Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Cyprus University of Technology, P.O. Box 50329, 3603 Limassol, Cyprus
School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, United Kingdom
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 11 January 2011
Accepted 26 June 2011
Available online 23 July 2011
In this paper the design and simulation of two renewable-based standalone energy systems for application in two different locations are carried out. More specically, the systems examined are a standalone
PV system and a standalone hybrid PVeWind system. The locations considered are those of Nicosia,
Cyprus and Nice, France. These two locations have similar Mediterranean climates with different wind
potential and slightly different solar irradiation levels which lead to interesting conclusions concerning
the application of such systems. Since both systems are standalone, the energy produced is stored in
a battery bank. The software used for the modeling and simulation processes is TRNSYS. The results of
this paper dene the optimal type and size of the renewable-based system to be applied in each of the
locations examined at the minimum system cost. Additionally, a comparison of the two systems for both
locations in terms of technical and economic aspects is presented where it is concluded that the type of
the system to be used in each case is directly depended on the climatic characteristics of the specic
location. More specically, for Nicosia the solely PV system provides a better option than the PVeWind
hybrid system while in Nice the opposite is the case.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Standalone
Baseline scenario
Load prole
Hybrid
Wind potential
Solar potential
1. Introduction
Energy has always been the dominant driving force for the
socio-economic development of mankind. Nowadays, the global
energy system is mainly depended on fossil fuels resulting in
a series of negative effects with the consequent environmental
pollution having detrimental effects on the environment and
eventually life on the planet. Many studies are conrming that
fossil fuel reserves and especially oil reserves are depleting rapidly
and the immediate exploitation of renewable energy sources (RES)
such as solar and wind energy is imperative.
A possible eld of application of renewable-based systems is
that of standalone systems for powering grid-isolated applications.
Of course, this kind of applications will become more economically
viable as the prices of fuels currently used increase and the costs of
equipment to harvest renewable energy decrease. The most
commonly used types of renewable-based systems at present are
PV systems and hybrid PVeWind systems with energy storage
using a battery bank.
Dalton et al. [1] carried out a feasibility analysis of a renewablebased system for a standalone application for a large hotel unit in
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 357 25 002621; fax: 357 25 002637.
E-mail address: soteris.kalogirou@cut.ac.cy (S. Kalogirou).
0960-1481/$ e see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.renene.2011.06.038
356
Energy [Wh]
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Time [hour]
concerned the characteristics and the energy behavior of the residential building stock of Cyprus in view of Directive 2002/91/EC.
For the design of these systems a typical house is considered.
The house examined in the baseline scenario is a single story house
with an area of 160 m2 which was built in year 2000. The house has
3 bedrooms and it does not have pilotis, sotta or a basement while
it has a at concrete roof with 140 m2 of free space for any systems
such as solar thermal or PVs to be installed. The house has a 5 cm
polyurethane wall insulation and double glazing. The heating and
cooling requirements are satised by split type air conditioning
units. The number of units installed are two 9000 Btu (2.6 kW) in
two of three bedrooms and one 12,000 Btu (3.5 kW) unit in the
living room. For the production of domestic hot water (DHW)
a solar water heating system is used while an immersed electric
element is installed in the solar heater storage tank for backup.
3. Typical annual load prole denition
The typical annual load prole denition was also based on the
statistical analysis conducted by Panayiotou et al. [5]. In this
statistical analysis a sample of 500 houses along with analytical
data given by the Electricity Authority of Cyprus were used and it
was concluded that there are two peaks observed on the
consumption of electricity in the domestic sector annually; one in
summer, which is the highest, and one in winter. On the other hand,
autumn and spring periods have more or less the same consumption of electricity which is lower compared to that of summer and
winter. Also, another very important thing to notice is that the daily
average electricity consumption of the house is around 24 kWh
during summer, 21 kWh during winter and 15 kWh during autumn
and spring.
Energy [Wh]
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Time [hour]
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
357
7000
6000
Energy [Wh]
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Time [hour]
3
1.5 kW
2.4 kW
2,5
Power [kW]
1,5
0,5
0
0
10
12
14
16
18
20
358
used which are of the gel technology and thus, according to their
manufacturer, have a service life of 18 years. Additionally the
maximum depth of discharge used in the model is 20%. This is the
value usually used to prolong the life of batteries.
