Hybrid Wind-Diesel Energy System with Energy Storage for Remote Applications

Abstract

Off-grid electrical loads are generally powered by diesel generators and despite their flexibility and high power to weight ratio as their advantages; their high cost of operation and CO2 emissions raise the need for better alternatives such as renewable energy sources. Fluctuation of wind speeds is the main limiting factor in considering pure wind energy systems in remote areas. For off-grid applications, a hybrid energy system combines many energy sources to deliver steady and dependable power. Such systems' optimal operation depends on the climatic characteristics of the geographical location and other design parameters such as general system configuration, system components sizing, and fuel price fluctuation. Therefore, the study seeks to design and develop different hybrid wind-diesel energy system configurations for off-grid applications using the HOMER software to determine an optimal model. Three scenarios are investigated in this study: Traditional Diesel Generator; Wind-diesel Hybrid System; and Wind-diesel-battery System. The economic and reliability analysis of the system and the total CO2 emissions as compared for all scenarios. The main objective of the study is to identify an optimal configuration with minimum investment, low usage of diesel generators, to meet the load requirements and reliability of a Hybrid Wind- Diesel Energy System.