Citation: Ayo-Imoru, R.M.; Ali, A.A.; Bokoro, P.N. Analysis of a Hybrid Nuclear Renewable Energy Resource in a Distributed Energy System for a Rural Area in Nigeria. Energies 2022, 15, 7496. https://doi.org/10.3390/ en15207496 Academic Editors: Yacine Addad, Afaque Shams, Ahmed Al Kaabi, Muritala A Amidu and Samuel A Olatubosun Received: 25 July 2022 Accepted: 10 October 2022 Published: 12 October 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). energies Article Analysis of a Hybrid Nuclear Renewable Energy Resource in a Distributed Energy System for a Rural Area in Nigeria Ronke M. Ayo-Imoru *, Ahmed A. Ali and Pitshou N. Bokoro Department of Electrical Engineering Technology, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Johannesburg 2006, South Africa * Correspondence: ronilekins@gmail.com Abstract: Climate change is one of the global issues being combatted in recent times. One of the measures is a worldwide cutdown on carbon emissions. This has brought about the rapid development of technologies that can best actualise this goal. The decentralised energy system is designed to harness the strengths of small power-generating sources such as renewable energy sources in a noncentralised manner to help meet the global need for clean energy. Renewable energy sources are faced with the challenge of intermittency, which brings about instability in the grid. Another source of clean energy is nuclear energy, which is traditionally large and not flexible; however, the recent development of technology has resulted in a scaled-down version of the large nuclear plants that are more flexible yet provide clean and stable electricity. This paper explores the possibility of deploying nuclear microreactors in the decentralised energy system and describes the features and the challenges of a decentralised energy system. The features of the small modular reactor that make it a viable candidate for the generating source in the decentralised energy system are explored. A case study for a DES system with a microreactor was conducted for a rural area in Nigeria. The HOMER software was used in simulating the optimum system, while TOPSIS was used in ranking the systems. The result showed that the PV/nuclear/battery system ranked first, followed by the PV/nuclear/wind and battery system. Keywords: climate change; decentralised energy system; renewable energy sources; small modular reactors 1. Introduction Energy production (electricity, heat, and transport) produces about 73.2% of the global greenhouse gas emissions [1]. The need to address the issue of climate change has given rise to the need to reduce carbon emissions, resulting in the worldwide interest vested in adopting technologies that best proffer these solutions. The decentralised energy system has gained so much attention recently because of its ability to provide electricity using technology with minimal-to-zero carbon emissions in a sustainable manner. This is also very useful at this time because of the global rising energy need for the burgeoning population, with about 13% without access to electricity [2]. Conventional nuclear plants are designed to produce vast amounts of energy, mainly as a baseload. These giant plants are used in centralised energy systems; they are not usually flexible and cannot be integrated into a decentralised energy system. The problem of climate change has resulted in the need for more sources of green energy, which is seen in the influx of renewable energy sources [3]. Due to the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources, they are mainly best deployed in a hybrid energy system. Nuclear energy is a huge source of clean energy. To remain relevant, there is a need for flexibility and the ability to be integrated into the distributed energy system. Small modular reactors are small-sized nuclear reactors that can fit a decentralised energy system. This work aims to analyse a hybrid system that comprises a nuclear reactor diesel plant and renewable energy resources. This is achieved in a case study of a rural community Energies 2022, 15, 7496. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15207496 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies