Abstract
The increasing demand for electricity and the inability of the current generation systems to meet the demand, urges for more renewable electrical energy systems in South Africa. The Rand West Municipality is a community that has a slow-paced rural electrification and is subject to multiple power cuts weekly thereby affecting the farms and businesses in the area. It is therefore taken as a case study for the investigation of a Renewable Energy Sources (RES) microgrid. A simulation, optimization and sensitivity analyses are conducted to determine the feasibility and optimal RES mix for the location using the Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) software. The simulations yielded an optimal microgrid system consisting of a combination of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels, Solar Concentrated Photovoltaic system, Battery Energy Storage System and a Diesel Generator with a Cost of Energy (COE) of $0.067/kWh compared to the grid COE of $0.12/kWh for this area.