25
20
Frequ en cy [ %]
15
Table 1
Energy produced by a single PV with different slopes located in Nicosia.
10
0
0
10
12
14
16
Slope of the PV
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
89,516
89,650
89,748
89,810
89,835
89,823
89,775
359
Table 2
Results of the simulation process for the standalone PV system.
Conguration No
No of
PVs [e]
PV array
power [kW]
No of batteries
[e]
Battery capacity
[kWh]
Annual energy
deciency [kWh]
1c
2c
3c
4c
5c
6c
7c
8c
9c
10c
11c
12c
40
45
50
60
63
65
40
45
50
55
58
59
7.2
8.1
9.0
10.8
11.34
11.7
7.2
8.1
9.0
9.9
10.44
10.62
36
36
36
36
36
36
48
48
48
48
48
48
108
108
108
108
108
108
144
144
144
144
144
144
566
381
228
25
12
2
496
320
193
80
13
0
607
451
220
33
2
10
503
365
186
97
29
0
March. During the summer period Cyprus, as an eastern Mediterranean territory, is affected by the seasonal low barometric which
has its center in the northwest Asia and this causes the high level of
temperatures. More specically during July and August the mean
daily temperatures that appear are around 29 C at the center of the
island and 22 C at the higher peaks of Troodos Mountain while the
mean monthly temperatures during those months are 36 C and
27 C respectively.
Cyprus lies in the outskirts of a sunny belt with an average
annual solar potential on a at surface to be around 1790 kWh/m2
as it can be seen in Fig. 5 [7]. Mean daily global solar radiation varies
from about 2.3 kWh/m2 during the cloudiest months to about
7.2 kWh/m2 in July [8]. The average number of hours of bright
sunshine per day over the summer period is equal to 11.5 h whilst
in winter period it is 5.5 h during the worst months (December and
January).
According to Pashardes and Christodes [9] the surface winds in
the general area of eastern Mediterranean are mostly western or
south-western in winter and north-western or northern in
summer. The wind prole of Nicosia according to the typical
meteorological year (TMY) used was graphically represented in
Fig. 6.
6.1. Simulation and economic analysis of standalone PV system
It is essential to know the slope of the PVs in order to use it
during the simulation. A rule of thumb followed by the PV technicians in Cyprus is that the slope of the PVs should be somewhere
between 27 and 31. In order to dene the optimum slope to be
used in the modeling process a small model consisting of a TMY and
a single PV was developed and a series of simulations were carried
out for slopes between 27 and 33 . The energy production for each
slope is recorded and presented in Table 1.
According to the results of Table 1 the maximum energy
production occurs for a slope of 31 (shown with bold on Table 1)
and thus this is the optimum angle for the location examined and
consequently for Cyprus.
After the proper setting up of the complete model for the
standalone PV system a series of simulations were carried out in
Table 3
Equipment costs used in the economic analysis.
1
2
3
4
5
Equipment description
Cost
Photovoltaic panels
Batteries
Inverter (2.5 kW, 24 V)
Mounting system (for at roof)
Electrical equipment (cables, etc.)
V3.2 per W
V640 per pc
V2069
V200/kW
V210/kW
Table 4
Economic analysis results for the systems of Congurations 6c and 12c.
Number
Power
Lifetime
Cost
Overall cost
Conguration 6c
1 PV
2 Inverter/controller
3 Elec. equip.
4 Mounting
5 Batteries
Equipment
65
3
e
e
36
180
4500
e
e
1500 Ah
25
15
25
25
18
V37,440
V7977
V2457
V2340
V23,040
Total
V37,440
V15,954
V2457
V2340
V46,080
V104,271
Conguration 12c
1 PV
2 Inverter/controller
3 Elec. equip.
4 Mounting
5 Batteries
59
3
e
e
48
180
4500
e
e
1500 Ah
25
15
25
25
18
V33,984
V7977
V2230
V2124
V30,720
Total
V33,984
V15,954
V2230
V2124
V61,440
V115,732
360
Table 5
Energy produced by a 1.5 kW and a 2.4 kW wind turbine located in Nicosia.
