Hybrid renewable energy systems for energy security using optimization technique

Abstract

The initial cost of a stand-alone renewable energy (RE) option is higher than a conventional fuel-driven engine, but has less or negligible operating cost. Due to advantages of RE on the technology reliability and cost front, system designers are looking for ways to combine both generators - renewable and fossil fuel based into one system known as hybrid power system. Therefore, hybrid power system is used to reduce the dependency either on conventional energy or RE systems (RES). This paper deals with the sizing, generator running hours, sensitivity analysis, optimization, and green house gas (GHG) emission. For this purpose two different locations have been selected where feasibility of hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) is analyzed for the same load demand using different suitable RES. One site is a small remote community of Amini in Lakshadweep Islands, located in southern India in the Arabian Sea, where solar or wind energy is always available throughout the year to provide energy security. Another place is a rural township of Hathras, in northern Indian State of Uttar Pradesh, where agricultural biomass is found in abundance for whole year. For optimizing and simulating the system requirements, practical data is used in the HOMER software of National Renewable Energy laboratory, USA.