Feasibility Investigation of a Hybrid On-Grid Wind Photovoltaic Retrofitting System

This paper investigates the feasibility of wind-PV penetration into an existing utility grid system for Ibrahimyya city in Jordan. Ibrahimyya is selected because it enjoys both high annual wind speed of 7.27 m/s and high annual solar radiation of 6.05 kWh/m(2)/day. Two sizing methods are presented using MATLAB and HOMER softwares. But, thousands of iterations have been carried out in HOMER to get the global autonomous sizing solution that is used for economic analysis. Results show that 3 CS6X-310 PV panels and 8 GE1.5sle-77 wind turbines are the optimal choice. A step-by-step analysis of the proposed system is presented. The net present cost (NPC) is $65,069,349 the cost of energy (COE) is 0.082$/kWh. A sensitivity analysis on interest rate, inflation rate, wind power law exponent and fuel price is implemented to assess the robustness of the system. The results prove the feasibility to apply the proposed Hybrid Wind-PV system for this city. The same procedure can be applied anywhere.