Sustainable energy solutions for rural Bangladesh: an optimized hybrid microgrid model

Abstract

Reliable electricity access remains a critical challenge for rural Bangladesh. This study develops and optimizes a hybrid microgrid model for Bahirmadi village, integrating solar PV, wind turbines, a biogas generator, battery storage, and grid support using HOMER Pro software. A rural community load profile was constructed through a bottom-up device-usage approach, while renewable resources were derived from satellite datasets. The optimization identified a PV–wind–biogas–battery–grid hybrid configuration as the most cost-effective solution, with a net present cost (NPC) of USD 189,744 and a levelized cost of energy (COE) of USD 0.0212/kWh. The system achieves more than 80% renewable penetration while ensuring reliable supply. Sensitivity analysis demonstrated that PV capital cost and grid sellback price exert the strongest influence on system economics, whereas wind and biogas cost variations showed smaller impacts. These findings highlight the technical and economic feasibility of hybrid renewable microgrids for rural electrification in Bangladesh. Future work should incorporate field-validated meteorological records and measured rural demand data to further improve robustness and support community-specific implementation.