Optimal design of hybrid PV-diesel-battery system for power generation in Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh, India

A simulation model is developed to determine the best size of hybrid photovoltaic (PV)-diesel-battery system to maintain an appropriate balance between the life cycle cost (LCC) and CO2 emission from the system. A computer program is developed to achieve this and to determine the specifications of hybrid system components. Decision variables included in the optimisation process are total area of PV arrays, number of modules of 100Wp and batteries of 24V and 150 Ah, diesel generator power, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions per day. The proposed method is applied to a residential colony of 135 houses in Moradabad, India. Simulation results indicate that a system with a PV penetration of 86.6% and a diesel fraction of 13.4% with a PV area of 1000m(2), 472 batteries of 24V and 150 Ah and a diesel generator power of 11kW is the best option having a minimum LCC of 976329.46$ for 25 years, fuel consumption of 24.22 L/day and CO2 emission of 62.99 kg/day.