Recent Advances In Renewable Energy Sources And Control-2015, VSSUT

Renewable Energy Based Power Generation System

For Off-Grid Applications: A Review
Ajoya Kumar Pradhan#1, Jayanta Kumar Sahoo#2, Pujashree Dash#3
#

Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management (GITAM)

Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
#
Department of Electrical Engineering, VSSUT, Burla
Odisha, India
2

1
akp200445@yahoo.com
jayanta.kist@gmail.com

Abstract - Small scale renewable power generation system near

consumers end has received greater interest during last decades
for remote and rural electrification due to the cost and
complexity involved in the grid extension. The off grid systems
using locally available renewable energy sources have become a
preferred option. However, the hybrid method that is used to
harness available renewable energy sources for power
generation. In the present paper, a suitable methodology and an
extensive review on unit sizing, cost optimization, and energy
flow management of renewable energy system have been
discussed.
Keywords - Small scale power generation, hybrid, unit sizing, cost
optimization, energy flow management.

System combines two or more renewable energy resources

with some conventional option (diesel or petrol powered
generator, thermal plant) in order to meet the demand of local
villages situated at remote site is termed as Hybrid Renewable
Energy System. Most of the hybrid systems use diesel
generator as back up [3]. Few examples of hybrid systems are
PV-wind-diesel generator, wind-diesel generator, PV-windfuel cell, biomass-wind-fuel cell system etc. A suitable
schematic hybrid energy system is shown in Figure 1. The
presented hybrid energy system includes diesel generator as
back up with renewable energy resources to supply energy to
load.

I. INTRODUCTION
The depletion of conventional energy resources, rise in the
petroleum fuel prices and concern for global warming due to
the burning of fossil fuels has made power generation from
conventional energy sources unsustainable and unviable. It is
observed that demand-supply gap will continue to rise
exponentially unless it is met by some alternative means of
power generation. Inaccessibility of the grid power to the
remote places and the lack of rural electrification have
prompted for alternative sources of energy. The renewable
energy resources, such as water, wind, sun, and biomass, have
become better alternatives for power generation for rural
electrification. The exploitation of renewable energy enhances
supply security, provides local solutions, lowers
environmental impacts, offers sustainable energy development
and provides job opportunities to local dependents. In
developing country like India, most of the population lives in
isolated rural areas without grid power and electrification in
decentralized mode with nearby available renewable energy
sources will enhance the overall development of these areas.
[1].
II. METHOD TO HARNESS RENEWABLE ENERGY
SOURCES
Basically there is a best method that is used to harness
available renewable energy sources, namely, hybrid renewable
energy systems [2].
A. Hybrid Renewable Energy System:

Fig. 1. Schematic of a PV-wind-diesel generator based Hybrid energy system

III.

METHODOLOGY

Following steps are taken for the integrated renewable

sources based power generation for the electrification of
remote site villages [4, 5]
A. Load Demand Assessment
Find the load demand using accurate load forecasting of
remote villages. Load assessment can be done by surveying
the house holders, school teachers etc. The following factors
may be considered during the electrical load survey:
Demand for street lighting,

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Recent Advances In Renewable Energy Sources And Control-2015, VSSUT

Schools, health centers, commercial establishment, and their
energy demands,
Number of villages, houses
Population
Number of small industries with energy requirement,
Miscellaneous demand.
B. Resource Assessment
Calculate energy potential available in solar, wind, microhydro, biomass and other renewable energy resources using
meteorological data available.
C. Challenges or barriers:
Annual electricity demand,
Energy Potential,
Reliability,
Emission,
Employment.
D. After doing this, Hybrid method is adopted to find
optimized solution
a.

Hybrid Method:

In this method, Demand can be met by combination of

renewable energy resources with conventional sources (diesel
generator set, thermal plant).
PV/wind/diesel generator HRES,
Wind-diesel generator HRES,
PV-wind-fuel cell HRES,
Biomass-wind-fuel cell HRES
E. Optimize the selected system configuration with
suitable technique.
IV. UNIT SIZING & COST OPTIMIZATION
Unit sizing and cost optimization is basically a method of
determining the size of the integrated/hybrid system
components by minimizing the system cost while maintaining
system reliability. Optimum resource management is
necessary to achieve acceptable cost and reliability level in the
integrated/hybrid generation system. Over sizing the system
components will enhance the system cost whereas under
sizing can lead to failure of power supply. In consequence,
sufficient care should be taken to design a reliable system at
minimum cost. Sizing techniques can be classified into
conventional and artificial techniques and shown in the Fig. 2.

