Optimal sizing and assessment of grid-tied hybrid renewable energy system for electrification of rural site

Abstract

In the developing countries, rural and remote sites are rarely connected with the national grid due to the lack of transmission and distribution infrastructure. The development of hybrid renewable energy model is an alternate solution to provide electricity accessibility in such areas. In the present research work, a grid-connected hybrid system model has been developed based on the available renewable resources. The proposed model consists of local renewable sources i.e., solar and biomass along with batteries for storage purposes. Major objectives of the study are to optimize the sizing of PV panels and batteries with power sales or purchases from the grid. The net present cost of the system has been minimized which is subjected to power reliability, SOC of batteries, upper and lower bound of SPV and batteries. Discrete Harmony Search (DHS) Algorithm has been adopted to optimize the system. Among the various considered scenarios, optimal configuration includes 30 kW biomass, 83.50 kWp solar PV, 78.70 kW converter and 38.40 kWh battery bank. Further, the optimization result yields the minimum cost of energy and net present cost as 4.66 INR/kWh and 13.07 million INR respectively.