Techno-economic analysis for using hybrid wind and solar energies in Australia

Abstract

Hybrid energy production from available resources such as wind and solar are identified as an environmentally friendly alternative for power production. Australia, as a developed country, possesses the potential to use renewable energies. Motivated by the lack of comprehensive research dedicated to the economic analysis of hybrid systems in Australia, the objective of the present work is to propose an optimal integrated renewable energy system model in order to fulfill the electrical energy demands in five major Australian cities, namely, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. To compare the studied cities, ten types of buildings (hospital, hotel, office, mall, clinic, retail, apartment, supermarket, school, and warehouse) have been analyzed in different climatic zones of Australia. The results have revealed that different viable scenarios for the investigated case studies are obtained. Furthermore, the optimal configuration, along with the cost and carbon emission that is obtained in the study, can be applied as a guideline for designing power systems (with a minimized cost) for the considered communities and other cities with similar characteristics (population and climatic conditions).