Techno- Economics of a Hybrid Photovoltaic Wind Turbine

To improve the overall energy production from the wind turbine and lower the levelized cost of energy (LCOE), an innovative approach for the design of a hybrid solar-wind turbine (HSWT) is proposed. The present concept is based on installing arrays of solar panels on the south-facing facade of the turbine tower to generate electricity from sunlight. The hybrid offers greater benefits compared to separate systems.  An example is given of an offshore WT with a rated capacity of 4.7 MW forming part of a 600 MW  wind farm in the North Atlantic. The 100 m high tower is covered with  465 PV panels of 340 W capacity. For evaluation, the gross resource of each renewable is estimated considering the specifications of the available data In the discussion, the LCOE’s of wind and the hybrid solar-wind combination are compared. From the results, it is clear that HSWT offers a reduced LCOE, even after allowing for shading losses from the blade, and a much steadier production of energy. The introduction of  HSWT would help to make wind farms a more cost-effective and competitive source of clean energy.