Optimal selection of renewable energy-based microgrid for sustainable energy supply

Escalation in electricity consumption and environmental pollution worldwide necessitates the need for alternative and sustainable energy sources other than conventional sources. Therefore, in this article, renewable energy-based microgrid is presented to cater such needs. Different feasible microgrid topologies are determined and analyzed to meet the demand of the proposed site. The feasibility evaluation of the different microgrid configurations is performed based on the cost factors and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The optimum configuration is selected based on the minimum cost of annual operating charges, annual energy charges and annual social cost of CO2 emissions taken altogether. Besides this, the comparison of the various configurations is also performed on the basis of net present cost, capital expenditure and cost of energy. For analysis, the site profile and load profile of Jamia Millia Islamia University, India, are taken. The optimization is performed in HOMER. It is obtained from the simulation results that the microgrid configuration comprising grid-solar photovoltaic-wind turbine is found to be best suited for the proposed site based on various parameters. Furthermore, the efficacy of the proposed system is compared with conventional grid-only system.