Design and simulation of a Solar-wind hybrid system for chicken farms

The majority of the Kenyan population resides in the rural areas and is characterized by low income and food insecurity leading to high levels of poverty. Poultry production and in particular indigenous chicken (IC) production play a significant role in the economic and social life of these resource-poor households, contributing to cheap source of animal proteins and cash income. Indigenous chickens are present whenever there are human settlements and their economic strength lies in their low cost of production which is a characteristic of the resource-poor rural households. Two of the major challenges facing layer chicken farmers are; the high cost of electric energy used for lighting/heating poultry houses, heating incubators and the cost of supplying sufficient water to the poultry farm. By providing an alternative cheaper source of electricity for the farmers, this inherent costs will be eliminated or reduced hence boosting profits and enhancing growth. This research proposes designing a Hybrid solar and wind electricity generation system to either supplement or replace the electric power from the national grid of a chicken farm.