Techno-economic feasibility analysis of hybrid renewable energy system using improved version of particle swarm optimization

Abstract

The present paper presents an improved version of particle swarm optimization method for obtaining unit sizing and techno-economic feasibility analysis of off-grid hybrid energy system for Sundarban region, world's largest mangrove forest located partly in West Bengal, India considering the real load data and other meteorological parameters. Initially the hybrid energy system is designed keeping in mind the load pattern and the availability of the renewable sources of that specific location. The hybrid system is designed with the combination of different renewable energy sources like wind turbines, solar panels along with battery and diesel generator to meet the localized load demand in different hours. Net present cost (NPC) and cost of energy (COE) for power generation have been considered to obtain the optimal unit sizing of the system. Emission from the hybrid system is also considered and compared with a conventional energy system in terms of emission per unit of generation and it is seen that with the implementation of this hybrid system, 0.688Kg of CO 2 emission per unit generation of electricity can be reduced while meeting the local demand. It is also seen that the improved version of particle swarm optimization technique is quite capable of solving this complex non-linear optimization problem quite efficiently. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.