Cost Optimization of a Hybrid Power System for Rural Electrification in India

In the present time; the electrical energy demand by the consumer cannot be completely fulfilled by standalone conventional energy resources. For the rural areas it becomes more difficult to provide 24 hours continuous supply on daily basis. Along with this difficulty there is another problem of continuous day by day degradation of conventional energy resources. For rural electrification the use of hybrid energy resources is becoming more attractive solution. The hybrid system can be a combination of different nonconventional resources like PV;DG; Battery and converter etc. With these resources the system can maintain its reliability. This paper presents simulation and optimization of a hybrid based power generation system using PV array and Diesel generator. The simulation and optimization is done using "Homer" software. The hybrid system is designed as to completely fulfill the demand of the consumer of Sotai village at latitude (28 degrees 17'16") and longitude (77 degrees 21'35") of district Faridabad in Haryana. In this village only about 12 hours electricity is provided from grid therefore electric supply is not reliable and the consumers demand cannot be completely fulfilled. The area chosen has a power demand of 11937.65 kWh/day and solar radiation is about 5.14 kWh/m(2)/day. The solar radiation simulation and optimization gives the optimum cost and size of the hybrid power system. In this system the fuel required for power generation is low because of the PV/DG Combination. The system is highly relative to the cost optimization and environment.