Optimal photovoltaic capacity planning for windfarm expansion

Abstract

The hybridization of solar-wind projects is necessary to harness maximum potential of renewable energy resources. One of the ways to promote this is through optimizing the usage of land resources for solar and wind farms. It is acknowledged that the solar farms don’t necessarily have good wind resources. But the on-shore wind farms are spread out over large areas, hence underutilizing the expensive land resource. This land area can be used to collect solar radiation cast in between the wind turbines to generate solar power. With the dramatic drop in solar photovoltaic technology and already existing electrical infrastructure in a wind farm, it would be economically advantageous to incorporate solar panels to an existing wind farm. The complementary characteristics of solar and wind energy resources also aids in smoothing the load curve, improving the operation economy. This paper presents a framework to optimize such an upgrade to maximize the energy harvested from hybrid wind-solar projects. One major constraint when placing the solar panels between the wind turbines is the shadowing of the wind turbines on the solar panels. It is hence required to calculate the area available for the placement of solar panels which is unaffected by the shadow of the wind turbines. A case study of Bogampatti wind farm is done to calculate the area available and maximum energy that can be extracted.