Details

3.5 million people from rural communities in Ghana still lack access to electricity, and grid extension to these remote areas, like Adutwie, is economically unviable. This study designs, optimizes, and validates a PV-Wind-Battery-Hydrogen hybrid microgrid for  Adutwies 1,931 kWh/day community load. HOMER Pro (v3.14.2) performs simulation-based techno-economic optimization supported by a complete mathematical model, with a hierarchical Load Following and Cycle Charging Energy Management System implemented independently in MATLAB (R2024b) for validation. A least-cost configuration of 680 kW PV, 200 kW wind (2 units), 1,000 kWh battery bank (10 units), 400 kW electrolyzer, 450 kg hydrogen tank, and 50 kW fuel cell was identified from different sizing options in the HOMER Pro search space, with HOMER results which satisfies validation agreement with MATLAB within 10% across all primary energy metrics, however, battery throughputs deviation by approximately 50%, was expected and attributed to scheduling differences between HOMERs cost-minimizing approach and the rule-based controller, without effecting sizing or reliability outcomes, show a Net Present Cost of $2.29M and Levelized Cost of Energy of $0.278/kWh over a 25-year project lifetime at a real discount rate of 6.94% for the optimized system, against a $6.62M and $0.802/kW, respectively, of diesel-only baseline comparator. The methodology applies to comparable off-grid communities across Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa.