Abstract:
The global acceptance of solar and wind resources for power generation has continued to increase due to the fluctuation of world oil
and gas prices, recent advances in technology, high prices of fossil fuels, no direct greenhouse gas emission from solar and wind resources and
government policies to support utilisation of renewable energy resources (RESs). In recent times, RESs have become a potential alternative to
supply electricity to the rural communities where the extension of transmission and distribution lines is difficult due to technical and financial
barriers. In view of this, this study deals with the optimisation of net present cost (NPC), fuel cost, operation cost and cost of energy (COE) of
the hybrid system which consists of photovoltaic (PV), wind turbine generator (WTG), diesel generator and battery storage system. A hybrid
power system is designed in this research work to serve a remote community. The optimisation of the key performance indicators of the proposed
hybrid power system is done by using the hybrid optimisation model for electric renewable (HOMER). The results obtained from this
research work are analysed to select the best options among the available configurations based on the lowest NPC and COE produced by each
configuration. The simulation results from several case studies show that incorporation of PV and WTG have reduced the operating cost of the
system.
