Optimal sizing and feasibility analysis of hybrid energy microgrid system using multi‐objective moth swarm algorithm

The aim of this study is to evaluate the economic, technical, and environmental performances of grid-tied and stand-alone hybrid renewable energy systems (HRESs) in 21 provinces in seven regions of Turkey, considering different regional solar radiation and wind speed diversity. HRES were designed and modeled using the Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources software (HOMER PRO) to meet the daily load of 13.26 kWh/day of a household. The analysis results for each province were compared considering the cost of energy, net present cost (NPC), greenhouse gas emissions, renewable fraction (RF), and optimum system configuration. The findings demonstrated that the optimal system configurations are Grid/PV/WT and PV/WT/DG/BESS for grid-tied and stand-alone HRES, respectively. The value of NPC ranges from <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\$ $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 2,540.00 to <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\$ $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 8,951.00 for grid-tied HRES, while it varies from <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\$ $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 23,372.00 to <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\$ $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 40,858.00 for stand-alone HRES. The provinces of Çanakkale in the Marmara Region and Artvin in the Black Sea Coast Region have the lowest and highest NPC values, respectively, for all systems. The PV capital cost, WT capital cost, BESS capital cost, solar radiation, and wind speed are considered as sensitivity input parameters that might affect the economic output of the HRES in this study. According to the sensitivity analysis, the NPC value as an economic indicator input decreased for both on-grid and off-grid HRES as the wind speed and solar radiation increased. It was also found that when the capital cost of PV panels and WT were changed, the NPC of the stand-alone HRES was in the range of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\$ $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 21,402.27- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\$ $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 29,978.89 for the province of Çanakkale, while it was in the range of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\$ $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 37,518.11- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\$ $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 51,939.00 for the province of Artvin. Moreover, when solar radiation and wind speed were increased, the results showed that NPC and CO2 emissions decreased by 9.30% and 9.23%, respectively, for Çanakkale, and by 25.58% and 66.95%, respectively, for Artvin. Finally, the results indicated that the optimal system configuration changes depending on the PV and WT capital cost variations for the grid-tied HRES. This research can be useful for planning grid-tied and stand-alone HRES from different aspects in Turkey, as well as other countries around the world. It contributes to the literature by comparing grid-tied and stand-alone HRES to determine the optimum system configuration and to find the best optimization results in seven regions of Turkey under different climate conditions. In addition, most of the studies related to HRES for residential areas in the literature are reviewed in this research, which intends to serve as a guide for engineers and researchers.

An environmentally friendly factory in Egypt based on hybrid photovoltaic/wind/diesel/battery system

This paper presents a feasibility and sensitivity analysis of renewable energy-based off-grid and grid-connected microgrids by investigating the potentials of wind and solar energy at different areas, namely, Kuakata, Sitakunda, Magnama, Dinajpur and Rangpur in Bangladesh - a country that experiences a tropical climate. A specialized neural network algorithm has been employed to track the wind speed and solar irradiance all year round in two salient regions and the promising results have been analyzed for making the decision whether the data are reliable for forecasting or not. Four different types of models including PV-Grid, Wind-Grid, Wind-PV-Grid, and off-grid hybrid renewables are designed using the Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER Pro) software. By considering the key factors: net present cost, cost of energy, renewable fraction, local load demand, availability of renewable energy resources, system economics and greenhouse gas emissions, the optimal hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) configurations (Wind/PV/Grid/Battery) for the mentioned regions are determined. Various sensitivity and optimization variables, such as RE resources, local load demand, grid energy price, nominal discount rate, the life-time of wind turbine, the capacity of wind turbine, PV arrays, converter, and battery are used to make the decision. Detailed sensitivity analyses are performed to investigate how the optimal system configurations change with a tiny variation in input variables and results show output results are more sensitive on the variations in long-term average wind speed and solar irradiance, nominal discount rate, and the lifetime of wind turbines than the other inputs which is definitely a vital finding of this investigation. Finally, considering several decision making factors, a detailed feasibility chart is presented for two distinct nominal discount rates, i.e., 9% and 10%, which depicts the economically viable renewable energy based plant size in the mentioned regions. Although the crux of this paper is based on providing low-cost electricity to people living in rural areas of Bangladesh, our propositions carry with them certain concomitant benefits, not least of which are environmental and social benefits.

