A numerical approach for size optimization and performance prediction of solar PV-hybrid power systems

Iran is blessed with an abundance of sunlight almost all year round. So obviously, with the right planning and strategies that are coupled to the right technology and development in the market, the potential for the new renewable energies, specially solar photovoltaic, as an alternative source of power looks promising and is constantly gaining popularity. Development and application of new renewable energy in Iran, however, is still in its infancy and will require active support by government, utilities and financing institutions. Some experts might argue that Iran has plenty of natural resources like oil and gas. We should not forget, however, that even in countries with cheap fossil energy, the PV system is an economical option in supplying electricity for remote located communities and facilities. But there are good reasons suggesting that like many other countries in the world, Iran also needs to be active in utilization of sun energy. The objectives of this paper are: • to give a comprehensive overview on the current solar photovoltaic energy technology. (Authors of this paper believe that Photovoltaic is the most appropriate renewable energy technology for Iran); • to present the results obtained from a study which has been carried out on the size optimization, cost calculation of the photovoltaic systems for climate conditions of Iran. The method presented in this paper can be used for systems of any size and application. A further objective of this paper is to present a numerical approach for evaluating the performance of PVHybrid power systems. A method is developed to predict the performance of all components integrated into a PVhybrid system. The system under investigation is a hybrid power system, in which the integrated components are PV array, a battery bank for backing up the system and a diesel generator set for supporting the battery bank. State of charge (SOC) of batteries is used as a measure for the performance of the system. The running time of diesel generator is determined by the SOC of betteries. In this method it is shown that the usage of PV electricity is maximized, the size of the components is optimized and the amount of fuel used for the diesel generator is minimized. In this paper the system configuration and performance of the components are presented. Simulation results will also be presented for the purpose of evaluation of the system's performance of a PV powered remote located facility.

کلیدواژه ها:

Electricity ، solar PV power ، design ، size ، cost and performance