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The main objective of this paper is to select the optimal model of a hybrid renewable-energy microgrid (MG) system for a village in India. The MG comprises solar photovoltaic (PV) modules, a wind turbine generator, a biomass generator, a battery bank, a diesel generator and an electric vehicle. The optimal model selection is based on technical, economic, environmental, social and reliability parameters. A novel spoonbill swarm optimization algorithm is proposed to select the best hybrid MG system. The optimization results are compared with particle swarm optimization, the genetic algorithm and the grasshopper optimization algorithm. The number or size of components of the optimized MG system is 215 PV modules, 92 kW of wind turbine generation, 25 kW of biomass generation, 267 batteries, 22 kW of electric vehicles and 30 kW of diesel generation. The optimized system was selected based on technical factors such as renewable dispersion (93.5%), the duty factor (5.85) and excess energy (15 975 kWh/year) as well as economic considerations including the net present cost (Rs. 34 686 622) and the cost of energy (9.3 Rs./kWh). Furthermore, environmental factors such as carbon emissions (396 348 kg/year) and atmospheric particulate matter (22.686 kg/year); social factors such as the human progress index (0.68411), the employment generation factor (0.0389) and local employment generation (15.64643); and reliability parameters including loss of power supply probability (0.01%) and availability index (99.99%) were considered during the selection process. The spoonbill swarm optimization algorithm has reduced the convergence time by 1.2 times and decreased the number of iterations by 0.83 times compared with other algorithms. The performance of the MG system is validated in the MATLAB® environment. The results show that the MG system is the optimal system considering technical, economic, environmental, social and reliability parameters. Additionally, the spoonbill swarm optimization algorithm is found to be more efficient than the other algorithms in terms of iteration time and convergence time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times, the virtual power plant (VPP) is gaining more attention in power system engineering due to its tremendous potential in enhancing sustainable urbanism, in which, it supplies clean energy from distributed generators. Electricity is deemed a basic requirement for future automotive and ultra-modern technologies. The deficiency of traditional energy resources and their complex generation process make the production cost of electricity increase dramatically. Moreover, traditional power distribution systems are encountering issues in distributing electrical energy to fulfill customer demands. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel power management system named 'the hybrid genetic local binary knowledge (HGLBK) algorithm' to manage power distribution in the transmission lines and to optimize the total operation cost of the network. The hybrid optimization algorithm effectively controls the load by supplying the surplus power load to the adjacent feeders thereby optimally selecting and placing the distributed energy resource (DER). The proposed concept is implemented at Kayathar, Tamil Nadu in India, and their real-time data are utilized for modeling the VPP. The proposed VPP concept is implemented in the IEEE-9 bus system and the performance of VPP is simulated using the MATLAB software. The performance of the proposed HGLBK algorithm is assessed by comparing its effectiveness with the existing approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper an islanded microgrid fed through the wind and solar energy resources is presented. The power flow within the microgrid is controlled using a Neutral Point Clamped Dual Active Bridge (NPC-DAB) converter. In the proposed dc microgrid, the solar energy source is associated at the low voltage (LV) bus and the wind energy source is connected at the high voltage (HV) bus. A permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) machine is used in wind energy conversion system. The real time solar radiation and wind speed data of Rupangarh, Rajasthan, India is used as an input for renewable energy resource. The NPC-DAB will work as a power electronics juncture for expediting the energy exchange in the islanded DC Microgrid. The proposed closed loop controller based on the capacitor voltage and load voltage will expedite a complete automatic operation of the islanded DC-microgrid considering various load changes. The system is studied without storage element as the automatic control of energy generation and load feeding is carried out by the NPC-DAB, also this makes the scheme cost effective. The optimum duty ratios for NPC-DAB operation are obtained and thus the increased load demand is met. The modeling of PMSG, NPC-DAB and wind energy system is discussed in details in this work. The proposed system is studied in MATLAB/Simulink environment and results are obtained for different load variations. All the wind control parameters, NPC-DAB waveforms, load waveforms are also plotted using MATLAB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government now-a-days are looking forward to achieve "Energy for All" standards. Countries are committing themselves to reduce carbon emissions. Recently, every IT industry giants, who typically own and operate huge Data Centers (DC) are looking forward to achieve "100% usage of green energy to power their datacenters, contribute to the utility grid in equivalence to their electrical power consumptions". Electrification and gradual decarbonisation still continue as significant, global concern. Hence it is pretty clear that need for MicroGrid (MG) based facilities is actually a mandatory. But intermittent-characteristic (unreliability/unavailability) of Renewable-Energy (RE) generating sources (like Solar Panels, Wind Turbines) regularly hinder both the stake holders-Government and IT industry from accomplishing such social and economic initiatives. Hence SmartMicroGrid (SMG) connected with utility grid are envisioned to support powering industries inorder to avoid future power outages. Interconnected industry4.0 factories where, actually the smart-management interms of two-way power supply and two-way communication network is foreseen. They are highly dependent on modern, integrated, Information and Communication technologies (IoT sensors, Fog and Cloud computing etc.). In this paper we have focussed on two objectives. Firstly our objective is to identify, optimum renewable-generation-capacities inorder to minimise investment cost of a microgrid. Secondly our objective is to maximize usage of more clean energy for applications running on FogMicroDataCenter (fogMDC), powered by microgrids and controlled by Sofware Defined Networking (SDN). We have used realistic meteorological data of Tamil nadu, India for our proposed work. