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Feasibility Study of Isolated PV-Wind Hybrid System in Egypt

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Samir Dawoud at Tanta University
Samir Dawoud
Xiangning Lin at Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Xiangning Lin
Jin Wen Sun
Jin Wen Sun
Jin Wen Sun
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Merfat Ibrahim Okba
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Abstract

This paper proposes the possibility of using the diesel generator with renewable energy sources (RES) and compares the cost of energy of isolated pv-wind-diesel-battery-converter hybrid system with a stand-alone diesel generator for a rural region in Egypt. The isolated system is also evaluated to find out the quantity of air pollution. The system has to supply a load with an average value of 48 kW and a peak value of 71 kW. HOMER software is used to carry out the cost of energy (COE), net present cost (NPC) and environmental emissions (Kg/yr) calculations of optimization model. The simulation results show that the proposed hybrid system is very economical and environment friendly. The COE for the isolated hybrid power system is found to be 0.139 $/kWh which is more than half of the stand alone diesel generator system.
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Feasibility Study of Isolated PV-Wind Hybrid System in Egypt
Samir M. Dawoud1,a, Lin Xiangning2,b, Sun Jinwen3, Merfat Ibrahim Okba4
Muhammad Shoaib Khalid5 and Asad Waqar6
1-3,5-6School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and
Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
1,4Department of Electrical Power and Machines Engineering, Tanta University, Egypt.
aengsamirdawoud@yahoo.com, bxiangning.lin@hust.edu.cn
Keywords: Wind turbine, HOMER, Optimization, Microgrid, Battery Storage, Diesel Generator, Fuel
Cost, Photovoltaic.
Abstract- This paper proposes the possibility of using the diesel generator with renewable energy
sources (RES) and compares the cost of energy of isolated pv-wind-diesel-battery-converter hybrid
system with a stand-alone diesel generator for a rural region in Egypt. The isolated system is also
evaluated to find out the quantity of air pollution. The system has to supply a load with an average
value of 48 kW and a peak value of 71 kW. HOMER software is used to carry out the cost of energy
(COE), net present cost (NPC) and environmental emissions (Kg/yr) calculations of optimization
model. The simulation results show that the proposed hybrid system is very economical and
environment friendly. The COE for the isolated hybrid power system is found to be 0.139 $/kWh
which is more than half of the stand alone diesel generator system.
Introduction
The renewable energy sources have become the most convenient solution of electrification of rural
areas in Egypt. This opportunity has provided the researchers new research directions in renewable
energy context. In comparison to conventional power systems, the hybrid power systems show the
higher reliability and low costs [1]. The rural areas in Egypt are still off grid and have been still
supplied by the autonomous diesel generators. One of the major problem associated with this is the
environmental pollution [2]. However by using the renewable energy resources such as wind, solar,
biomass etc. the environment pollution can be significantly decreased. In addition as the fossil fuels
are declining over time, the renewable energy sources have the possibility to take over them in coming
years. The fossil fuel prices are also very much fluctuating that in turn effects the energy price. The
renewable energy sources with low operation and maintenance costs offer a very economical solution.
In this paper the authors have developed an isolated renewable energy based hybrid system to
supply a rural area in Egypt. The system consists of wind power, PV array, batteries and diesel
generator is considered. The hybrid power system is then evaluated for an isolated
wind-pv-battery-diesel combination and the cost of energy (COE) is compared with autonomous
diesel generator. Previously different researchers have studied and evaluated the isolated hybrid
power systems. A comparison between pv and wind energy for their reliability effect on microgrid in
Egypt is conducted by [3]. This work showed the wind power generation helps the microgrid to
improve its energy not supplied by 2.92% and improves number of interruptions by 1.57% each year,
on the other hand the pv power improve the interruption duration of the system by 1.46% each year.
The possibility of using renewable power to decrease the consumption on fossil fuel for power
generation to meet load requirement of a GSM base station site located in Ikwerre using homer
software have been presented in [4]. In the reference [5] the authors have investigated the reduction in
fuel consumption by using diesel generator and batteries in a pv hybrid microgrid using homer
software. The economic operation considering uncertainty for the microgrid with wind turbine, pv
generation, diesel generator and electrical storage is obtained using particle swarm optimization
Advanced Materials Research Vols. 1092-1093 (2015) pp 145-151
© (2015) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.1092-1093.145
All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of TTP,
www.ttp.net. (ID: 58.19.1.86-04/02/15,11:35:12)
technique in [6]. In this paper, HOMER software is proposed to be used to optimize the cost analysis
of pv-wind-diesel-battery hybrid power system for rural region in Egypt.
