Design and optimal energy management of a stand-alone PV/WT/Diesel/battery system with EV charging facility for Thar desert camp: a case study

ABSTRACTDue to different financial restrictions, extending the existing power grid to remote locations like desert camps is not practically possible, forcing the camp owner to utilize expensive and ecologically hazardous diesel generators (DiG). In this regard, renewable sources based hybrid microgrid could be a viable approach toward reliable and sustainable electrification of these desert camps. However, optimum designing and proper energy management of such a system can be a challenging task. In these terms, this study presents a novel model based on the multi-objective PSO (MOPSO) algorithm for optimal design and energy management of a hybrid microgrid employing solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbine (WT), battery, and DiG for electrification of Thar desert camp in Jaisalmer, India. To address techno-eco-environmental aspects, objectives such as Dump Energy (DE), Installation and Operation Cost (IOC), and Reduction of Pollutant Emission (RPE) are considered. The optimal configuration of PV, WT, battery, and DiG are determined based on the maximization of RPE and minimization of both DE and IOC. The proposed model is formulated taking into account the seasonal load variation of a typical camp and the stochastic behavior of renewable energy sources. Moreover, electric vehicles (EVs) charging facility for the tourists staying in these camps is also included while modeling the microgrid system. Furthermore, three distinct system configurations are carefully analyzed over a 10-year period based on technical, environmental and economic indicators. The optimum configuration obtained is the hybrid PV/WT/DiG/battery system with 62 kW PV, 76 kW WT, 350 kWh battery and a 117 kW DiG. According to simulation findings, this system has an operational cost of 323.7 × 104 $ and a pollutant emission of 2034.3 tons, which is 33.67% and 63.32% less than that of the DiG-only configuration, respectively. Moreover, as compared to PV/WT/DiG system, PV/WT/DiG/battery system can reduce dump energy by 81.40%, highlighting the necessity of battery for fully utilizing renewable energy. Overall, this analysis suggests that the utilization of renewable energy sources along with the battery is the optimal planning solution for the camp owner to maximize their potential benefits. Moreover, the proposed technique can be effectively used to optimally design hybrid renewable energy system for other remote locations.KEYWORDS: Hybrid microgrid systemelectric vehiclesrenewable energy sourcesbattery storage systemdesert campmulti-phase planning Nomenclature Nmod=Number of PV modulesFF=Fill factorV; I=Voltage/Current of PV module.VMPP; IMPP=Voltage/Current at maximum power pointV0; IS=Open circuit voltage/Short circuit currentKI; KV=Temperature coefficient of current/voltageTC=PV cell TemperatureT; T0=Ambient/Nominal operating temparaturePtPV=Power output of PV at tth timePsssi=PV power at sith state of solar irradiancePrated=Rated power of WTvws=Wind Speedvci; vr; vco=Cut-in/rated/cutout speedΩp; Ωs=Set of planning phases and seasonsEt,s,pbatt=Battery’s SOC at tth time∂=Self discharge rate of batteryOPt,s,pPV;OPt,s,pWT;OPt,s,pDiG=Output power of PV/WT/DiG at tth timePt,s,pload; Pt,s,pEV=Camp/EV’s charging load at tth timeηbatt,ch;ηbatt,dch=Charging/discharging efficiency of batteryηinv=Inverter efficiencyΔt=Time segmentFuelt,s,pDiG=Fuel cost at tth timeCappDiG=Capacity of DiGSOCt,s,pEV_n=SOC of nth EV’s battery at tth timePt,s,pch,EV_n;Pt,s,pdch,EV_n=Charging/discharging power of nth EV at tth timeηch,EV_nηdch,EV_n=EV’s battery charging/discharging efficiencyINC; OC=Installation/operation costir=Interest ratek=No of years in a planning stageIncostPV;IncostWT;IncostDiG=Installation cost of PV/WT/DiG ($/kW)Incostbatt=Installation cost of battery ($/kWh)OcostPV;OcostWT;Ocostbatt=Operation cost of PV/WT/battery ($/kWh)Copfuel=Cost of fuel ($/L)PEDiG; PEhybrid=Pollutants emission with DiG/hybrid systemECO2; ENO2;ECO=Emission of pollutants (kg/kWh)Eminbatt; Emaxbatt=Minimum/Maximum SOC limit of batteryDoD=Depth of dischargeCbatt=Capacity of batteryEt,s,pbatt,ch;Et,s,pbatt,dch=Charging/Discharging energy of battery at tth timeCapminDiG;CapmaxDiG=Minimum/Maximum power generation of DiG# Subscript s denotes sth season and p indicates pth planning phase=Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsSurajit SannigrahiSurajit Sannigrahi received the B.Tech. degree from the Meghnad Saha Institute of Technology, Kolkata, India, in 2012, and the M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees from the National Institute of Technology Durgapur, Durgapur, India, in 2016 and 2020, respectively. He has more than 3 years of teaching experience. He is currently with the Electrical Engineering Department of NIT Warangal, as a Visiting Faculty (Assistant Professor). His research interests include active distribution system planning, Hybrid renewable energy system design, microgrid and smart grid.