Hybrid Controller for

Renewable Energy Power Plant

in Stand-alone sites

Prof. M.L. Azad

HOD
Electrical & Electronic Engineering Department,
Amity University, Greater Noida
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1

Outline

Introduction

Technology aspects

Benefit to the Industry

Commercialization prospective

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Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

Introduction

Uncontrolled Renewable energy sources essentially

have random behaviors. eg: Solar, Wind, etc.

Power production from Uncontrolled

independent of human intervention

Hybrid power systems may contain controlled and

uncontrolled energy sources and energy storage
elements with appropriate control systems

Stand-alone hybrid power systems take advantage of

the complementary nature in profile of the renewable
energy sources

Hybrid power systems ensure continuous and reliable

power production

sources

is

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Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

Model of
Hybrid Power Generation System

Hybrid Controller for Renewable

Energy Power Plant in Standalone sites

Possible Renewable Hybrid Energy

Systems
1) Wind/PV/FC/electrolyzer/
9) FC/battery, or supercapacitor system
battery system
10) Wind/FC system
2) Micro-turbine/FC system
11) Wind/diesel system
3) Microturbine/wind system
12) Wind/PV/battery
4) Gas-turbine/FC
system
system
13) PV/diesel system
5) Diesel/FC system
14) Diesel/wind/PV system
6) PV/battery
15) PV/FC/ SMES system
7) PV/FC/electrolyzer
8) PV/FC/electrolyzer/battery
system
Wind and solar power generation are two of the most
promising renewable power generation technologies.
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Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

DG/Battery Hybrid Solution: Merits

Easy

to install and low cost on site construction

Highly

integrated intelligent hybrid power system

for control and protection

Inclusion of battery back up reduces the DG size

Saving in diesel and reduction in maintenance of diesel
generator
Reduced operating time and enhanced DG life

Specially

market

designed deep cycle battery available in

Rechargeable in a short time,

Long cycle life under STC,
High DoD (Depth of Discharge)
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Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

DG based Hybrid Solution : Demerits

DG as energy source has problems of :

Pollution
air, noise, heat

Dependence of fuel
world-wide increase of oil prices; limited resources in future

Transport to the sites

long distances and cost intensive transports

Storage of the fuel at site

safety problems - explosions, vandalism

No unattended operation is possible

high personnel cost

High maintenance cost and limited life-time of DG

Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems

On the other hand, the proposed renewable energy

based system helps in:

Decrease environmental pollution

Reduction of air emission

Energy saving
Reduces production and purchase of fossil fuels

Abatement of global warming

CO2 and other green house gases are not produced

Socioeconomic development
Develops employment opportunities in rural areas

Fuel supply diversity

Diversity of energy carriers and suppliers

Distributed power generation

Reduces requirement for transmission lines within the electricity grid

Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

Challenges

Site dependence of renewable sources

Site survey with long term data acquisition & forecasting

Hybrid renewable energy system design

Configuration and sizing of the hybrid system
components with the objectives:
Supplying the power reliably under varying atmospheric
conditions
Minimizing the total cost of the system
Maximizing the system efficiency by efficient energy flow
management strategies

Optimization through simulation studies under real

operating conditions for a reasonable tradeoff among
conflicting design objectives
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Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

Challenges

Economic viability
Cost-benefit analysis of hybrid system for
reasonable payback period

Real world application

Design of power conditioning devices with

maximum power point operation of energy sources
Optimal energy management strategies and their
testing with laboratory prototype hybrid controller
Development of hardware and associated software
for field-implementation

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Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

Technology aspects

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Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

Introduction

Solar PV based renewable power plant with FC,

Battery and DG as backup sources

Hybrid controller to implement the energy

sources changeover logic based on optimal
energy management strategy.

Automatic mode of operation in the hybrid

controller for FC and DG changeover operations.

Laboratory prototype of hybrid Solar PV-Fuel

Cell-Battery-DG system for upto 5 kW load

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Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

A typical stand-alone PV-Fuel cellBattery hybrid energy system:

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Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

System Development

Robustness of the controller to fluctuating weather

conditions and load demand is being rigorously
tested, monitored and documented.

Hybrid controller comprises of:

Solar DSCAM (master controller) and two slave controllers,
the Fuel Cell DSCAM and DG DSCAM
Individual power conditioning units for SPV, Fuel Cell and
DG system to provide regulated DC output on the DC bus.

The master and slave controllers interact to

provide switching and control signals for the
converter units.

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Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

SPV-FC-BATTERY-DG HYBRID ENERGY POWER PLANT

SOLAR PV ARRAY (Primary Source)

BATTERY BANK ( Back Up Source)

Discharging

PV Power

FUEL CELL SYSTEM (Back Up Source)

LOAD
Supply to
Load

Charging

DIESEL GENERATOR (Back

Up Source)

FC Power

DG Power

H2
Supply
CONTROLLER
H2 storage

Experimental Test Results

60

Load 1 kW

Load 0.75
kW

DG
Operation

Voltage (V)

50
40

30

SPV
Operation

SPV Module-1
Voltage (V)

FC Module-1
Voltage (V)

Battery
Operation

FC
Operation

SPV
Operation

20
10

Battery
Operation

DG Module-1
Voltage (V)
System Voltage
(V)
Battery-3 Voltage
(V)
Load Voltage (V)

Time of the day (hr)

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Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

60

Experimental Test Results

FC
Operation

50
40

SPV Operation

Current (A)

30

Battery
Operation

Battery
Operation

SPV Input Current (A)

SPV Module-1 Current (A)

20
10

SPV
Operation

Excess Current

Battery Charging

DG
Operation

Battery Charging

DG Module-1 Current (A)

DG Module-2 Current (A)

-20

-40

FC Module-1 Current (A)

