Sizing and modeling of a standalone hybrid renewable energy system

This paper presents optimal sizing, modeling and performance analysis of a standalone PV/Wind/Battery Hybrid Energy System (PWB-HES) for an off-grid residential application in Ansons Bay, Tasmania, Australia. The aim of the study is to find the optimal size of the photovoltaic (PV) panel, wind generation system (WGS) and battery storage (BS) that can satisfy the varying load demand throughout the year. In the proposed PWB-HES sources and the battery are connected to a common DC bus. A voltage source inverter is used to connect the dc bus to the ac side. The optimal combination of sources and energy storage was obtained based on solar irradiance, wind speed and typical residential demand of the selected site. The optimal sizing algorithm was implemented using the HOMER software. The optimal system is then modeled and simulated with SIMULINK software in order to examine the complementary characteristics of the solar and the wind power system to satisfy the load demand. Simulation results showed that the PWB-HES with optimal size obtained through HOMER is able to meet the load demand amidst the changes in solar irradiance and wind speed.