Methodology
The feasibility study is based on economic and environmental aspects of a standalone
pv-wind-diesel hybrid system with storages batteries and converters. For economic assessment,
HOMER uses the net present cost (NPC) and the cost of energy (COE) to calculate the system life
cycle cost [7]. The NPC and COE is calculated by Eq (1) to Eq (3). For environmental assessment, the
pollutants emission reduction and renewable fraction (RF) is investigated. In a hybrid pv-wind-diesel
energy system, the RF specifies the contribution from different sources. The pv fraction Fpv, the wind
fraction Fwt and diesel fraction is zero and are given by Eq (4) and Eq (5), the annual total energy
generation of the system Ean,to is given in Eq (6).
(1)
Where TC is the total annualised cost. CF is the capital recovery factor, calculated by Eq. 2:
(2)
Where m is the number of years and j is the annual real interest rate (%).
COE, in $/ (kWh), is the average cost of useful electricity produced by the system [8]. It can be
calculated by Eq (3).
(3)
Where Can,to is the annual total cost, $. E is the total electricity consumption, kWh/year.
(4)
(5)
(6)
Where Epv and Ewt are respectively the pv and wind turbine generator electricity generation.
All the calculations of those parameters and equations are carried out by HOMER software.
Renewable Resources
The data for solar resource was obtained from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) Surface Meteorology and Solar Energy web site [9]. The specific location of Hurgada-Egypt
is at a location of 27°36' N latitude and 33° 41' E longitude with annual average solar radiation of
6.1kWh/m²/d as shown in Fig. 1.The actual wind speed is obtained for Hurghada from [10], the scaled
annual average speed is 7 m/s as shown in Fig. 2.
146 Sustainable Energy and Environmental Engineering III
Fig. 1 The annual solar radiation. Fig. 2 The annual wind speed.
System Components
The Hybrid power system consists of solar pv, wind turbine and a diesel generator. The system has
also a battery storage and converter. Fig. 3 shows the scheme of the hybrid system using HOMER.
Fig. 3 The model of hybrid renewable system setup.
Electrical Load
Hourly electrical load demand has been given as an input to HOMER and then it generates annual
load profile. The scaled annual average load is 1153kWh/ day. As the daily profile, there is a peak of
71 kW. The annual load profile is shown in Fig. 4.
Fig. 4 The annual load profile.
PV Array
The capital costs of PV arrays is 2000 $/kWh according to [11]. The replacement cost is 1800
$/kWh and operation & maintenance cost is negligible. A derating factor caused by temperature,
soiling, and shading is applied to about 90%. The lifetime is taken as 25 years.
Advanced Materials Research Vols. 1092-1093 147
Wind Turbine
A Fuhrlader 30/13 wind turbine produced in Germany is considered. The rated power is 30kW and
the rotor diameter is 13 m. The capital cost of the wind turbine is 27,500$. The replacement cost is
approximately 25,000$. The operation & maintenance cost is 50$/year. The lifetime is taken as 30
years [12].
Diesel Generator
Diesel generator technology is common to use. The price of diesel fuel is considered to be 0.8, 0.9
and 1 $/L price in Egypt. This cost of fuel varies based on region, transportation, and current market
situation. The 100kW diesel generator is considered in the analysis. The minimum operating ratio is
30% of the output power. The capital cost and replacement cost are respectively 24000$ and 22000$.
The operational costs is 2.5 $/ hour. The lifetime is 30000 hours.
Battery
A Surrette 4ks25p battery produced by Rolls/Surrett Battery Company is used in this system. The
nominal voltage is 4 V, nominal capacity is 1,900 Ah (7.6 kWh). The life time through put is 10,569
kWh. The capital cost and replacement costs are taken as 1,250$ and 1,100$. The O&M costs is
15$/yr.
Converter
Converters are required for systems in which DC components serve an AC load. The HOMER
software considers a converter as inverter (DC to AC), rectifier (AC to DC), or both. For a 1 kW
system, the capital costs and replacement costs are taken as 700$ and 650$ respectively. The lifetime
of a unit is considered as 30 years with an efficiency of 90 %.
Economics and Constraints
The project lifetime is estimated at 25 years. The annual interest rate is fixed at 5%. There is no
capacity shortage for the system. The operating reserve as a percentage of hourly load was 5%.
Meanwhile, the operating reserve as a percentage of solar power output was 5%. the operating reserve
as a percentage of wind power output was 5%.