The absence of electricity is among the gravest problems preventing a nation’s development. Hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) play a vital role to reducing this issue. The major goal of this study is to use the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA)-II and hybrid optimization of multiple energy resources (HOMER) Pro Software to reduce the net present cost (NPC), cost of energy (COE), and CO2 emissions of proposed power system. Five cases have been considered to understand the optimal HRES system for Kutubdia Island in Bangladesh and analyzed the technical viability and economic potential of this system. To demonstrate the efficacy of the suggested strategy, the best case outcomes from the two approaches are compared. The study’s optimal solution is also subjected to a sensitivity analysis to take into account fluctuations in the annual wind speed, solar radiation, and fuel costs. According to the data, the optimized PV/Wind/Battery/DG system (USD 711,943) has a lower NPC than the other cases. The NPC obtained by the NSGA-II technique is 2.69% lower than that of the HOMER-based system.

Techno-economic analysis of a stand-alone hybrid renewable energy system with hydrogen production and storage options

Techno-economic analysis of a hybrid renewable energy system for an energy poor rural community

Microgrids being an important entity in the distribution system, and to get their full advantages by incorporating maximum distributed generation, standalone hybrid renewable energy systems (HRESs), being environmentally-safe and economically-efficient, are considered as the promising solution to electrify remote areas where the grid power is not available. In this work, a techno-economic investigation with an optimal design of HRES is presented to fulfill the domestic electricity need for a residential area of the Sherani district in the Province of Baluchistan, Pakistan. Nine case studies based on PV/wind/diesel/battery are analyzed based on net present cost (NPC), cost of energy (COE), and emission to decide the feasible solution. HOMER tool is utilized to accomplish modeling and simulation for economic analysis and optimal sizing. Simulation results demonstrated that HRES with PV-wind-battery is the most viable option for the specified area, and the optimal sizing of components are also obtained with $ 28,620 NPC and $ 0.311/kWh COE which shows 81.65 % reduction in cost and 100 % preserving in toxic emission while fulfilling 100 % energy demand with 67.3 % of excess energy. Furthermore, MATLAB/Simulink modeling for the optimally designed system is built for technical analysis while its effectiveness is proved by keeping dc and ac buses voltage constant, safe operating range of battery state of charge (SOC) with active power balance between HRES components, as well as efficient ac voltage quality, regardless of generation disturbances and load fluctuations. The output signal has total harmonic distortion (THD) of 0.30 % as compared to 5.44 % with the conventional control scheme. The novelty lies in the sequential application of both HOMER and MATLAB simulations of the proposed HRES model and validation of the proposition for the studied area; by using and implementing model predictive control (MPC) of a reconfigurable inverter.

Optimum capacity of hybrid renewable energy system suitable for fulfilling yearly load demand for a community building located at Vaddeswaram, Andhra Pradesh

In this study, a hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) composed of solar photovoltaic and biogas co-firing is designed for a hazelnut cracking plant in Ordu province of Turkey. Technical and economic analysis are carried out based on the change in government incentives on renewable sources before (Option A) and after 2021 (Option B) based on net present cost (NPC) and cost of energy (COE). In addition, four different HRES configurations namely Scenarios 1, 2, 3, and 4 are analyzed to compare energy generation with/without co-firing of hazelnut shell and natural gas alongside with/without solar photovoltaic (PV). Sensitivity analysis is also made by considering grid sale capacity, inflation rate, discount rate, biomass price, and sellback rate. It is found that Option A has the lowest NPC and COE values, which are estimated as $3.000 M and $0.098/kW, respectively. In the sensitivity analysis of HRES configuration, total NPC and COE values between nominal discount rate and biomass price generally increase, while the values between expected inflation rate and sellback rate are on a downward trend. Consequently, Scenario-4 has the lowest NPC and COE values, and the highest renewable fraction at around 73.6%, whereas CO2 and NOx emissions are lowest in Scenario-2.

The objective of this paper is to investigate the potential of reducing the dependence on the consumed energy from the main grid using a Hybrid Renewable Energy System (HRES) at two university’s locations, namely; Al Baha University and University of Bahrain. The feasibility analysis of a HRES includes technical and economic features, which is examined for photovoltaic array (PV), wind turbine (WT), DC/AC converter, and battery banks at autonomous and grid-connected modes. The simulation results address that the developed system at University of Bahrain has the lowest Net Present Cost (NPC) and Cost of Energy (COE). It can be recognized from the simulation results that NPC of a developed Grid/PV system is more appropriate than other configurations, at the current tariff, which results a renewable fraction of more than 30% and 54.3% reduction in CO 2 . University of Bahrain has the optimized system of integration of 36 kW PV array with the main grid which leads to the minimum cost of energy (COE) of 0.0749 $/kWh. The study also provides an optimal configuration of HRES-only system to cover the full load demand (>99.9%) by a contribution from solar PV by 74.8%, wind energy shares 15% of load demand, and 10.2% from battery. The study addresses two major contributions. Firstly, the lowest COE determines the optimal configurations for fully supply the load at different locations of the university’s buildings. Then, it applies the feasibility and sensitivity analyses for several case studies such as payback time, tariff changes, and load demand variation.