A. Conventional Technique:
These techniques uses availability of weather data
irradiance, clearness index and wind speed. This technique is
classified on the basis of concept of energy balance and
reliability of supply [6] and shown in Figure 2. Conventional
sizing methods give accurate results when actual weather data
is available. Li et al. [7] developed an algorithm to determine
the cost effective system configuration using an iterative
technique based on energy balance. Zhou K et al. determined
optimal sizes of the system components for a hybrid
PV/FC/Battery system producing onsite hydrogen [8]. S.
Kumaravel [9] et al. optimized a stand-alone Biomass/SolarPV/Pico-hydel energy system and suggested the rating of solar
PV, pico-hydel generator, biomass gassifier and battery based
on the energy balance. They also compared the cost of energy
of the proposed system with the diesel-based hybrid energy
system (HES). P. Balamurugan et al. [10] calculated the
optimal sizing of an integrated wind-biomass gasifier based
hybrid energy system. They compared the cost of energy
(COE) of integrated wind-biomass system with the winddiesel system. Some of the sizing procedures in the literature
consider the reliability parameters like Loss of power
probability (LOPP), Loss of power supply probability (LPSP),
Load coverage rate (LCR), equivalent loss factor (ELF),
Energy index ratio (EIR), Expected energy not supplied
(EENS). Ardakani et. al. [11] used equivalent loss factor
(ELF) for optimizing the size of the components in an
integrated wind/ PV/Battery system. Xu et.al. [12] proposed a
strategy to minimize the total system cost subject to the
constraint of LPSP using GA. Nelson et.al. [13] evaluated
LPSP less than or equal to 0.0003 that meant loss of power of
1 day in 10 years for sizing the system components in a
wind/PV/FC system. Yu Fu et.al. [14] developed the optimal
design models of an integrated wind-hydro-solar power
generation system with battery bank. They minimized the
annualized cost of the proposed systems under the constrained
of loss of power supply probability (LPSP).
B. Artificial Intelligence Techniques (AI):
These techniques are used in case of non-availability of
weather data in remote sites. The main algorithms under AI
techniques are Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Fuzzy
Logic (FL), Genetic Algorithms (GA), Particle Swarm
Optimization (PSO), Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) or a
hybrid of such techniques and shown in Figure 3. Andrew
Arnette et al. [15] analyzed cost and emission under different
scenarios like minimize cost, minimize emission, Minimaxequal weight, Minimax-cost weighted, Minimax-emissions
weighted. Rajesh Kumar et al. [16] developed a Biogeography
Based Optimization (BBO) algorithm for the prediction of the
optimal sizing coefficient of wind/PV/diesel generator/battery
hybrid energy system.

Fig. 2. Classification of conventional methods

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Recent Advances In Renewable Energy Sources And Control-2015, VSSUT

[PSO- Particle Swam Optimization, GA- Genetic Algorithm,

ANN- Artificial Neural Network, FL- Fuzzy Logic, ACO- Ant
Colony Optimization]
Fig. 3. Classification of AI techniques

A. Arabali et.al. [17] minimized cost and increased efficiency

of an integrated Solar PV-wind system with battery storage
using Genetic algorithm (GA) based optimization approach
together with a two-point estimate method. Jeroen Tant et al.
[18] proposed a optimization method in SPV with battery
energy storage systems and envisaged the trade-offs among
objective functions: voltage regulation, Peak power reduction,
Annual cost. An optimization model of an integrated Solar
PV/wind energy system with battery bank using iterative
optimization technique is proposed 19]. The comparative cost
flow analysis of hybrid PV-wind-battery systems to the PValone and wind-alone systems is done [20]. Component sizing
is generally accompanied by optimizing the system
components or other parameters, such as investment cost,
output energy cost or consumption of fuel [21]. Optimization
is generally carried with the objective of minimizing the Net
Present Cost (NPC) or by minimizing the Unit Cost of Energy
(UCOE) [22]. Wang and Singh [23] proposed a constrained
mixed-integer multi objective particle swarm optimization
(MOPSO) method to minimize the system cost and
simultaneously maximize the system reliability. The unit
sizing and optimization by minimizing the NPC using
HOMER for a hybrid PV-Wind-Diesel-Battery system and
hybrid PV-Diesel- Battery system has been carried out in [24]
and [25], respectively.

