Optimal design, techno-economic and sensitivity analysis of a grid-connected hybrid renewable energy system: a case study

Integrating renewable resources with existing power system are rapidly increasing day by day, becoming an effective way to rural electrification where distribution system extension is not economically feasible. This research aims to design such an optimal grid-connected hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) modelled using solar, wind energy, diesel generator, battery storage, thermal loads, thermal load controller, and boiler. This system is designed to meet the load demand requirement of chintalayapalle village, Andhra Pradesh, India. The techno-economic, sensitivity analysis and cost-effective optimal configuration of this system have been performed using HOMER software. Totally eight configurations have been designed here and the optimal configuration have been identified based on the minimum net present cost (NPC), lowest cost of energy (COE), and the highest renewable fraction (RF). Results obtained shows that the optimally configured system is more environmentally friendly because of less carbon emission. Also, it would be more cost-effective when wind power becomes the main energy source and combined with moderate capacity of solar photovoltaic and battery.