Design strategy for an off-grid solar-wind hybrid power system

Abstract

A solar-wind hybrid power system consists of many components including PV panels, wind turbine, battery, power electronic control and interfacing, etc. Sizing of different components is the main challenge. In this work an off-grid solar-wind hybrid power system is considered for the design. Component sizes are determined in steps based on demand, optimum utilization of components, reliability requirement and cost. Corresponding control strategy is proposed. MATLAB code is developed for the purpose. Internationally available comprehensive data set is used as the design input. The data set includes wind data, solar irradiation data and weather data. Cost of different component is collected from different manufacturer. The dependency of the design strategy of solar-wind hybrid power system on the available natural resources such as the wind speed and the solar irradiation has not been studied yet. Depending on the available natural resources such as the wind speed and the solar radiation the load sharing strategy, sizing of the wind-PV generation and the sizing of battery are the main focus of this thesis. Result from the proposed design output is compared with different types of Solar-Wind Hybrid Power Systems (SWHPSs). Then a Unit Electricity Cost (UEC) analysis for a period of 20 years has been computed for each of the SWHPSs. A comparative study has been made reflecting both the performance and UEC of those SWHPSs so that a solution could be made for the electricity shortage problem. A comparative study with the existing strategies has also been done including their environmental impact in the duration of 20 years.