International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering (IJITEE) ISSN: 2278-3075, Volume-8 Issue-10, August 2019 3852 Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering & Sciences Publication Retrieval Number J99980881019/2019©BEIESP DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.J9998.0881019 Abstract: The review the power situation of one of Kano Free Trade Zone, one of the Federal Government of Nigeria’s own Export Processing Zones and simulated a hybrid power plant for the Zone and nearby community. It is found that, the power requirements of the Zone are current provided for through an unreliable Grid and 1MW diesel generator, which is quite expensive and unsatisfactory for a manufacturing site. The paper gathered solar resources information of the site using Global Solar Atlas and use the HOMER Grid optimization feature to simulate the most appropriate capacity to provide the recorded load of the Zone. The simulation proposed four viable systems out of which two are considered and recommended for implementation at the Zone as they provide the opportunity for the Zone to provide itself with renewable power using Grid Tied Solar-PV/Diesel hybrid and even sell more power to the grid, nearby community and installations. Keywords : Hybrid, power plant, export processing zone, Kano - Nigeria I. INTRODUCTION The impact of distributed power generation on overall access to (clean) energy, pressure on the national grid, total power generation and host of other economic and environmental factors have been documented by a good number of studies for some time now (Suberu et al., 2013; Adaramola, Paul and Oyewola, 2014; Trotter, McManus and Maconachie, 2017; Oyedepo et al., 2018). The situation of Nigeria’s power sector can be greatly enhanced through distributed generation especially if strategically done to cluster around key industrial and commercial centres in various cities around the country. The Kano Free Trade Zone (KFTZ) in Kano city of Nigeria provides such good candidate location that stand to benefit the highest from such arrangement. Fortunately enough policy regulations have been evolving in the country over the years to enable the deployment of micro power plants at strategic locations (FMPS, 2006; FME, 2010; ECN, 2012; EREP, 2012; MoP, 2015). The Presidential Task Force on Power (PTFP) has come up with a number of initiatives in this regards (FGN, 2011; Dagogo-Jack, 2012; Oleka, Ndubisi and Ijemaru, 2016; US-ITA, 2018), however, the response of the public and Revised Manuscript Received on August 05, 2019. Ahmad Garba Khaleel*, Department of Economics and Development Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Federal University - Dutse (Jigawa) Nigeria. Email: ahmad.khaleel@fud.edu.ng Mridul Dharwal PhD, Department of Economics & Int’l Business, School of Business Studies, Sharda University, Greater Noida (UP) India. Email: mridul.dharwal@sharda.ac.in private capital seem to be lagging behind (Agbetuyi, 2018), mainly due to a number of challenges including inadequate technical, management and financial capability locally (Emodi and Yusuf, 2015; Mas’ud et al., 2015; Akinwale and Adepoju, 2019). The technical and financial absorptive capacities are also inadequate to the meet the current challenges not only in power, but other sectors. The use of simulation have been adopted for some years to build the needed confidence in technical, management and financial estimates that enable informed and effective decision making towards developing power and other project around the world (Abam and Effiom, 2015; Olatomiwa et al., 2015; Olatomiwa, 2016; Acakpovi et al., 2017; Ouedraogo, 2017; Movahediyan and Askarzadeh, 2019). The same can be used to train and develop the needed capacities and confidence in working towards meeting the ever growing energy demand in Nigeria strategically. The energy (and particularly power) demand growth in Nigeria and Africa has been and based on population projections will continue to grow towards 2050, and from the available studies there are available resources that can be harnessed to meet this growing demand (Adeyanju and Manohar, 2011; Adaramola, 2012; Felix et al., 2012; Mas’ud et al., 2015). Therefore, the use of modelling and simulation can help tremendously in this regards to provide the low cost avenue for design, development, deployment and testing of planned power plants in Nigeria (Khaleel and Chakrabartib, 2019). This study attempts simulating a hybrid power plant in Kano to generate and supply power first to KFTZ, and in the event of excess generation will then be supplied to the nearby communities. Current load information is obtained via telephonic interview with and email questionnaire sent to and responded to by the contact office representative of KFTZ. The use of HOMER Grid software and the World Bank Global Solar Atlas is employed to design, estimate and test the plant’s capacity to supply all or a share of the power need of the KFTZ. II. THE KANO FREE TRADE ZONE (KFTZ) KFTZ is the Second Federal Government owned free trade zones established and run under section 1 of Nigeria Export Processing Zones (NEPZA) Act 63 of 1992, located in Kano, northern Nigeria with a growing number of local and foreign companies setting up manufacturing plants there. KFTZ was pronounced an Export Processing Zone in 1998, however, the transformation to Free Trade Zone was approved by Mr. President-In-Council in 2001. Simulating Hybrid Power Plants in Strategic Industrial Areas in Nigeria: Solar PV-Diesel Hybrid for Kano Free Trade Zone Ahmad Garba Khaleel, Mridul Dharwal