Renewable energy systems are increasingly critical for achieving decarbonization and long-term energy security, particularly in rural regions with abundant local resources. While solar and wind technologies have become cost-competitive, their intermittency limits reliability when deployed independently. Biomass, by contrast, offers dispatchable renewable power but faces economic challenges related to feedstock logistics. This study evaluates a biomass-led hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) for Grenada County, Mississippi, integrating biomass, solar photovoltaic (PV), and wind resources to enhance system reliability and reduce environmental impacts. System performance and optimization were assessed using the System Advisor Model (SAM) and the Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER). The proposed configuration comprises approximately 80% biomass, 10% solar PV, and the remaining share from wind, producing a total annual electricity output of about 423 GWh, sufficient to meet regional demand. The subsystem-level levelized cost of energy (LCOE) was estimated at 12.10 cents/kWh for biomass, 4.07 cents/kWh for solar PV, and 8.62 cents/kWh for wind, with the overall hybrid cost influenced primarily by biomass feedstock transportation and storage. Environmental impact assessment based on U.S. EPA eGRID and IPCC factors indicates that the hybrid system achieves a weighted emission intensity of approximately 28.4 kg CO2-eq/MWh, representing a reduction of over 94% compared to the regional grid. When scaled to annual generation, this corresponds to roughly 197,000 metric tons of avoided CO2-equivalent emissions per year, alongside 80–95% reductions in acidification and eutrophication impacts. The results demonstrate that biomass-anchored hybrid systems can provide a reliable, low-carbon pathway for rural energy development, with further cost reductions achievable through targeted policy incentives and financing support.
Shareef et al. (Tue,) studied this question.