Optimal configuration of solar and wind-based hybrid renewable energy system with and without energy storage including environmental and social criteria: A case study

The Hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) has the potential to better match the demand load profile with power by using the complementary nature of the variable renewables. The sizing of the HRES should be done carefully to better match with demand load without oversizing and under-sizing. This study presents the use of the Generalized Reduced Gradient Method to optimize the size of components of HRES. The case study is performed to demonstrate the HRES for a remote rural region. Cases of both the standalone and grid-connected modes are explored. The standalone system with reliability from 100% up to 70% is investigated. A grid-connected system is studied with and without payment of power supplied to the grid to explore the feasibility of HRES for different price regimes. The methodology used is validated using HOMER software by comparing its results with HOMER results for the cases considered. Higher renewable share in the standalone systems leads to more need for employments at every stage of the lifecycle of components. In addition to that, the negative environmental impact of the HRES system in comparison to the conventional system is significantly less. It can be concluded that the standalone system proves to be better in terms of job creation and carbon emission. In contrast, grid-connected comes out to be better in terms of reliability and economics.