Dispatch strategies based performance analysis of a hybrid renewable energy system for a remote rural area in India

A significant Indian population lives in villages and some live in remote areas disconnected from the grid connectivity. Extension of grid connection to provide power supply to these villages is not feasible, but stand-alone hybrid renewable energy system may be a feasible option. In this perspective, dispatch strategy based performance analysis has been carried out to provide power supply using the hybrid renewable energy system for a remote rural area in the state of Karnataka (India). The effect of load following, cycle charging and combined dispatch strategies on Lead Acid and Lithium-Ion batteries with Photovoltaic/Hydro/Battery and Photovoltaic/Wind/Hydro/Diesel Generator/Battery configurations has been studied using Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER Pro®). The feasible Cost of Energy and Net Present Cost obtained for the proposed hybrid system are found in the range of 0.1 $/kWh – 0.162 $/kWh, $4,65,790 – $7,16,658 under the proposed dispatch strategies. The Cost of Energy and Net Present Cost of Lithium-Ion battery based system are found to be 30% and 35% lesser than Lead Acid battery based system. Using Lithium-Ion batteries, the Cost of Energy is reduced by 34%, 25% and 37% under Load Following, Cycle Charging and Combined Dispatch strategies. From the results obtained, it is found that under Combined Dispatch strategy, Lithium-Ion battery based hybrid renewable energy system delivers the most optimal operational costs. The study is also extended to perform sensitivity analysis on varying input parameters such as discount rate, Photovoltaic cost, battery cost, fuel cost, wind speed and design flow rate. Variation of discount rate and fuel cost affect the Cost of Energy and Net Present Cost significantly.