Analysing wind power penetration in hybrid energy systems based on techno-economic assessments

Dispatch strategies based performance analysis of a hybrid renewable energy system for a remote rural area in India

Although much attention has been paid to the utilization of hybrid renewable energy systems for either commercial buildings or residential ones, rare studies dealt with the application of off-grid hybrid renewable energy systems for commercial buildings. This paper presents a comprehensive study on the techno-economic performance of a stand-alone hybrid photovoltaic (PV)-wind-battery system for an office building located in Tehran, Iran. The Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables model was used to investigate the optimal design options and the techno-economic viability of the hybrid renewable energy system installed in that building. The proposed hybrid system based on renewable resources was designed to electrify the restrooms of the building. An optimal system configuration was chosen based on the total net present cost (NPC) and cost of energy (COE). The simulation results demonstrated that the optimum structure for the hybrid system for the primary load demand of 5.6 kW h per day, consists of 3 kW PV modules, 1 kW wind turbine, 1 kW inverter, and sixteen 200 A h batteries. The total NPC of such a system was estimated to be $21 132, while the COE was $1.543 per kW h. In addition, the proposed hybrid energy system could provide 2733 kW h additional electricity to the office building. Furthermore, in the last part of this research, a sensitivity analysis for different parameters such as primary load, wind speed, global solar radiation, interest rate, total NPC, cost of electricity, number of batteries and total electrical production was performed to demonstrate and elaborate the effect of each decision variable on the configuration of the optimum hybrid system. It became clear that two hybrid system configurations, i.e., PV-Wind-Battery and PV-Battery systems, are suggested as the most economical and feasible alternatives and have wide range of usage for different load demand values. Additionally based on the change in the initial design parameters such as wind speed, global solar radiation, load demand, and the real interest rate, a comparison between these two hybrid systems in terms of the total NPC, COE, electrical production, excess electricity, and grid extension distance has been made to investigate the effect of each decision variable on the optimal combination and the techno-economic viability of the hybrid renewable energy system.

The optimal configuration of hybrid renewable energy (RE) system is useful for ensuring enough power is generated to meet the demand with reliable and cost effective manner. This is an alternative environmental friendly approach to reduce the use of diesel generators and cost of power generation. It is also a step to support the government's intention to move towards green energy. In this paper, the hybrid of micro-hydro, solar, diesel generator, power converter and battery as back-up supply are the basic components considered in the optimal sizing and operation of hybrid RE system. Based on the domestic load at Kampung Pasir Raja, Dungun, the proposed hybrid RE system is determined and analyzed by using the Hybrid Optimization Model for Electrical Renewables (HOMER) software. This paper discusses thoroughly on the best combination of hybrid RE system determined based on the lowest Total Net Present Cost (TNPC). Furthermore, the results have shown that the TNPC produced by the hybrid RE system is better than the conventional energy that is the diesel generator.

This paper presents a techno-economic analysis of hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) to supply the electrical load requirements of the Central Library of Istanbul Esenyurt University located in Istanbul, Turkey. The standalone HRES (PV/Wind/Fuel Cell/Electrolyzer, PV/Fuel Cell/Electrolyzer and Wind/Fuel Cell/Electrolyzer etc.) considered in the analysis were comprised of different combinations of PV modules, Fuel Cell and wind turbines supplemented with hydrogen storage. Meanwhile, wind and solar energy potential in Esenyurt region in Istanbul is fairly appropriate for supplying energy requirements of some places with no high electricity load like libraries. In this study, the HOMER software is used as the assessment tool to determine the optimal configuration of HRES taking total net present cost (NPC) and cost of energy (CoE) into consideration. As a result, it is determined that the optimal system configuration of standalone Wind/PV/Fuel Cell/Electrolyzer hybrid renewable power generation system with the lowest total NPC consists of 25kW PV array, 40kW Wind turbine, 20kW Fuel Cell, 25kW power converter, 50kW electrolyzer and 100kg hydrogen tank and also that total NPC and CoE of the optimal configuration are estimated to be $809,442, $2.040/kWh, respectively. Renewable fraction of the hybrid system is 100%. Electricity generated through this hybrid system is completely clear and no harmful emission gases in this hybrid system are generated and there is no contribution of the HRES to the pollution of environment.