The electricity deficit in Cameroon is estimated today at 50 GWh. This deficit characterized by frequent and sometimes prolonged load shedding, disrupts economic and social life. To overcome this electricity deficit, Cameroon took the decision to produce 3000 MW of electrical energy from its renewable energies potential. Indeed, the annual solar radiation in Cameroon varies from 4.28 kWh/m2/year to 5.80 kWh/m2/year. It has 25 million hectares of forest covering three-quarters of its territory, amounting to the third-largest biomass potential in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, there is an intense breeding activity for cattle, goats, sheeps and pigs in the Far North region amounting to several million heads and generating large quantities of dung. This paper therefore investigates for the very first time the techno-economic feasibility by using HOMER Pro of two scenarios of hybrid systems namely, PV/Fuel Cell/Electrolyzer/Biogas (scenario 1), and PV/Battery/Fuel Cell/Electrolyzer/Biogas (scenario 2) for energy and Hydrogen production in the city of Maroua, recognized as being part of the sunniest region (Far North) of Cameroon. The combination of electrolyzer, fuel cell and hydrogen tank was used in the present design to reduce battery storage requirement. Three types of household electricity demands communities (low, medium and high consumers) were considered in this work. The results showed that the optimal system architecture for scenario 1 included 144 kW PV module, 15 kW biogas generator, 11 kW converter, 15 kW electrolyzer, 15 kW fuel cell and 5000 kg Hydrogen tank with a dispatch strategy of cycle charging (CC) for low consumers community. For medium consumers community of scenario 1, 879 kW PV module, 15 kW biogas genetrator, 31.9 kW converter, 24 kW fuel cell, 24 kW electrolyzer and 5000 kg Hydrogen tank with a CC dispatch strategy was the best hybrid system. For high consumers community of scenario 1, 11,925 kW PV module, 15 kW biogas generator, 570 kW converter, 266 kW fuel cell, 266 kW electrolyzer and 25,000 kg Hydrogen tank with a CC dispatch strategy was the best hybrid system. Concerning scenario 2, the following architectures were the best hybrid systems: for low consumers, 138 kW PV modules, 15 kW biogas generator, 27.2 kW converter, 15 kW fuel cell, 15 kW electrolyzer, 5000 kg Hydrogen tank and 480 batteries storage bank with a CC dispatch strategy; for medium consumers, 234 kW PV modules, 15 kW biogas generator, 57.8 kW converter, 24 kW fuel cell, 24 kW electrolyzer, 5000 kg Hydrogen tank and 1023 batteries storage bank with a load following (LF) dispatch strategy; and for high consumers, 820 kW PV modules, 15 kW biogas generator, 405 kW converter, 266 kW fuel cell, 266 kW electrolyzer, 25,000 kg Hydrogen tank and 9519 batteries storage bank with a CC dispatch strategy. The levelized costs of energy (LCOE) for scenario 1 were US$ 0.871/kWh, US$ 0.898/kWh and US$ 1.524/kWh for low, medium and high consumers communities respectively. Concerning scenario 2, the LCOE were US$ 0.139/kWh, US$ 0.091/kWh and US$ 0.071/kWh. In addition, it was found a levelized costs of Hydrogen (LCOH) for scenario 1 of US$ 7.66/kg, US$ 4.95/kg, and US$ 0.45/kg for low, medium and high consumers communities respectively. For scenario 2, the LCOH were US$ 3.06/kg, US$ 1.34/kg and US$ 0.15/kg for low, medium and high consumers communities respectively. It was also concluded from the optimization results that the combination of water electrolyzer, fuel cell and hydrogen tank coupled to biogas generator and PV modules could be used as an alternative solution to make electricity available and accessible to the population of the Far North region of Cameroon.
