Techno-economic comparative analysis of hybrid renewable energy systems with and without battery energy storage system

The hybrid optimization model for electric renewable (HOMER) program was used to explore a hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) (Version 3.14.0). Two combinations of HRES have been considered for the community load in Aruthra Nagar, Puducherry, India: i) Solar photovoltaic (PV)/wind/tidal/fuel-cell (with battery energy storage system (BESS)) and ii) PV/wind/tidal/fuel-cell(without BESS). When compared to other existing evolutionary approaches the proposed algorithm, Aquila optimizer (AQ), yields the best results. In addition, statistical analysis using MATLAB/SIMULINK yielded the results of the Friedman Ranking Test that demonstrated the proposed algorithm's improved performance and robustness as AQ netted the first position in the test's outcomes. Though the system in case 1 is more cost-effective with net present cost (NPC) (1,16,226.40$) and least levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is (0.3017) as compared to case 2's NPC (1,26,152$) and LCOE (0.3287), but case 1 is more efficient in terms of power quality as the total harmonic distortion (THD) (0.06%) as compared with case 2 THD (30.31%) which is unacceptable according to IEEE-519 standard, (THD<5%). Hence, case 1 HRES is more viable for producing clean energy with effective storage and better power quality mitigation in order to monitor the whole distribution network.