Results and Discussion
With the simulations conducted by HOMER, different configurations are showed in Fig. 5. It
shows the hybrid system consisting of wind turbine, pv, diesel generator, battery and converter with
different combinations including diesel only, diesel-pv-battery-converter,
diesel-wind-battery-converter and diesel-wind-pv-battery-converter. The model of
wind-pv-diesel-battery-converter has the lowest total net present cost as well as the COE of the
system which is 0.139 $/kWh with a diesel fuel price of 0.9 $/L. Also, the COE of the model which
only has the diesel generator is 0.444 $/kWh. This price is quite higher than the optimal hybrid
system. The COE for wind-diesel-battery-converter is 0.155 $/kWh. The COE for
pv-diesel-battery-converter is 0.253 $/kWh. It is well known that the hazards of diesel exhaust and
fumes from the use of diesel generators can cause both serious health and environmental problems
according to numerous sources. The environmental pollutants and emissions are also reduced by
using the optimal system. The simulation results are shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7.
148 Sustainable Energy and Environmental Engineering III
Fig. 5 Optimization results for the HRE system with HOMER in project
Fig. 6 Simulation results of emission for HRE Fig. 7 Simulation results of emission for diesel
In the optimal hybrid system, the pv system supplies the 14% of the annual electricity production,
the wind turbine contributes 79% and diesel generator contributes 7% of the annual electricity
production. The optimal hybrid system has the ability to save the fuel consumption supplied by diesel
generator by 145507 L/year of the total electricity as shown in Fig. 5. The RF increase when using
hybrid system from zero to 0.93 and it remains to zero for diesel generator.
The optimal hybrid system significantly reduces the environmental emissions. Diesel generator
operates for 2,539 h/annum with a fuel consumption of 29,810L/annum. This system emits 78500
Kg/year of CO2, 194 Kg/year of CO, 21.5Kg/year of UHC, 14.6 Kg/year of PM, 158 Kg/year of SO2,
and 1729 Kg/year of NOx into the atmosphere of the location under consideration as shown in Fig. 6.
These values increase very much for each pollutant while using diesel generator only as shown in Fig.
7. The systems emissions are decreased because of the more impacts of solar and wind modules in the
system. The sensitivity analysis results for variation in diesel fuel price is shown in Fig. 8.
Fig. 8 Optimization results for the HRE system with HOMER in project
The result shown above show with increase the fuel price the initial cost not change but the
operating cost increases, the NPC increases and the COE increases for the same operating hour.
Advanced Materials Research Vols. 1092-1093 149
Conclusion
The paper presents the feasibility study of using the isolated hybrid renewable energy system to
reduce the diesel fuel consumption to supply a rural area in Egypt. HOMER software is used to
calculate the cost of energies generated by the four generation combinations. The most optimal hybrid
system is selected based on economic and environmental aspects. It is found that the renewable
energy sources are very much feasible to solve the rural demand of country. The availability of
different renewable energy sources in Egypt has significantly decreased the cost of energy also it has
decreased the environmental pollution to a great extent. The pv-wind-diesel-battery-converter system
show the economic analysis of adopting each energy resource over a period of 25 years. It has the
highest renewable energy penetration to supply the energy demand on this region. It has lowest of
COE and pollution to the atmosphere when compared with the diesel generator only. It has saved
145507 L/yr of diesel fuel. This system has high RF of 0.93 including pv and wind energy. The hybrid
power system offers a better performance to provide power supply than the diesel only system.
A major contribution of this paper is that the COE is decreased, the fuel consumption of diesel is
saved The reduction in the quantity of different air pollutants compared with diesel-only system in
rural areas in Egypt.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51277110),
and in part by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (2012CB215100),
and in part by the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China
(20110142110055), and in part by Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (2012FFA075).
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Advanced Materials Research Vols. 1092-1093 151
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Full-text available
  • Apr 2022
Growing energy demand has exacerbated the issue of energy security and causes us to necessitate the utilization of renewable resources. The best alternative for promoting electricity generation in Bangladesh with renewable energy is solar photovoltaic technology and grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are increasingly being popular considering solar potential and the recent cost of PV modules. This study proposes a grid-connected system using solar PV with a net metering strategy using Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Electric Renewables model. Outcomes reveal combining 420 kW PV with a 405-kW converter and connecting to the utility grid is the least cost and ecologically healthy configuration of the system. Electricity generation cost is estimated to be 0.0725 dollars per kilowatt-hour with a payback period of 6.4 years based on the system's 20-year lifespan. Also, compared to the existing grid and the electricity generation of diesel, the optimized system with a renewable fraction of 31.10%, provides a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions respectively of 191 tons and 1,028 tons each year.
