Transition towards net zero emissions: Integration of a PV/T system with a hydroelectric generator and the impact of demand-side management

Abstract

With the aim of diversifying different energy sources and achieving net zero emissions, hybrid renewable energy sources (HRES) represent the future of the world. However, several HRES simulation software do not integrate the Photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) system. This article designs an optimal design model for a tri-hybrid Photovoltaic/thermal/hydroelectric (PV/T/H) system for a rural locality in the North Cameroon region. The two Demand Side Management (DSM) strategies used reveal that the DSM strategy significantly reduced the energy cost by 59 % and the emission by <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mtext>CO</mml:mtext> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> 22 % compared to the No-DSM mode. Although the use of battery storage (BSS) is used in both cases, the optimal solutions obtained thanks to the multi-objective optimization method implemented on Matlab led to 418 PV/T panels, 2 MH generators, 2 diesel generators (DG) and 217 PV/T panels and 1 DG for DSM and No-DSM mode respectively. This study is a demonstration of the effect of dynamic tariffs and active demand management technologies on PV/T/H modeling and optimization. It also reveals the need to hybridize PV/T with other energy systems to increase performance and achieve net zero emissions.