OPTIMAL SIZING OF STANDALONE HYBRID WIND/PV POWER SYSTEMS

USING GENETIC ALGORITHMS

Daming Xu
Xian Jiaotong Uni.
xu_daming@163.com
Longyun Kang
Xian Jiaotong Univ.
kang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn
Liuchen Chang
Uni. of New Brunswick
email: lchang@unb.ca
Binggang Cao
Xian Jiaotong University
inte-cao@mail.xjtu.edu.cn
Abstract
Proper design of standalone renewable energy power
systems is a challenging task, as the coordination among
renewable energy resources, generators, energy storages and
loads is very complicated. The types and sizes of wind turbine
generators (WTGs), the tilt angles and sizes of photovoltaic
(PV) panels and the capacity of batteries must be optimized
when sizing a standalone hybrid wind/PV power system, which
may be defined as a mixed multiple-criteria integer
programming problem. In our research, we investigated the
genetic algorithm (GA) with elitist strategy for optimally sizing
a standalone hybrid wind/PV power system. Our objective is
selected as minimizing the total capital cost, subject to the
constraint of the Loss of Power Supply Probability (LPSP).
The LPSP of every individual of the GAs population is
calculated by simulation of 8760 hours in a year. Studies have
proved that the genetic algorithm converges very well and the
methodology proposed is feasible for optimally sizing
standalone hybrid wind/PV power systems.
Keywords: Wind/PV; standalone power systems; optimal
configuration; genetic algorithms; mixed multiple criteria
integer programming.
1. Introduction
Global environmental concerns and the ever-increasing need
for energy, coupled with a steady progress in renewable energy
technologies are opening up new opportunities for utilization
of renewable energy resources. Hybrid wind/ photovoltaic (PV)
power systems are one important type of standalone renewable
energy power systems. The hybrid combination of PV panels
and wind turbine generators (WTGs) improves overall energy
output and reduces energy storage requirements [1].
Proper design of standalone renewable energy power
systems is a challenging task, as the coordination among
renewable energy resources, generators, energy storages and
loads is very complicated. Generally the main objectives of the
optimization design are power reliability and cost.
In this paper an optimal sizing method using the genetic
algorithm (GA) is proposed. The types and sizes of wind
turbine generators, the tilt angles and sizes of photovoltaic
panels and the capacity of batteries can be optimized when
sizing a standalone hybrid wind/PV power system, which may
be defined as a mixed multiple-criteria integer programming
problem.
2. Loss of Power Supply Probability
2.1. System Configuration
The configuration of standalone hybrid wind/PV power
systems is shown in Fig. 1. In this paper, we investigated the
case that a system has only one type of WTGs.
.
.
WTG
1
WTG
N
.
.
.
.
. .
. .
Charge/Discharge
Controller
Battery
1,1
Battery
M,1
Battery
1,N
Battery
M,N
DC Bus
Inverter
AC
Load
DC
Load
Dump
Load
Control
System
MPPT
. .
. .
.
.
.
.
PV
1,1
PV
M,1
PV
1,N
PV
M,N
Figure 1. Schematic of standalone hybrid wind/PV power systems.
2.2. Calculation of Wind and Solar Energy
The wind speed to a particular hub height is given [2] as:
( )
2 2 1 1
V H H V

= (1)
where:
i
V wind speed at height i (
i
H ),
surface roughness factor (1/7 for open land).
It is necessary to estimate the solar radiation incident on a
tilted solar panel surface when only the total radiation on a
horizontal surface is known. The total radiation on the tilted
surface is the sum of a set of radiation streams including beam
radiation, diffuse radiation from the sky and ground-reflected
radiation, where the diffuse radiation is composed of three
parts as isotropic, circumsolar diffuse and horizon brightening.
The Hay-Davies-Klucher-Reindl (HDKR) anisotropic model
described by Duffie and Beckman [3] is employed to calculate
the incident radiation on the tilted PV panel surface.
0-7803-8886-0/05/$20.00 2005 IEEE
CCECE/CCGEI, Saskatoon, May 2005
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2.3. Models of System Components
A power curve can be used to represent the relationship
between the average power from a wind turbine and average
hub-height wind speed over an average time interval. This
curve is a function of the turbine design and normally obtained
from the wind turbine manufacturer. Power curves are
represented by a piecewise cubic spline interpolation in the
calculation.
The output power from a PV panel can be calculated by an
analytical model given by France Lasnier and Tony Gan Ang
[4], which defines the current-voltage relationships based on
the electrical characteristics of the PV panel. This model
includes the effects of radiation level and panel temperature on
the output power. With a maximum power point tracker
(MPPT), the output power from a PV panel is given as:
( )
( )
mp mp mp
mp mp,ref V,oc c c,ref
T
mp mp,ref sc,ref I,sc c c,ref
ref
P V I
V V T T
G
I I I T T
G