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Prospects of Hybrid Energy in Saudi Arabia, Exploring Irrigation Application in Shaqra
Article
Full-text available
  • Apr 2022
Dynamics in rainfall patterns due to climate change are posing a threat to crop production globally. The core issue of food security is expected to intensify, and improving crop yield using motorized power irrigation mechanisms can help in curtailing the impact of drought and changing weather patterns to meet the crop water requirement. To meet the energy demand of irrigation systems, this paper explores the use of hybrid energy sources, i.e., wind and solar energy, taking Shaqra Saudi Arabia as case study. This paper presents a systematic case study that evaluates crop water requirements for 3 different crops using the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s software CROPWAT 8.0 and converts the water requirement into energy demand to design the water pumping system. The energy requirement water pumping system is used to design a hybrid energy system using HOMER PRO 3.14.4 that can reliably meet the energy demand. The results suggests that, contrary to the common consideration in Saudi Arabia, a hybrid of wind and solar energy proves to be more cost effective and yields a higher amount of energy. The results suggest that a significant reduction in cost can be achieved with a hybrid energy system as compared to a solar PV system only.
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Potentials of optimized hybrid system in powering off-grid macro base transmitter station site
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2013
This paper explores the possibility of hybridizing the diesel generator source system with renewable energy sources and demonstrates the potential of renewable energies to replace (partially) diesel as a source of power for mobile base station sites. The concept of hybridizing the diesel generator is to reduce both the operating cost and the quantity of different air pollutants. The patterns of load consumption by mobile base station are studied and suitably modeled for optimization using Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables (HOMER) software. The proposed Hybrid (Solar & Hydro) + DG system was simulated using the model which results in four different topologies. The solution with the highest optimization value is considered to be the best energy option (solution) for the Base Station Site. From the simulation results, the PV/Hydro-Diesel system solution has the highest optimization value. It saves $15,961,777 and 70.553 tonnes of CO2 when compared with diesel only.
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Feasibility Study of Stand-Alone PV-Wind-Biomass Hybrid Energy System in Australia
Article
Full-text available
  • Mar 2011
This paper presents a feasibility study of photo- voltaic (PV), wind, biomass and battery storage based hybrid renewable energy (HRE) system providing electricity to residen- tial area in Australia. The system with load of 200 kWh·day −1 is analyzed through the environmental and economic aspects. The study computes the net present cost (NPC, $), cost of energy (COE, $ · KWh −1 ) and the emissions (kg · year −1 ) of greenhouse gas (GHG) of the HRE system running under the specific renewable energy resource mentioned above. The monthly daily mean global solar irradiance and wind speed data of the capitals of the seven regions of the six states and various territories of Australia (Queensland, Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales) are generated by the RETScreen Clean Energy Project Analysis Software produced by Natural Resources Canada. The long-term continuous implementation of the system is simulated. The software HOMER produced by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is used as a simulating tool. Their cost and emissions are compared with each other among the systems. It is found that an off-grid PV-wind-biomass HRE system is an effective way of emissions reduction and it does not increase the investment of the energy system. Index Terms—feasibility study; solar; wind; biomass; stand- alone
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Optimal configuration for distributed generations in micro-grid system considering diesel as the main control source
Conference Paper
  • Aug 2014
This paper purposes an optimal configuration of the distributed hybrid renewable generations based the stand-alone micro-grid system, considering the diesel as the main control source. Due to the natural sources and load of user changes randomly and the nonlinearity of the power output by renewable generations, an intelligent optimization method based improved genetic algorithm and the control strategy were discussed with the hybrid renewable system which the model form is wind-PV(Photovoltaic)-diesel-battery. The instance analysis comparing the optimization result of the hybrid system based on HOMER and improved GA(Genetic Algorithm) method on MATLAB. The simulation result of the optimal configuration showed the new hybrid renewable system would improve the power supply situation which decreased the cost of energy greatly compared with the conventional form of power supply system which was operated only by diesel. And the conclusion of the comparing result between HOMER and improved GA method showed the advantages of the strategy for the diesel as main control sources.
