Study of Renewable Potential of the Republic of Armenia for Implementation of Hybrid Autonomous Power Supply System Using Solar Photovoltaic Modules

Abstract

Introduction. Solar energy is one of the leading renewable energy industries. Solar photovoltaic modules are most widely used to create hybrid autonomous electrification systems, since photovoltaics are not limited to specific limitations and can be applied almost everywhere.Aim. To determine the potential of meteorological and geographical features of the Republic of Armenia for the implementation of autonomous hybrid renewable energy sources systems (AHRESS) using solar photovoltaics (PV). To simulate operating conditions for various AHRESS configurations providing electric power to a cellular communication base station.Materials and methods. Climatic, geographical, social and economic features of the region of the Republic of Armenia are investigated. Regions are evaluated based on the key factors of AHRESS implementation potential and compared with studies performed by the Effergy-Irsolav. The simulations and technical and economic analysis were performed using the HOMER Pro software in Ttsovinar region.Results. The most efficient configuration is found to be B1, with an energy cost of 0.322 $/kW·h. The parameters of winning system: PV array with capacity of 4.5 kW, 12V battery with 100 A·h capacity, diesel generator with 3 kW capacity. The main efficiency criterion is the low economic costs for the implementation and operation of this AHRESS configuration. Ten additional variants of AHRESS were modeled in order to optimize the component base of the configuration.Conclusion. It was found that, depending on the consumer load, solar photovoltaic converters are limited and can only perform as supporting source of electricity. The use of the existing consumption load profile in the form of BSSS made it possible to cover the widest possible range of configurations of the component base, which indicates the high accuracy of the simulated results and, as a result, the technical and economic relevance of the study.