Hybrid renewable system based on solar wind and fuel cell energies coupled with diesel engines for Tunisian climate: TRNSYS simulation and economic assessment

Abstract

The current investigation examines the feasibility and design of hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) based on wind turbine, photovoltaic, and fuel cell technologies, coupled to diesel engines system to meet the power demand of an off-grid residential community located at the village of Sidi Daoud in Tunisia. Techno-economic study of HRES is carried out to propose the optimized system that satisfies a better performance, enhances the penetration of renewable energy, diminishes the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and reduces the carbon dioxide gas emission. It is shown that the system guarantees a dumped energy of only 4.7%, less than 0.05% of unmet power and reduced power losses resulting from converting procedure of 1.02% from the total production. From a financial perspective, the proposed model presents a competitive LCOE of $0.0492/kWh and a renewable fraction of 35.52% with further diminished carbon dioxide emission.