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Optimal operation planning method for isolated micro grid considering uncertainties of renewable power generations and load demand
Conference Paper
  • May 2012
This paper make an approach to the optimal operation planning for an isolated microgrid, which consists of renewable power generations such as wind turbine and photovoltaic power generators, and diesel generators as the stable power source and batteries for electric power storage. In this paper, optimal operation planning method taking into consideration of the uncertainties of renewable power generations and load demand is proposed and studied. This is considered to be extremely necessary since the power generated from these renewable power sources is strongly depending on the natural conditions and therefore has the nature of unpredictability and fluctuation. Especially in case of the operation planning for a microgrid in isolated operation, it is desired to take the uncertainties of these renewable power generations into account. In the work, stochastic scenarios of solar radiation, wind speed and load demand are first created by use of the observed mean-values and standard deviations data, and then based on these stochastic scenario data, stochastic operation cost optimization models for minimizing operation cost of the microgrid are formulated. This optimization problem is then solved by means of a modern technique of PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization). By conducting numerical simulations, the optimal solution of stochastic operation cost model and deterministic operation cost model have been obtained and compared in this paper.
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Reducing fuel consumption in microgrids using PV, batteries, and generator cycling
Conference Paper
  • May 2013
Diesel generators are the most common source of electricity for remote microgrids. Typically, remote microgrids have load profiles with large peak to average ratios which results in frequent operation of the generators at low loading. Generators are most efficient near rated load and operation at low loading results in poor fuel utilization and increased cost. Photovoltaics (PV) can be added to microgrids to reduce the cost of energy but can aggravate the problem of low generator loading. This paper analyses several methods to reduce fuel consumption in microgrids: PV, batteries, and generator cycling. The performance of these methods was evaluated through simulations using the software HOMER and an economic analysis. Results show the effectiveness of PV generator cycling, and batteries to reduce fuel consumption and energy costs.
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Comparative study of adding PV/wind energy systems to autonomus micro grid
Conference Paper
  • Oct 2013
the micro grid system changes the traditional distribution system with single power source and radial network into a new distribution system with several power sources. Depending on the interaction level between micro grid and main grid, a micro grid can be classified as isolated or grid connected. In isolated micro grid a connection with the main grid is not existing requiring the micro grid to be self-sustaining. In this type of micro grid it acts as a small power system with its all component (generation, transmission, and distribution). The main driver for isolated micro grid is the availability of local energy resources. This paper introduces a comparative study of adding Photo Voltaic (PV) or wind energy systems to the micro grid in order to enhance the isolated operation of the micro grid. The study conduct a comparison based on adding the same capacity of PV or wind energy to the autonomous micro grid. The amount of energy not supplied to the load and for how long some loads are shredded are the two main factors through the comparison. A typical case study of the micro grid system located at Cairo-Egypt will be analyzed in details. A simulation model that calculates the electrical power output based on actual data at the site with respect to changes in the environmental parameters for both PV and wind energy systems will be introduced. The model was implemented using Matlab® m-file to accommodate any location in the world. The integration of the micro grid system with renewable energy resources will be an outcome of a development of the existing electricity networks towards a sustainable distribution network system. At the end the results is presented showing weather PV or Wind energy affecting the isolated operation of the micro grid.
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Energy, economic and environmental analysis on RET-hydrogen systems in residential buildings
Article
  • Mar 2008
  • RENEW ENERG
The aim of this study was to analyze energy, economic and environmental performances of a set of scenarios dealing with the production and the use of hydrogen as energy carriers in residential applications in combination with renewable energy (RE).The authors also made an investigation into the required economic conditions necessary for making H2–RE residential systems competitive with conventional ones, which are based on the use of grid electricity and natural gas.A case study was enacted in a small residential district in Palermo (Italy) made by five multi-storey buildings.Many energy systems have been considered according to several fuel-device combinations (electric grid, fuel cell, PV panels, wind turbines, boiler etc.).The software HOMER (hybrid optimization model for electric renewables), developed by NREL and Midwest Research Institute (USA), was used, in order to study the energy balance of the system and its components. Moreover, it was possible to simulate the hourly operation of each system and to calculate technical, economic and environmental performance parameters.The net present cost and the cost of energy are the two main parameters used to compare economic performances of the systems with both actual and expected costs in the medium term.A sensitivity analysis was carried out in order to appreciate the most important parameters influencing the economic performances of the systems and to define possible future scenarios of competitiveness between technologies.Emissions of CO2 (the most important greenhouse gas) and other pollutants have been considered for an environmental benefits analysis.
