Optimal techno-economic sizing of wind/solar/battery hybrid microgrid system using the forever power method

Advancement in power electronics, energy storage, control, and renewable energy sources has led to the use of integrated renewable energy sources in islanded microgrids (MG). Also, the uses of integrated renewable energy sources have become more technically applicable, more economically feasible, and more environmentally friendly than conventional sources. As a result, electrification of rural villages using renewable energy technologies has started to become widely adopted around the world. Since generating power from renewable energy sources is highly intermittent and difficult to predict, the use of proper energy storage technology is important to eliminate mismatches between the load demand and generation. Obtaining proper unit sizing for energy sources and storage is critical in determining the cost and reliability of the system. It is challenging to properly optimize the size of hybrid micro-sources for islanded MGs with minimum capital and operational cost while still achieving the targeted availability of the power supply. In this research, typical meteorological data is used with the Forever Power method to generate all possible combinations of PV modules and wind turbines along with the corresponding availability of the power supply. The goal of the study is to allow the designer of the system to select the size that best fits the targeted availability of the power supply with the most economical cost. As a case study, this method has been applied to an isolated MG for four homes in a rural area outside of Yanbu City, Saudi Arabia. A techno-economic analysis was applied using MATLAB to find the optimal size of the hybrid micro-sources. --Abstract, page iii