Cost optimization of a wind-solar-diesel system with battery storage

Abstract

This work presents the optimization of a wind-solar-diesel system with battery storage for a continuous and reliable production of electrical energy. In this context, detailed mathematical modeling of the present system and its operation algorithm has been presented. The objective function of the system is to minimize its cost of energy (CoE) which estimates the average lifetime cost of power production per kWh. The cost elements comprising the CoE include investment costs, fuel costs, and operation and maintenance costs. The optimization is performed in the HOMER software in addition to three metaheuristic optimization techniques namely the Cuckoo Search algorithm (CS), the BAT algorithm (BA) and the Firefly algorithm (FA). The simulations conducted in this paper are based on meteorological data collected from an installation in Bouzareah. Simulation results show the excellent properties and superiority of the CS optimization method compared to HOMER, BA and FA algorithms and demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed hybrid PV-wind-diesel-battery system in Bouzareah.