Self-Generating Electricity in Iraqi Universities to Maintain the Universities' Competitiveness

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Many developed countries have adopted modern techniques to increase the use of renewable energy systems and resources; thus, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel depletion. In this regard, the Iraqi government encourages companies to develop renewable alternative energy systems. This approach plays an important role in reducing the high dependency on fossil fuels for electricity generation. Education and research organizations have become the first institutions to install renewable energy facilities in their buildings. However, studies about the possibility of using renewable energy resources in Iraq are limited. The required energy generation is one of the main social issues in Iraqi universities. The loads in Iraq have expanded during the last few years while generation stations and networks have remained the same. As highlighted by the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, the energy needs of educational organizations have rapidly increased during the last few years because of an increase in the number of Iraqi universities. The energy supply of Iraqi universities is currently divided between national grid electricity and diesel generators. The electricity consumption of Iraqi universities will continue to increase in the future because they are operated using electricity-oriented products. Thus, most universities are looking forward to reduce electricity bills in their educational services. This phenomenon indicates that establishing sustainable renewable energy facilities plays a main role in increasing competitiveness among universities. This work presents several techniques for satisfying the electricity demand. Hybrid optimization of multiple energy resource software has been used to investigate possible solutions that can be applied to generate the required power for Babylon University, Engineering College. This college often uses the electricity grid and diesel generators. After implementing new policies, the college of engineering attempted to effectively design a renewable power generation system to be used in place of the present grid-electricity system. The hybrid optimization of multiple energy resource (HOMER) model is applied in this work. The structure of a possible renewable energy system is discovered by this model. The design depends mainly on two important parameters, namely, the cost of energy (COE) and the net present cost (NPC). Moreover, the energy requirements of AC primary load in this college can be satisfied by using this system.