Site-specific tailoring of an optimal design of renewable energy system for remote water supply station in Silchar, India

•Solar assessment through statistical analysis is presented for a Northeastern region in India.•Sky condition and solar attenuation are evaluated using Clearness index and Linke turbidity factor.•Optimal design of a renewable energy system for a water supply station using HOMER tool.•Environmental impact analysis shows potential to reduce 98.2% and 96.7% CO2 emission from coal and natural gas based power plant respectively. Solar energy is considered as a potential solution for meeting the electrical needs in remote areas having no access to utility grid. However, its intermittent nature and dependence on geographical location possess a major challenge to design renewable energy system for sustainable utilization of solar energy. In this study, site-specific solar resource assessment using statistical parameters, HOMER based techno-economic assessment, and environmental impact analysis are done to design an optimal solar PV-battery based system for water supply station of a remote area of Silchar, India. The results show that two years’ average daily accumulated global solar radiation is 3.67 kWh/m2-day and the clearness index reveals that 73.5% of the days have partly clear or complete clear sky conditions. The Linke turbidity factor ranges from 3.5 to 5.5. The HOMER simulation results show that 257,014 kWh of energy is produced annually by the PV-battery system and the per-unit cost of energy is found to be $0.307/kWh. The environmental analysis shows that a maximum 98.16% reduction in CO2 emission can be achieved when compared to conventional fuel-based plant. This study provides a realistic approach using site specific solar resource data to optimize a renewable energy system design for remote area application.