoming difficult for customers to pay for electricity. On the other hand, burning fuel causes environmental pollution that leads to global warming which is ultimately responsible for climate change and its devastating consequences. In this study, we have recommended a stand-alone system for the traditional consumption of domestic electric use at residential units in Bangladesh. We have shown a comparison of using the stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) system with the traditional grid connection. Although the initial set-up cost is high, it becomes profitable as people are supplied with electricity, which is being generated from PV as a result minimizing the energy cost from the grid, and in addition, they can later make savings from this system. This paper, therefore, aims at determining the optimum size of the rooftop solar home system that will fulfil all the criteria for powering up electrical appliances at an affordable price. Comparative analysis of both energy systems based on the cost calculation has been performed by means of the Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Renewables (HOMER) software. The validity of this proposal and its usefulness is also analysed.

In this progressing technological advancement world, hybrid systems for power generation is one of the most promising fields for any researcher. In this context, photovoltaic-biomass hybrid systems with off-grid applications have become extremely popular with both Governments and individual users in rural areas of any part of the world. This system has gained popularity because of low cost, sustainability and very effective outcome with the use of natural resources at the rural areas. In this paper a proposed hybrid system which contains photovoltaics (PV) and biomass along with an additional storage has been considered to find the different aspects from an end user point of view. It also discusses the feasibility of the proposed model for an off-grid power system located in the remote areas of Ashuganj, Bangladesh. In order to analyse the pollutant emissions and calculate the cost parameters of the proposed system, RETScreen simulation software was deployed. This research also carries out a brief financial analysis considering the annual income of the end user and the payback periods for the installed system. It endeavours to provide complete information about different parameters which also includes the environmental impacts involved in establishing the proposed system. The conventional system in the pilot area is a kerosene-based system, hence in this research, a comparison between the proposed and the conventional system has been analysed using simulated results. The simple payback of the project was estimated to be 6.9 years and this model will be able to reduce the CO2 emissions by approximately 3.81 tonnes per year. The results have significantly supported the proposed system to be more reliable, environmentally-friendly and less costly than the conventional kerosene-based system.