Multi‐criteria techno‐economic analysis of solar photovoltaic/wind hybrid power systems under temperate continental climate

Abstract

Climate conditions significantly affect the energy conversion behaviour of solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbine (WT) power systems. However, the quantified relationship between the systems performance and regional climate data remains unclear. This study aims to reveal the techno-economic performance of renewable power systems under temperate continental climate based on a multi-criteria analysis. Through simulating the systems’ long-term operation by collecting the local meteorological data and equipment costs as inputs, solar photovoltaic/wind hybrid renewable power systems in fourteen representative cities of Xinjiang province were assessed and optimized. The results show that there is an obvious linear correlation between technical and economic indicators and solar radiation or wind speed, and the fitting effects with wind speed are always better. In Xinjiang, photovoltaic systems in almost all cities have satisfactory technical and economic performance, but the wind power systems in most cities are not profitable and even lead to unpleasant investment losses. Sensitivity analysis shows that both climatic conditions and feed-in tariff have a negative impact on the system costs. These findings obtained from this study would provide theoretical support for further rationally enhancing penetration for renewable energy generation in contemporary distribution networks.