Design of a hybrid wind-solar street lighting system to power LED lights on highway poles

Abstract

This is an experimental study that investigates the performance of a hybrid wind-solar street lighting system and its cost of energy. The site local design conditions of solar irradiation and wind velocity were employed in the design of the system components. HOMER software was also used to determine the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and energy performance indices, which provides an assessment of the system's economic feasibility. The hybrid power supply system comprised of an integrated two photovoltaic (PV) solar modules and a combined Banki-Darrieus wind turbines. The second PV module was used to extend the battery storage for longer runtime, and the Banki-Darrieus wind turbines were used also to boost the battery charge for times when there is wind but no sunshine, especially in winter and at night. The results indicated that the hybrid system proved to be operating successfully to supply power for a street LED light of 30 watts. A wind power of 113 W was reached for a maximum wind speed that was recorded in the year 2021 of 12.10 m/s. The efficiency of the combined Banki-Darrieus wind turbine is 56.64%. In addition, based on the HOMER optimization analysis of three scenarios, of which, using either a solar PV system or the combined wind turbines each alone, or using the hybrid wind-solar system. The software results showed that the hybrid wind-solar system is the most economically feasible case.