Hybrid multi-criteria decision-making evaluation of multiple renewable energy systems considering the hysteresis band principle

Abstract

Hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) with hydrogen and batteries can provide clean and reliable electricity. However, there are three main problems in HRES multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) evaluation: the modeling of hydrogen equipment is inflexible; the power management strategy (PMS) in renewable system modeling software is limited and inflexible; and the evaluation indicators are not comprehensive. In this study, Shaanxi is taken as an example to evaluate the feasibility of HRES. Three HRESs with different energy sources are constructed, namely photovoltaic (PV) system, wind turbine (WT) system and photovoltaic-wind turbine (PV + WT) system. HRESs all contain components such as batteries, converter, electrolyzers, hydrogen tanks, and fuel cells. PMS considering the hysteresis band principle are applied to prevent overuse of batteries and delay the degradation of hydrogen equipment. Nine indicators covering technology, economy and environment are applied to the systematic comprehensive evaluation. A hybrid MCDM method combining entropy weight method (EWM) and combinative distance-based assessment (CODAS) is used to calculate indicator weights and HRESs scores. The research results show that loss of power supply probability (LPSP) has the largest weight, which is 0.26, 0.451 and 0.235 in the PV, WT, and PV + WT systems, respectively. When considering only the net annual value (NAV), the cities with the best feasibility of PV, WT and PV + WT systems are Yulin, Yulin, and Yan'an, respectively. And when considering nine indicators from various aspects, the results are Yulin, Tongchuan, and Hanzhong. The system models, PMS and comprehensive evaluation indicators in this study can provide a reference for studying the feasibility of HRESs, and the research results can provide decision-making basis for energy investors and policy makers.