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Feasibility analysis of stand-alone renewable energy supply options for a large hotel
Article
  • Jul 2008
  • RENEW ENERG
This paper provides a feasibility analysis of renewable energy supply (RES) for a stand-alone supply large-scale tourist operation (with over 100 beds). The analysis utilises the power load data from a hotel located in a subtropical coastal area of Queensland, Australia. The assessment criteria of the analysis are net present cost, renewable factor and payback time. Due to the limited number of RES case studies in tourist operations and the absence of studies for large resorts, requiring facilities with a higher degree of comfort such as air-conditioning, it is not possible to establish with confidence the viability of RES in this industry. The specific operational characteristics of the tourism accommodation sector, such as 24-h operation, comfort provision and low tolerance for failure necessitates a separate assessment of RES viability for this sector, rather than relying on similar assessments from other commercial sectors. This study uses RES assessment software tools, HOMER (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, US) and HYBRIDS (Solaris Homes, Queensland, Australia), in order to compare diesel generator-only, RES-only and RES/diesel hybrid technologies. HOMER uses hourly load data, whilst HYBRIDS uses average daily energy demand for each month. The modelling results demonstrate that RES, in principle, has the potential to adequately and reliably meet power demand for a stand-alone large-scale tourist accommodation. Optimisation modelling demonstrates that 100% of power demand can be supplied by a RES-only configuration. A hybrid diesel/RES configuration provides the lowest NPC result with a resultant RF of 76%. In comparison to the diesel generator-only configuration, NPC is reduced by 50% and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 65%. The payback time of the hybrid RES scenario is 4.3 years. Results indicate that wind energy conversion systems (WECS), rather than photovoltaics, are the most economically viable RES for large-scale operations. Large-scale WECS (over 1000 kW) are more efficient and economical than multiple small-scale WECS (0.1–100 kW). Both modelling tools produced similar results, with HYBRIDS producing on average slightly higher NPC results than HOMER. The modelling and resulting data from the analysis indicate that RES is technically feasible and economically viable as a replacement for conventional thermal energy supply for large-scale tourist operations dependent on stand-alone power supplies.
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Case study feasibility analysis of renewable energy supply options for small to medium-sized tourist accommodations
Article
  • Apr 2009
  • RENEW ENERG
This paper outlines a feasibility analysis of renewable energy supply (RES) for small to medium-scale tourist operations (less than 100 beds) dependent on stand-alone supplies. The analysis utilised the power load data from three accommodation case studies that had RES/hybrids already installed. The accommodation sites, chosen from diverse locations within Australia, varied in both climatic and geographic characteristics. The assessment criteria for the analysis were net present cost (NPC), renewable factor (RF) and payback time. The specific operational characteristics of the tourism accommodation sector, such as 24-h operation, comfort provision and low tolerance for failure, necessitates a separate assessment of RES viability for this sector, rather than relying on similar assessments from other commercial and domestic sectors, which may not be representative. This study utilised RES assessment software, HOMER (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, US) in order to compare the present RES/hybrid configuration to diesel generator-only (genset-only), RES-only and optimised RES/hybrid configurations. Analysis of both actual data and modeling results demonstrated that RES can adequately and reliably meet the power demand for stand-alone small to medium-scale tourist accommodations. Optimisation, achieved by further addition of RES to the existing configurations, reduced NPC in the majority of cases, with the added benefit of increased RF. Furthermore, NPC for these optimised RES/hybrid configurations were comparable to the optimised genset-only configurations. Modeling of conversions to RES-only configurations demonstrated this option as uneconomical unless existing RF was already high. Results indicated that wind energy conversion systems (WECS), rather than photovoltaics, were the most economical RES for sampled hybrid systems. For example, the payback time of the WECS/hybrids was approximately 3–4 years compared to PV/hybrids at 6–7 years. Hydrogen fuel cells and storage systems, whilst technically feasible, were not economically viable for the case studies due to the present high cost of components, especially compared to gensets. Modeling future potential increase in diesel fuel prices and implementation of carbon taxes shows a significant increase in NPC for genset-only configurations compared to RES/hybrid configurations in the sample. Carbon taxes of $50/ton increases NPC by 10% for genset-only systems but increases NPC less than half that amount for RES/hybrid systems. The data and subsequent modeling demonstrate that RES is both technically feasible and economically viable compared to diesel energy supply, for the small to medium-scale tourist operations sampled, dependent on stand-alone power supplies.
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Optimal rural microgrid energy management using homer
  • Sonia Gerry
Gerry and Sonia, "Optimal rural microgrid energy management using homer," International Journal of Innovation in Engineering and Technology (IJIET), pp.113-118, 2013.