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work proposed for two different scenarios, performance modelling and economic modelling aiding MG powered FogMDCs. Proposed economic modelling work is related to finding, the optimum sizing of distributed energy resources and financial cost. Proposed performance modelling is about, the clean energy usages in micro grid powered fogMDC for operations, supported by SDN for efficient distributed Virtual Machine (VM) based resource utilization to guarantee QoS in time sensitive IoT applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper thoroughly analyses energy, economic and environmental (3E) performance of using different battery (BAT) energy storage system like lead acid battery (LAB), lithium-ion battery (LIB), vanadium redox flow (VRF) battery and mechanical energy storage (MES) like flywheel and pumped hydro storage (PHS) using three different dispatch strategies (DS) such as cycle charging (CC), load following (LF) and generator order (GO), respectively. Andaman and Nicobar(A&N) Island of India have no main grid. Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) Pro software is used to study feasibility of power generation using various sources. Study incorporating tidal plant with wind turbine and Bio-DG in micro grid is considered first time for an Indian scenario as per authors' knowledge with application of various DS and energy storage technologies. The superiority of LIB over LAB and MES is proved in this study. Wind/Bio-DG /tidal/LIB have relatively least net present cost(NPC), cost of energy (COE) of $1.30M and $0.263, respectively among five energy storage devices using CC dispatch strategy compared to other two strategies. It is investigated that LIB uses only 250 units of batteries, which is 46% less than total utilized LAB units for catering same load. In terms of expected lifespan, energy losses, energy production and state of charge (SOC), performance of LIB are superior to LAB. SWOT and sensitivity analysis have been performed considering fuel price and wind speed. Different techno economic indicators like cost summary, cash flow, fuel summary, economics, electrical parameters, renewable fraction (RF), return of investment (ROI), lowest simple payback period, internal rate of return (IRR), pollutant emission are considered and compared with each other for LAB and LIB combinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban and suburban advancement has increased the consumption of energy per capita gradually. Electrical distribution companies have expanded their network to cater to the demand, making the system more vulnerable to low probability high impact events. The extreme events occurred in last five year had shown us complete to partial blackout, which calls for resiliency enhancement. The presented study concentrates on the Dehradun, India, which listed as the most earthquake-prone region by Union Nations Development Programme. Hence, this paper proposes three main strategies to make a resilient distribution grid against an earthquake; (i) Hardening approach at grid side and demand side against earthquake disaster (ii) Monte-Carlo methodology for earthquake hazard model (iii) K-means algorithm with clustering quality index to identify the multiple vulnerable zones. Grid side hardening is performed using the optimal unit placement of the Solar PV plant (SPP) with storage and parallel cables with sectionalizers. For demand-side hardening, electric vehicles are considered storage after an event, duly taking their future growth rate into account. Furthermore, a Mixed Integer non-linear problem is formulated to identify the optimal sizing and sitting of SPP with storage. The proposed methodology is developed and applied to the distribution system (156-bus) of Dehradun, India. • Resiliency enhancement at grid-side & demand-side using DER and EVs. • Earthquake hazard model is developed using Monte-Carlo methodology. • Identification of optimal number of vulnerable zone with clustering quality index. • A case study on 156 bus mixed-terrain real distribution system of Dehradun, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• First time the solar-wind-biogas-VRFB integrated micrgrid is modeled and validated. • The capacity optimization and energy management with lowest LCOE is done by HOMER. • Peak load shaving with optimal sources and grid is shown by PSCAD using real data. • Optimal schedule of renewable sources and VRFB ensures zero LPSP at consumer end. • Financial study of hybrid microgrid demonstrates project viability and up scaling. Uninterrupted access to electric power has become the basic need of today's world. Rural parts of many countries still do not have access to electricity or have electric power access to weak distribution grids with inadequate transmission and distribution system infrastructure. However, the countries where there is an abundance of solar radiation, a good potential of bio-degradable waste and average availability of wind source, access to electricity for those remote areas can be managed by distributed power generation. Considering the fact that the renewable energy sources (Solar, Wind etc.) are