Stand-alone wind or photovoltaic power system: A holistic approach for system design and selection

Abstract

Solar energy and wind energy are the most reliable energies that remain yet to be exploited in our rapidly developing country. The main objective of this study is to develop a holistic approach for the design and selection of stand-alone wind, solar renewable energy (RE) systems, or a combination of both, that is, a hybrid system for an industrial site in Mauritius. Sizing of the RE system is performed such that energy and load requirement of the industrial site are met for the whole operation time. A load and electrical energy audit was performed and weather data for the corresponding location was collected from the meteorological station, Meteonorm and NASA SSE. The AS/NZS 4509.2010 standard is used to size each system and for every possibility of RE solutions. The solutions are simulated on the system advisor software from NREL and optimized so that a higher benefit to cost ratio is obtained. The most appropriate solutions are shortlisted and a multi-criteria analysis as well as a cost–benefit analysis is carried out so as to assess each system thoroughly while taking into consideration all the possible factors that may affect the yield of the system, the neighborhood, and even the environment. A simple financial analysis is performed to evaluate the return on investment of the preferred solution.