Energy produced [Wh]
Maximum
Average
Annual
1500
146
1,279,346
2274
145
1,271,074
between the two being that Conguration 12c has larger energy
storage capacity and lower PV array power (smaller size) while
Conguration 6c has larger PV array power (larger size) and lower
energy storage capacity. This is a very important fact to consider
when deciding which is the optimum conguration for the system
to be designed. To do so, Congurations 6c and 12c are evaluated in
terms of life cycle analysis for a total system life of 25 years. During
this process the lifetime of each component is taken into consideration (with its consequent replacement cost) along with its
current cost and is recorded in Table 3. The results of this analysis
are presented in Table 4.
By evaluating the results of the economic analysis it is concluded
that the optimum system is Conguration 6c which consists of 65
PVs (11.7 kW) and 36 batteries (108 kWh). The cost of such a system
is V104,271. It is very important to notice that in all cases examined
the main part of the cost, around 50%, concerns the batteries. Since
the optimum conguration estimated has 36 batteries it is
concluded that the decision for the nominal voltage of the battery
bank to be at 24 V was correct due to the fact that if 48 V was
chosen then the battery bank conguration should have been
either 1 or 2 strings of 24 batteries and it is obvious that the option
of 24 batteries (1 string) would be undersized and thus insufcient
while the option of 48 batteries (2 strings) would be oversized with
a consequent increase of the overall cost of the system.
6.2. Simulation and economic analysis of standalone PVeWind
system
By analyzing the power curves of each wind turbine (Fig. 4) in
conjunction with the wind prole of the examined location (Fig. 6)
it is hypothesized that the most suitable wind turbine to be used in
the system designed is the 1.5 kW one. This of course is only
a hypothesis and in order to be validated a series of simulations
using a simple model consisting of a TMY and a wind turbine were
carried out. The results obtained are presented in Table 5. From
these results it is concluded that the hypothesis was correct since
the 1.5 kW wind turbine generates more energy than the 2.4 kW
one. This is caused by the fact that the 1.5 kW wind turbine operates with higher efciency at low wind velocity which prevails at
the location examined.
The simulation process followed for this system was similar to
the one carried out for the PV system. From the results concerning
the two wind turbines it is clear that the wind turbine that should
be used in the system designed is that of 1.5 kW.
Since the optimum capacity of the batteries to cover the load
over a typical year was calculated during the simulation process for
Table 7
Economic analysis results for the hybrid PVeWind system.
Conguration Fc
1
2
3
4
5
6
Equipment
Number
PV
Wind turbine
Inverter/controller
Elec. Equip.
Mounting system
Batteries
61
1
3
e
e
36
Power
180
1500
4500
e
e
1500 Ah
Lifetime
Cost
25
25
15
25
25
18
V35,136
V2250
V7977
V2192
V2088
V23,040
Overall cost
V35,136
V2250
V15,954
V2192
V2088
V46,080
V103,700
Total
Table 6
Results of the simulation process for the standalone PVeWind system.
Conguration No
No of
PVs [e]
PV array
power [kW]
No of batteries
[e]
Battery capacity
[kWh]
Energy deciency
[kWh/yr]
Period of energy
deciency [h/yr]
Ac
Bc
Cc
Dc
Ec
Fc
55
57
58
59
60
61
9.90
10.26
10.44
10.62
10.80
10.98
36
36
36
36
36
36
108
108
108
108
108
108
24
15
11
7
1
0
33
22
7
10
10
0
361
18
16
Table 8
Energy produced by a single PV with different slopes located in Nice.
14
12
Frequ ency [%]
10
8
6
4
2
0
0
10
12
14
16
18
20
Slope of the PV
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
77,430
77,799
78,137
78,444
78,720
78,963
79,174
79,353
79,499
79,613
79,694
79,742
79,757
79,739
362
Table 9
Results of the simulation process for the standalone PV system.
Conguration No
No of
PVs [e]
PV array
power [kW]
No of batteries
[e]
Battery
capacity [kWh]
Annual energy
deciency [kWh]
Annual period of
energy deciency [h]
1f
2f
3f
4f
5f
6f
7f
8f
60
70
80
85
83
75
77
78
10.8
12.6
14.4
15.3
14.94
13.5
13.86
14.04
36
36
36
36
36
48
48
48
108
108
108
108
108
144
144
144
262
81
24
0
8
13
2
0
313
92
52
0
12
8
11
0
Table 10
Economic analysis results for the systems of Congurations 4f and 8f.