intermittent in nature, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and other reservoirs like biogas energy sources are the potential candidates to be integrated with the renewable sources to ensure continuous access to electricity and energy security. In this paper, a unique combination of Solar PV, Wind, Biomass and Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (VRFB) storage integrated hybrid Microgrid has been modeled and implemented practically for the first time. The capacity selection of different renewable sources for satisfying daily energy demand and their techno-commercial optimization has been performed through HOMER simulation. Further, the peak load shaving that is a limitation of HOMER model, has been established through PSCAD simulation by providing the real life data of different renewable sources, VRFB storage and the load profile as input to the model. The simulation model performances have been validated by a practical 10 kW P solar PV, 1 kW wind and 15 kVA Biogas generator integrated with 1 kW 6 h VRFB storage based Microgrid installed at India Institute of Engineering Science and Technology campus, India. In addition to these, zero loss of power supply probability (LPSP) has been ensured by implementing smart scheduling and controller considering the intermittency of the renewable sources. As a part of the financial analysis, project Investment on Return (IRR) and pay back has been calculated considering initial investment, operation and maintenance cost and revenue of generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

World's large population lives in remote areas where electricity is unavailable or unreliable supply. For electricity supply, a low‐cost, minimum‐emission hybrid renewable energy system is necessary due to power shortages or unavailability, high electricity costs, and large greenhouse gas emissions. The current work develops a standalone hybrid power generating system and assesses its techno‐economic feasibility for rural sites in the Lucknow area of Northern India. To address the electric load requirement, the proposed work includes a system that includes a solar photovoltaic (SPV) module, a lead‐acid battery, a wind turbine (WT), and a diesel generator (DG). The system is sized and optimized using the hybrid optimization of multiple energy resources software. In this off‐grid system, the proposed system is intended for a home load need of 52.00 kWh/day with a peak of 11.04 kW. The technical and financial specifications are drawn from the local Indian market for the proposed standalone system. In this article, seven different resource combinations are investigated. A combination of 13 kW DG, 16 kW SPV, 50 kWh lead‐acid battery, 9 kW inverter, and 4 kW WT produces the best optimal system. With a 98.4% renewable portion, the cost of energy and total net present cost are $0.162/kWh and $57 390, respectively. The sensitivity analysis inflation and discount rates are 5.5% and 8%, respectively. As a consequence of the findings, we can conclude that the suggested standalone system is more cost‐effective for rural areas in Northern India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Typically, diesel or other fossil fuel-based related applications meet electricity demand. Nonetheless, as the cost of fossil fuels rises, as do their harmful emissions, there is a sudden transition toward stand-alone hybrid renewable energy systems (HRESs). The proposed project proposes electrifying VIT University in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India, using an off-grid HRES. The goal of enhancing hybrid energy system (HES) regulation, size, and component selection is to provide society with a cost-effective power supply. This article's primary purpose is to show how to utilize HOMER Pro Software to reduce total net present cost, cost of energy, and CO2 emissions. After that, the findings were compared to four different HRES configurations. The efficient solution for transmitting power at the lowest energy cost is configuration 1 (solar + fuel cell + battery + wind + diesel generator) which is found to be the optimal solution for supplying energy with 0% unmet load at the least cost of energy, which is at 24.91 Rs/kWh. These data are used to calculate the optimal size of energy storage components based on long-term system behavior using HOMER and to forecast short-term generation and demand changes while maintaining system dependability and grid voltage. Using and incorporating model predictive control (MPC) for an interlinking converter (ILC), the proposed HRES design is validated for the study area in a novel way that sequentially applies HOMER and MATLAB simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Escalation in electricity consumption and environmental pollution worldwide necessitates the need for alternative and sustainable energy sources other than conventional sources. Therefore, in this article, renewable energy–based microgrid is presented to cater such needs. Different feasible microgrid topologies are determined and analyzed to meet the demand of the proposed site. The feasibility evaluation of the different microgrid configurations is performed based on the cost factors and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The optimum configuration is selected based on the minimum cost of annual operating charges, annual energy charges and annual social cost of CO2 emissions taken altogether. Besides this, the comparison of the various configurations is also performed on the basis of net present cost, capital expenditure and cost of energy. For analysis, the site profile and load profile of Jamia Millia Islamia University, India, are taken. The optimization is performed in HOMER. It is obtained from the simulation results that the microgrid configuration comprising grid‐solar photovoltaic‐wind turbine is found to be best suited for the proposed site based on various parameters. Furthermore, the efficacy of the proposed system is compared with conventional grid‐only system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]