Techno-economic performance study of stand-alone wind/diesel/battery hybrid system with different battery technologies in the cold region of China

Abstract

This paper analyzes the technical and economic feasibility of a hybrid wind/diesel/battery power system with different types of batteries for a small residential area encompassing 280 homes located in the suburbs of Lanzhou, Gansu province in China. The optimal allocation, economic, emissions, electricity output, and sensitivity analyses of the relevant hybrid systems are all analyzed by HOMER Pro software. Results indicate that the optimal hybrid energy system is the diesel generator (DG)/Zinc–Bromine (ZB) system, which contains a 1460 kW DG, 500 ZB flow batteries, and a 400 kW converter. This configuration corresponds to an initial capital of $1,170,200, an operating cost of $507,866/yr, a total net present cost (NPC) of $ 7,735,646, and a levelized cost of energy (COE) of $0.471/kWh. The DG/ZB system provides the lowest NPC and COE compared to a DG system, while the wind/lead-acid (LA) system has the highest NPC and COE owing to the high wind turbine costs. Furthermore, it is found that the DG/lithium-ion (LI) is the most environment friendly system compared to DG/ZB and DG/LA systems. It is also found that selecting the suitable wind turbine can improve the comprehensive performance of the hybrid power system in terms of technology, economy, and environment.