Optimal operational strategy of hybrid PV/wind renewable energy system using homer: a case study

TLDR

The study seeks an optimal hybrid wind–PV configuration to meet the electricity demand of a medium‑size workshop in Ardabil, Iran. Using historic supply and demand data, the authors performed hourly simulations of eight candidate hybrid configurations—including diesel, battery, PV, and wind combinations—to compute energy costs and identify the least‑cost arrangement. Wind dominates energy production, and the optimal least‑cost mix is a 13 kW diesel generator, 1 kW PV array, two 3 kW wind turbines, a 6.13 kW converter, and 27 1 kW lead‑acid batteries, yielding a COE of $0.462 /kWh.

Abstract

This study presents an optimal configuration of a hybrid renewable energy source with a wind turbine and a photovoltaic system to fulfil the required electricity power of a medium-size workshop in an industrial area in Ardabil, Iran. The paper presents a technoeconomic analysis for achieving the least-cost configuration using historic data from supply and demand sides. The results show that due to the windy climatic conditions in the studied area, a large percentage of the generated energy is supplied by wind energy resources. Eight feasible configurations including Diesel, Diesel/Battery, PV/Diesel /Battery, Wind/Diesel/Battery, PV/Wind/Diesel/Battery, PV/Diesel, Wind/Diesel, and PV/Wind/ Diesel are considered in hourly-based simulations. Energy cost is calculated for different conditions. The results show that the integration of 13 kW diesel generator, 1 kW PV array, 2 numbers of 3 kW wind turbine, 6.13 kW converter and 27 strings of 1 kW lead-acid batteries storage bank is the best configuration that leads to the minimum Levelized Cost of Energy (COE) of 0.462 $/kWh in Ardabil area.