FC Module-2 Current (A)

-10

-30

FC Input Current (A)

System Current (A)

Load 0.75 kW

Load 1 kW

Battery Current (A)

Load Current (A)

Time of the day (hr)

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Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

Merits of Topology

Merits of solar PV charge controller and

Fuel Cell charge controller
Optimal charging of the batteries and maximum power
extraction from solar PV and FC

Supervisory functions to prevent damage to the battery

Effective interface to inter connect Solar PV modules, Fuel
Cell, Battery Bank and the load

Battery reaches a high state of charge under all operating

conditions
Work in tandem with the SMPS based power plant to
optimize the charging capability of the FC/SPV and
protect the batteries from overcharge
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Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

Important Features of Topology

Use of solid-state devices to control the charging current to

the battery and supply power to the load simultaneously

Blocking devices to prevent reverse current flow from the

battery to the FC/SPV during cloudy days or other charging
modes

Lightning / transient protection to protect the control circuitry

from damage due to excessive voltage

Programmable charging capacity, change over settings and

peak power point

Programmable maximum power point tracking (MPPT) logic

with the built in embedded logic controller
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Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

Solar resource assessment (SRA) system

Necessity of weather
Measures
weather parameters like
monitoring
solar insolation (W/m2),

Inspecting
feasibility of
a site
ambientthe
temperature
(0C)
andfor
a solar
energy
project
relative
humidity(%)

Weather
data at defined
intervals
Site comparison
and selection
based
isonmeasured
using sensors
weather data
Data
sentenergy
continuously
to a helps
Longisterm
assessment
central
server
through
GPRS
and
is
in effective
system
sizing
and
cost
monitored
online
minimization
Helps to predict the performance of
SPV
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Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

Remote Monitoring System

Sensors

Hybrid Controller

Monitoring Station
Remote PC
cRIO-9073, Data acquiring,
Generating and logging

Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

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Benefit to Industry

Hybrid Controller for Renewable

Energy Power Plant in Standalone sites

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Market potential

Extendable to a generalized solution for any kind of

stand-alone site.

Independent of continuous availability of the

renewable source as well as grid power availability.

Power converters are modular in nature

For any kind of critical load in stand-alone site

Telecom towers,
Cold storage plants,
Hospitals,
Military establishments
Fuel stations
ATMs
Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

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Commercialization prospective

Hybrid Controller for Renewable

Energy Power Plant in Standalone sites

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Cost-benefit analysis

Net present value = Total lifetime savings

Total lifetime investment

Savings include revenue generated from the

hybrid PV system by replacing the DG-battery
system, the carbon tax benefit and savings in
the operational cost of the system.

Investment includes the extra first cost which is

the difference between the Capex of the hybrid
PV system and the Capex of the DG-Battery
system
Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

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Cost-benefit analysis

CAPEX for hybrid PV system to meet 4kW

peak load will around 50Lakh INR

The lifetime of both the systems considered

to be 30 years.

Economic analysis for different scenarios

gives payback period between 5-10 years

Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

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Real world application

Proof of concept verified with a laboratory

prototype

Field site testing with stand-alone load

application needs to be done

The Technology Transfer may take place as per

One Time License Payment or Revenue Sharing
Model or any other criteria mutually agreed

Hybrid Controller for Renewable Energy Power Plant in Stand-alone sites

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Component size and price

Component

Size

Component

Pricing

PV (Wp)

16500

PV (per Wp)

70

Battery in hybrid PV system(kwh)

57.6

Battery (per kwh)

7,000

DG in hybrid PV system (kW)

H2 tanks(per m3)

400

Fuel cell(per kW)

2,00,000
33,000

40

H2 tanks (m3)

Fuel cell (kW)

120

4.56

DG in DG-Battery system (kW)

25

Diesel Generator (per

kW)

Battery in DG-Battery system(

kWh)

105

Diesel (per litre)

Financial Assumptions

Hybrid PV system:
CAPEX is the total initial cost of the system.
OPEX in case1 =1% of CAPEX+ 100% of Battery cost in every 5
years+100% of FC cost every 10,000 hours of operation+
operating cost of FC @Rs 417/hr +operating cost of DG @Rs
50/hr.
OPEX in case2 =1% of CAPEX+ 100% of Battery cost in every 5
years+100% of DG cost in every 15 years + operating cost of FC
@Rs 417/hr+ operating cost of DG @Rs 50/hr.
DG/Battery system:
CAPEX is the total initial cost of the system.
OPEX =2% of CAPEX+100% of Battery cost in every 5
years+100% of DG cost in every 8 years + operating cost of DG
@Rs 50/hr.
The lifetime of both the systems was considered to be 30 years.
The present diesel cost was assumed to be Rs 40/litre.
The annual escalation in diesel cost was assumed to be @ 10 %

Capex and Opex comparisons

Hybrid PV/FC/DG/Battery
system
Longer FC operation

Longer DG operation

3,683,2
00

3,060,
000

Capex
Opex
23,600,
932

1,810,0
00

8,973,
982

DG-Battery

DG/Battery system

Capex
26,436,
200

Opex

Capex
Opex

Comparison of savings & investments for

hybrid PV/FC/DG/Battery system
Longer FC operation

Savings
27,284,
132

25,217,
247

Investmen
ts

Longer DG operation

12,657,
182

Savings

37,400,
995

Investmen
ts

NPV and Payback Period

Longer FC operation

Longer DG
operation

With carbon
tax benefit

23,344,047

35,527,795

Without
carbon tax
benefit

16,463,765

29,068,754

With carbon
tax benefit

Without
carbon tax
benefit

Net present
value

Payback period

Hybrid Controller for Renewable

Energy Power Plant in Standalone sites

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