Number
Power
Lifetime
Cost
Overall cost
Conguration 4f
1 PV
2 Inverter/controller
3 Elec. equip.
4 Mounting
5 Batteries
Equipment
85
4
e
e
36
180
4500
e
e
1500 Ah
25
15
25
25
18
V48,960
V10,636
V3137
V3060
V23,040
Total
V48,960
V21,272
V3137
V3060
V46,080
V122,509
Conguration 8f
1 PV
2 Inverter/controller
3 Elec. equip.
4 Mounting
5 Batteries
78
3
e
e
48
180
4500
e
e
1500 Ah
25
15
25
25
18
V44,928
V7977
V2948
V2808
V30,720
Total
V44,928
V15,954
V2948
V2808
V61,440
V128,078
Table 11
Energy produced by a 1.5 kW and a 2.4 kW wind turbine located in Nice.
Energy produced [Wh]
Maximum
Average
Annual
1500
237
2,077,550
2400
269
2,353,048
363
Table 12
Results of the simulation process for the standalone PVeWind system.
Conguration no
No of WT
No of
PVs [e]
PV array
power [kW]
No of batteries
[e]
Battery
capacity [kWh]
Annual energy
deciency [kWh]
Annual period of
energy deciency [h]
Af
Bf
Cf
Df
Ef
Ff
Gf
Hf
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
60
65
67
66
66
55
50
53
10.8
11.7
12.06
11.88
11.88
9.9
9.0
9.54
36
36
36
36
36
36
36
36
108
108
108
108
108
108
108
108
20
6
0
1
0
0
11
1
13
15
0
9
0
0
24
6
Table 13
Economic analysis results for the systems of Congurations Cf and Ff.
Equipment
Number
Conguration Cf
1 PV
2 Wind turbine
3 Inverter/controller
4 Elec. Equip.
5 Mounting system
6 Batteries
67
1
4
e
e
36
Conguration Ff
1 PV
2 Wind turbine
3 Inverter/controller
4 Elec. equip.
5 Mounting system
6 Batteries
55
2
3
e
e
36
Power
180
2400
4500
e
e
1500 Ah
180
2400
4500
e
e
1500 Ah
Lifetime
Cost
Overall cost
25
25
15
25
25
18
V38,592
V3600
V10,636
V2532
V2412
V23,040
Total
V38,592
V3600
V21,272
V2532
V2412
V46,080
V114,488
25
25
15
25
25
18
V31,680
V7200
V7977
V2079
V1980
V23,040
Total
V31,680
V7200
V15,954
V2079
V1980
V46,080
V104,973
8. Conclusions
In this paper the simulation of two renewable-based standalone
energy systems for application in two different locations was
carried out. More specically, the systems examined were a standalone PV system and a standalone hybrid PVeWind system. The
locations considered were those of Nicosia, Cyprus and Nice,
France. The reason for choosing these two locations is the fact that
they have similar Mediterranean climates with different wind
potential and slightly different solar potential which lead to interesting conclusions concerning the application of such systems.
The results from the two locations show that the application of
a solely solar based PV system appears to be a much better solution
in Nicosia than in Nice due to the higher annual solar potential. This
results in a PV array power of 11.7 kW for Nicosia and 15.3 kW for
Nice for a 108 kWh storage capacity batteries in both cases.
On the other hand when applying a hybrid PVeWind system in
both locations then Nice shows better characteristics due to the
much better wind prole with the optimum system consisting of
two 2.4 kW wind turbines, 9.9 kW of PV array power and 108 kWh
batteries. The application of such a system in Nicosia is not considered to be a feasible solution because the life cycle cost of the hybrid
system is only very marginally lower than the life cycle cost of the
PV-only system. However the PV-only system avoids a number of
other disadvantages of the hybrid system which include increased
maintenance costs and visual and noise pollution.
Summarizing, the results of this paper clearly lead to the
conclusion that the viability of the application of any kind of
renewable-based standalone energy system at a particular location
depends very strongly on the climate characteristics of the location
which should be used in the analysis of the economic viability of
the system.
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