Economic analysis of hybrid photovoltaic–diesel–battery power systems for residential loads in hot regions—A step to clean future
✍ Scribed by S.M. Shaahid; M.A. Elhadidy
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2008
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 1014 KB
- Volume
- 12
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1364-0321
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✦ Synopsis
The growing concerns of global warming and depleting oil/gas reserves have made it inevitable to seek energy from renewable energy resources. Many nations are embarking on introduction of clean/ renewable solar energy for displacement of oil-produced energy. Moreover, solar photovoltaic (PV)-diesel hybrid power generation system technology is an emerging energy option since it promises great deal of challenges and opportunities for developed and developing countries. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (K.S.A) being enriched with higher level of solar radiation, is a prospective candidate for deployment of solar PV systems. Literature indicates that commercial/residential buildings in K.S.A. consume about 10-45% of the total electric energy generated. The aim of this study is to analyze long-term solar radiation data of Dhahran (East-Coast, K.S.A.) to assess the techno-economic feasibility of utilizing hybrid PV-diesel-battery power systems to meet the load of a typical residential building (with annual electrical energy demand of 35,120 kWh). The monthly average daily solar global radiation ranges from 3.61 to 7.96 kwh/m 2 . National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) software has been employed to carry out the present study. The simulation results indicate that for a hybrid system composed of 4 kWp PV system together with 10 kW diesel system and a battery storage of 3 h of autonomy (equivalent to 3 h of average load), the PV penetration is 22%. The cost of generating energy (COE, US$/kWh) from the above hybrid system has been found to be 0.179 $/kWh (assuming diesel fuel price of 0.1$/l). The study exhibits that for a given hybrid configuration, the operational