An optimal energy flow management is generally a

dispatch strategy which is a set of rules used to control the
operation of the generator(s) and the battery bank whenever
there is shortage of renewable energy to supply the load [26,
27]. Figure 4 shows an intelligent flow energy management
system which directly controls generation, storage devices,
and loads [28]. After forecasting, an EFM optimizes
generation and demand with proper scheduling of storage
devices. A new control strategy for frequency control in standalone PV/wind/Fuel cell /double layer capacitor by
coordination control of fuel cells (FCs) and double layer
capacitor (DLC) bank is proposed [29]. Dulal Ch. Das et al.
[30] proposed a frequency controller for solar thermal-dieselwind hybrid energy system with storage (fuel cells, battery,
flywheel, ultra capacitor and aqua electrolyzer) to regulate the
output power from the sources in order to eliminate the
mismatch in supply and demand. An intelligent model-based
control of a standalone photovoltaic-fuel cell power plant with
super capacitor (SC) energy storage is proposed [31]. They
used SC as an auxiliary source and a short-term storage
system for supplying the deficiency power (transient and
steady state) from the PV and the FC. Ipsakis et al. [32]
proposed three power management strategies for a hybrid PVWind-FC-Battery system with hydrogen production using
electrolyzers. They compared the strategies based on a
sensitivity analysis by considering parameters such as state of
charge (SOC) of batteries and output power from FC, the
power delivered by the renewable energy sources. Kang and
Won [33] suggested a Power Management Strategies for a
PV/FC/Battery hybrid system based on the cost of battery and
FC. They aimed at reducing the number of change between FC
and battery by introduction of measuring and time delay
elements to the conventional strategy. Jiang [34] presented an
effective energy management strategy and simulated in virtual
test bed (VTB) environment for a PV/FC/Battery system
connected to the dc bus through appropriate dcdc power
converters and controls.

V. ENERGY FLOW MANAGEMENT

VI. SCOPE AND FUTURE TRENDS

An energy flow management among the various energy

sources in hybrid energy system is essential as the power
output from renewable sources is intermittent in nature and
dependent on climatic conditions. The energy flow
management ensures high system efficiency and high
reliability with least cost. The main objective of the technique
is to supply peak load demand for 24 hours.

Renewable energy sources have achieved a lot in terms of

research and development. However, there are still research is
needed in terms of their efficiency and optimal use. The
following scope is being observed during literature survey:
The renewable energy sources, such as solar PV and FCs,
need more advanced technology to exploit more amount of
useful power from them. The poor efficiency of solar PV is a
major obstacle in encouraging its use.
The manufacturing cost of renewable energy sources needs a
significant drop because the high capital cost leads to
increased payback duration.
The losses involved in power electronic converters have
been reduced to a satisfactory level; however, it should be
ensured that there is minimal amount of power loss in these
converters.
In future, following work has been proposed:

Fig. 4. Intelligent Energy Flow Management System

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Recent Advances In Renewable Energy Sources And Control-2015, VSSUT

1) New Battery technologies deserve more research attention
and efforts to improve their durability and performance, and
lower their cost.
2) These standalone systems are less adaptable to load
fluctuations. Large variation in load might even lead to entire
system collapse.
3) With the development of efficient equipment and household
appliances that use dc voltage, several researchers have
explored the merit of DC Micro grid for localized loads [35,
36].

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

VII.CONCLUSION
This paper provides a summary of different methodologies
for harnessing renewable energy resources in off-grid
applications for rural electrification. Detailed literature survey
has been presented on hybrid configuration based power
generation systems covering unit sizing, cost optimization, and
energy flow management. The presented literature review
facilitates interested researchers in the design and power
management of hybrid renewable energy systems with focus
on energy sustainability.

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

VIII.

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