Demand Side Management based techno-economic performance analysis for a stand-alone hybrid renewable energy system of India

Today, the off-grid Integrated Hybrid Renewable Energy System (HRES) is considered to be an ambitious source of electrical power due to its technological, economic, and environmental benefits. Optimal integration of renewable energy resources has been found the most viable option for powering of stand-alone remote rural area in Karnataka. This study presents Demand Side Management (DSM)-based techno-economic analysis under Load Following (LF), Cycle Charging (CC), and Combined Dispatch (CD) strategies with Lead Acid (LA) and Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) batteries. Strategic conservation and peak shifting DSM methods are considered in the present work for evaluating the optimal hybrid system using Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER (R)). The optimization results of the LA, Li-Ion batteries-based HRES are compared with and without DSM using two different configurations. From the results, it is observed that the Li-Ion battery-based photovoltaic (PV)/Micro Hydro Power (MHP)/battery (BT) HRES under CD strategy gives the optimal solution. The corresponding net present cost (NPC) and cost of energy (COE) are found to be as $3,14,079 and 0.103 $/kWh, respectively. The implementation of DSM saves 33% in NPC and 0.003 $/kWh in COE, respectively. Further, a sensitivity analysis has also been carried out to evaluate the effect of input parameters such as fuel cost, PV cost, battery cost, and load demand on NPC, COE, and renewable fraction (RF).