Optimal sizing of solar photovoltaic–Wind hybrid system

Abstract

Increase in energy demand has made the renewable resources more attractive. Additionally, use of renewable energy sources reduces combustion of fossil fuels and the consequent CO2 emission which is the principal cause of global warming. The concept of photovoltaic-Wind hybrid system is well known and currently thousands of PV-Wind based power systems are being deployed worldwide, for providing power to small, remote, grid-independent applications. This paper shows the way to design the aspects of a hybrid power system that will target remote users. It emphasizes the renewable hybrid power system to obtain a reliable autonomous system with the optimization of the components size and the improvement of the cost. The system can provide electricity for a remote located village. The main power of the hybrid system comes from the photovoltaic panels and wind generators, while the batteries are used as backup units. The optimization software used for this paper is HOMER. HOMER is a design model that determines the optimal architecture and control strategy of the hybrid system. The simulation results indicate that the proposed hybrid system would be a feasible solution for distributed generation of electric power for stand-alone applications at remote locations