Optimal sizing of renewable hybrids energy systems: A review of methodologies

Taking into account oil depletion, increasing population, and increasing energy demand, electrical power generation has entered into a new phase of evolution, which can be characterized mainly by increasing concerns about climate change, by a transition from a hydrocarbon-based economy, and by an efficient utilization of energy. In this sense, it seems that alternative energies have gathered considerable momentum since 1970s oil crisis. Moreover, Earth seems to have enough power to cover World's electrical power demand but not by a single source; for this reason, recent researches have been carried out in order to design in an optimal way system's configuration. Nevertheless, because of the randomized nature of alternative energy sources, electrical load profile, as well as the non-linear response of system components, to mention a few, is not an easy to assess the hybrid energy system performance; therefore, hybrid energy system designing has been a complex task. For this reason, the aim of this paper is to present a brief review about the sizing methodologies developed in the recent years. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.