= +

| |

= + +
|

\ .
(2)
where:
ref
G irradiance of 1000 W/m
2
at reference operating
conditions,
T
G average irradiance on a tilted surface (W/m
2
),
mp
I PV panel current at the maximum power point (A),
mp,ref
I
mp
I at reference operating conditions (A),
sc,ref
I short circuit current at reference operating conditions
(A),
mp
P PV panel power at the maximum power point (W),
c
T PV panel operating temperature (),
c,ref
T PV panel temperature of 25 at reference operating
conditions,
mp
V PV panel voltage at the maximum power point (V),
mp,ref
V
mp
V at reference operating conditions (V),
I,sc
temperature coefficient for short circuit current (A/),
V,oc
temperature coefficient for open circuit voltage (V/).
Lead acid batteries are main energy storage devices in
standalone power systems. The battery charge efficiency is set
equal to the round-trip efficiency, and the discharge efficiency
is set equal to 1. The maximum battery life can be obtained if
the depth of discharge (DOD) is set equal to 30%50%, for
example DOD=50%. The batteries are normally installed
inside a building where the temperature is not expected to
change drastically, so the temperature effects are not
considered in this paper. The energy stored in batteries at any
hour t
B,t
E is subjected to the following constraint:
Bmin B, Bmax t
E E E (3)
where:
Bmax
E battery maximum allowable energy level,
Bmin
E battery minimum allowable energy level.
Let
Bmax
E as batterys nominal capacity with the value of the
battery state of charge (SOC) as 1, then
Bmin Bmax
(1 DOD) E E = (4)
The MPPT, the battery controller, the inverter and
distribution lines are assumed to have constant efficiencies.
Assume the efficiencies of the MPPT, the battery controller
and distribution lines as 1 and that of the inverter as 0.9.
2.4. Loss of Power Supply Probability
The Loss of Power Supply Probability (LPSP) [2], which is
defined in terms of the SOC, is the power reliability index of a
system. LPSP can be defined as the long-term average fraction
of the load that is not supplied by the standalone power system.
The SOC of the batteries at any time t
1
depends on the SOC
in the previous moment t
0
and the sequence of generated power
and load demand levels in the time interval t
1
- t
0
. The SOC is
used as a decision variable for the control of over charge and
over discharge. This is important to prevent batteries from
shortening their life or even their destruction.
In terms of the SOC, the LPSP can be defined [2] as:
{ }
B, Bmin
LPSP Pr ; for
t
E E t T = (5)
2.5. Operation Simulation
The logistic model and time series method [5] are employed
for simulation studies. Logistical models are used primarily for
long-term performance predictions, for component sizing, and
for providing input to economic analyses. An essential feature
of the time series method is that it employs an energy balance
approach within each time step. This assures that energy is
conserved throughout the entire simulation, and that the model
is internally consistent. In particular the sum of all energy
sources must equal the sum of all sinks.
The simulation period is one year and the time step is one
hour. The load, wind energy and solar energy are assumed to
be constant during a time step. The energy generated by the
WTGs and PV array for hour t,
G,t
E , can be expressed as:
G, WTG WTG, PV PV, t t t
E N E N E = + (6)
where:
PV
E energy generated by the PV array,
WTG
E energy generated by the WTGs,
PV
N number of PV panels in the PV array,
WTG
N number of WTGs.
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If the generated energy from the WTGs and the PV array
exceeds that of the load demand, the batteries will be charged
with the round-trip efficiency:
( )
B, B, 1 G, L, inv bat
1
t t t t
E E E E

= + (

(7)
where:
B,t
E energy stored in the batteries in hour t,
B, 1 t
E

energy stored in the batteries in previous hour,
L,t
E load demand in hour t,
bat
round-trip efficiency of the batteries,
inv
inverter efficiency,
self-discharge rate per hour of the batteries.
When the load demand is greater than the available energy
generated, the batteries will be discharged by the amount that
is needed to cover the deficit. This can be expressed as:
( )
B, B,t-1 L, inv G,
1
t t t
E E E E = (

(8)
When the available energy generated and stored in batteries is
insufficient to satisfy the load demand for hour t, that deficit
called Loss of Power Supply (LPS) for hour t can be expressed
as:
L, G, B, 1 Bmin inv
LPS
t t t t
E E E E

= + (

(9)
The LPSP for a considered period T is the ratio of all LPS
t
values for that period to the sum of the load demand, as
defined by [2]:
L,
1 1
LPSP LPS
T T
t t
t t
E
= =
=
_ _
(10)
3. Optimal Sizing Using the Genetic Algorithm
3.1. Problem Description and Sizing Procedures
The reliability and cost are two objectives of sizing
standalone hybrid wind/PV power systems. The cost index is
the capital cost [4] in this paper. The types and sizes of WTGs,
the tilt angles and sizes of PV panels and the capacity of
batteries have a considerable influence upon the power
reliability and capital cost and can be optimized. Except the tilt
angle, which is a real variable, others are integer variables. So
optimization of standalone hybrid wind/PV power systems is a
mixed multiple criteria integer programming problem [6].
For multiple criteria programming, one method is to retain
only one main objective and to converter other objectives to
constraints. The power reliability is in conflict with the capital
cost. The requirements of power reliability are different in
systems that have different load characteristics. Usually the
LPSP is not required equal to 1. Let the total capital cost of
WTGs, PV panels and batteries,
WPB
C , as the objective, the
power reliability as the constraint, then the problem of sizing
standalone hybrid wind/PV power systems is changed to single
criteria programming as follows:
Type
WPB WTG WTG PV PV bat bat
set
WTG
PV
bat
min
. .
LPSP LPSP
Type
0,1, 2,
0,1, 2,
0,1, 2,
C C N C N C N
s t
N
N
N
= + +

