Techno-Economic Analysis of Standalone Solar Photovoltaic-Wind-Biogas Hybrid Renewable Energy System for Community Energy Requirement

Integrated renewable energy system (IRES) is integration of different energy sources to provide uninterrupted and viable solution for electrification especially for areas not connected to main grid due to difficult terrain and economic reasons. IRES has many advantages like non-depleting, non-polluting nature, better load matching and better renewable energy utilization. In the present study, mathematical modelling, size optimization and techno-economic analysis of standalone IRES have been carried out. Hybrid system is modelled to have maximum contribution from wind and solar energy with minimum net present cost (NPC) of system to meet electric load demand of CRC building, IIT Madras, India (13.01°N and 80.24°E). The results show that most feasible system configuration consists of 12 kW Photovoltaics, 3 kW wind turbine and 15 kW biogas generator with NPC and cost of energy equal to $ 117,098 and $ 0.09/kWh respectively. The IRES generates 71,826 kWh of energy to meet AC load of 64,396 kWh per year. The capacity factor and percentage contribution of PV, wind turbine and biogas generator are 17.8%, 6.57%, 39.1% and 26%, 2.4%, 71.6% respectively. The paper also presents sensitivity analysis of hybrid system with variation in capital cost of different components.