Impact of solar tracker and energy storage system on sizing of hybrid energy systems: A comparison between diesel/PV/PHS and diesel/PV/FC

Design of renewable energy-based hybrid systems has become a challenging task especially for electrification to off-grid regions. In the design problem, it is important to economically investigate utilization of energy storage systems (ESSs) and solar tracker. This paper focuses on optimal size of hybrid energy systems which make use of different types of tracking systems. For this aim, two hybrid energy systems, diesel generator/photovoltaic/pumped hydro storage (diesel/PV/PHS) and diesel generator/ photovoltaic/fuel cell (diesel/PV/FC), have been designed with respect to different tracking systems (fixed, single-axis and double axis). In order to find optimum design of the hybrid systems, two important objectives, total net present cost (TNPC) and reliability index expressed by loss of power supply probability (LPSP) are minimized in a multi-objective framework. With respect to complexity of this optimization problem, a multi-objective efficient approach is used to solve the problem. Simulation results show that compared to FC when PHS is employed as energy storage system, TNPC of the hybrid system decreases. Moreover, using a solar tracker in diesel/PV/PHS is not cost-effective in comparison with fixed PV panels. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The design of renewable energy-based hybrid systems poses a challenge, particularly for electrification in off-grid regions. This paper focuses on optimizing the size of hybrid energy systems using different tracking systems. Results show that employing pumped hydro storage (PHS) decreases the total net present cost (TNPC) compared to fuel cells (FC), and using a solar tracker in certain systems may not be cost-effective.