(11)
where:
bat
C cost of the batteries,
PV
C cost of the PV panel,
Type
WTG
C cost of a certain type of WTG,
lSl:t LPSP set according to the load characteristics,
bat
N number of the batteries,
Type code of a certain type of WTG.
The total capital cost is given as follows [2]:
total WPB 0
C C C = + (12)
where
0
C is the total constant costs including the cost of
power conditioning equipment, design and installation etc.
In the optimization model, the tilt angle is a variable of the
HDKR model that is used in computing LPSP. The amount of
radiation received using the optimum fixed tilt angle is only
slightly less than that using a monthly adjustable tilt angle. The
fixed tilt angle method may be preferred because it would
involve cheaper equipment and less work [7]. The optimum
fixed tilt angle rests on geographical and meteorological
conditions of the location and the load characteristics as well as
the system configuration. In this paper the fixed tilt angle is set
as an integer in degrees. The range of optimization of the tilt
angle is obtained by rounding off the latitude value then plus-
minus 30for south-facing panels with a limiting range of
[090]. For a chosen configuration, tilt angles adjacent to
the optimal tilt angle can make the system fulfill lSllSl:t.
So the optimal tilt angle of the system must be recalculated
according to the optimized configuration.
The optimization procedure is to determine the sizes of PV
panels and capacity of batteries in series, then to use the GA to
compute the type and sizes of WTGs, the tilt angle and sizes of
PV panels and the capacity of batteries, and then to recalculate
the optimal fixed tilt angle of the PV panels.
3.2. The Genetic Algorithm
The GA is a stochastic global search method that mimics the
metaphor of natural biological evolution and does not require
derivative information or other auxiliary knowledge. It is
important to note that GA provides a number of potential
solutions to a given problem and the choice of final solution is
left to the user [8].
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In this paper, integer encoding and the elitist strategy are
employed. The form of the individual of the GAs population
is [ ]
WTG PV bat
Type N N N , where is the
fixed tilt angle. The LPSP of every individual is calculated by
simulations for 8760 hours.
4. Application Example
The typical meteorological year data sets (TMY2s) contain
hourly values of solar radiation and meteorological elements
for a one-year period [9]. The location of Daggett, California
of Latitude 34?\ is chosen. So the range of optimization
of the fixed tilt angle is [5 b5 ]. The data of
extraterrestrial horizontal radiation, global horizontal radiation,
diffuse horizontal radiation, temperature and wind speed in the
TMY2s are utilized. Generally, the ground reflectance is 0.2.
The FD series WTGs made by Tianfeng Green Energy
Company of China were considered. The turbines with rated
power of 1KW, 3KW, 5KW, 7.5KW and 10KW were coded as
I, II, III, IV, and V. The power curves of the WTGs are shown
in Fig. 2. A 50W
peak
PV panel made by Yunnan Semiconductor
Device Factory in China was used for this simulation study.
The capacity of a single battery used was 200Ah. That battery
has a round-trip efficiency of 0.7 and DOD=50%.
Figure 2. Power curves of the WTGs (The symbols represent data sampled
from the power curve graphs given by the manufacturer).
The load was assumed constant year round [4]. Let the load
as 2000W, LPSP=0.01. The numbers of PV panels and
batteries in series are determined as 3 and 24 previously. The
GAs results are [ 10 52`3 15`24] with the total
capital cost of WTGs, PV panels and batteries,
WPB
C , as
593400 Chinese Yuan. The type WTG, FD1KW, yields the
lowest cost for the system, and thus Type=. is in the
range of [5862] thut u'`'' lSllSl:t o th
:):tm. ku'u'ut`u_ th ot`mu' `xd t`'t uu_',
the optimal configuration is [ 10 59 52`3 15`24]
with LPSP=0.0099565. The Loss of Power Supply in the one-
year simulation is shown in Fig. 3 and this is in accordance
with the situation that both the solar energy and wind energy
are abundant in summer at this location.
Figure 3. The Loss of Power Supply of configuration
[ 10 59 52`3 15`24].
5. Conclusions
A methodology of sizing standalone hybrid wind/PV power
systems using the genetic algorithm is proposed in this paper.
Studies have proved that the genetic algorithm converges very
well and the methodology proposed is feasible for sizing
standalone hybrid wind/PV power systems.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Research Project (No.
2004EA105003) of P. R. China.
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