Optimal configuration for isolated hybrid renewable energy systems

Ali M. Eltamaly and Abdullrahman A. Al-Shamma'a

Citation: J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 8, 045502 (2016); doi: 10.1063/1.4960407

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4960407
View Table of Contents: http://aip.scitation.org/toc/rse/8/4
Published by the American Institute of Physics
 JOURNAL OF RENEWABLE AND SUSTAINABLE ENERGY 8, 045502 (2016)

Optimal configuration for isolated hybrid renewable energy

systems
Ali M. Eltamaly1,2 and Abdullrahman A. Al-Shamma’a3
1
Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Mansoura University,
Mansoura, Egypt
2
Sustainable Energy Technology Center, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
3
Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University,
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
(Received 5 December 2015; accepted 22 July 2016; published online 9 August 2016)

The configuration of hybrid energy systems has a great influence on the cost of
generated energy from the system. This paper introduces a design, simulation,
assessment, and selection of optimum autonomous hybrid renewable energy
configuration out of three different configurations. The proposed hybrid system
contains photovoltaic (PV), wind, diesel, and battery energy systems. A new computer
program has been designed to simulate different configurations of hybrid energy
systems. A genetics optimization smart technique using a genetic algorithm has been
used to calculate the optimum sizing for each component at different configurations of
the hybrid system for minimum cost and highest reliability. The optimum penetration
ratio of renewable energy systems (PV and wind) will be selected according to the
lowest price. Actual data for one remote site in Saudi Arabia has been used in the
input data of this computer program. Sensitivity analysis has been carried out to show
the conditions for selecting any configuration under study. The results obtained from
this study can help researchers, designers, and decision makers to answer many open
questions regarding the design and installations of hybrid renewable energy systems.
Published by AIP Publishing. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4960407]

I. INTRODUCTION
Most remote communities depend on diesel generators (DGs) in generating electricity. DGs
require diesel fuel which is expensive and is difficult to transportation. Besides that, DG usually
operates at low efficiency due to the fact that the loads in remote communities are considerably
different between day and night.1 The installation of hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES)
in remote areas will help these communities in living and agriculture, and by improving the
environment. The most important and effective resources of renewable energy are wind and
solar energies. Wind is not constant and it may not be available at all times of the day. Also,
photovoltaic (PV) energy is only available during the day time. So, these two sources of energy
may complement each other. Due to this nature of the availability of these renewable resources,
it is better to connect both of them with a battery and DG in a HRES to increase the system
reliability rather than using any one of them separately. A battery is used to feed the load with
electric power in the case when the generation from wind and PV is not satisfying the need of
the load and it stores the excess energy in the case when the generation from wind and PV is
greater than the load requirements. Also, a DG is used to feed the load with its need in case
the generation is not enough to feed the load and the battery is not charged enough. Also, a
hydraulic generator can be used2 to generate electric power from the potential power of water
stored in water storage tanks in case the PV, wind, and battery are not satisfying the load needs.
In the case when the generation from PV and wind is greater than the load needs while the bat-
tery is fully charged, the surplus energy will be dissipated in a dummy load, or in the case of
using the storage tank, the excess power can be used to pump water. These renewable energy
sources can be interconnected with an electric utility3 or they can be used in a stand-alone form

1941-7012/2016/8(4)/045502/16/$30.00 8, 045502-1 Published by AIP Publishing.

045502-2 A. M. Eltamaly and A. A. Al-Shamma’a J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 8, 045502 (2016)

to feed loads away from an electric utility.4 Autonomous PV/wind energy can be integrated
with battery storage5–7 or a DG can be used with1 or without6 battery in the HRES.
The interconnecting of different components of HRES together can be through DC-coupled
configuration (DCC), AC-coupled configuration (ACC), or Mix-Coupled Configuration (MCC). In
DCC HRES configuration,8 all components must be connected to DC-bus through a suitable
power conditioning unit. Wind turbines (WTs) should be connected to DC-bus through AC/DC
converter, PV should be connected through DC/DC converter, battery should be connected
through battery charger, DG should be connected through AC/DC converter, and the load should
be connected through main DC/AC converter. This configuration is simple to be implemented
and controlled. The main drawback of this configuration is the losses association with the conver-
sion of AC power of WTs through main DC/AC converter. For this reason, many literatures did
not recommend this configuration in HRES.1,5 In ACC configuration, all components should be
connected through AC-bus.9 In this system, all components should be connected separately to
AC-bus. In the MCC configuration, the component with AC output will be connected to AC-bus
and components with DC output will be connected to DC-bus.10 Most of the literatures recom-
mend this configuration for connecting all components in HRES.1,11 But there is no real compre-
hensive comparative work to assess this recommendation. In this paper, a detailed comprehensive
comparative analysis is introduced to assess these systems for different operating conditions.
Also, a sensitivity analysis study has been introduced to see the performance of each system for
different operating conditions. The comparison between these configurations is used to determine
the cost of kWh generated from HRES system in the design stage. The real time control of the
system can be implemented in a real time application as shown in many literatures.12,13 This con-
trol system can be implemented using sensors measuring the state of each component and
depending on the logic introduced to digital control tool like FPGA or microcontroller the system
can be operated in real life. Many researches discussed the fault characteristics and the perfor-
mance of HRES under fault.14–17

II. ENERGY BALANCE FOR DIFFERENT CONFIGURATIONS

Yearly energy balance between the generation and the loads for each hour should be car-
ried out to assess the load satisfaction. If the generated energy is not satisfying the load require-
ments, the size of the wind and/or PV should be increased and vice versa. This optimization
has been carried out using Genetic Algorithm (GA). The optimization program has been used
with three different configurations DCC, ACC, and MCC. The dispatch of different components
of HRES and the logic behind the power flow and the dispatch of different components of
HRES of each configuration are summarized in the following sections (Secs. II A–II C). The
load supplied primarily from WTs, PV, battery, and then DG, respectively. The common logic
in all of these configurations are in case of the generated power from WTs is greater than the
load requirements, the excess power from WTs and/or PV will be used to charge the battery. In
case of the wind power is not satisfying the load requirements, the power generated from PV
can help the WTs to feed the loads and the rest of the generated power will be used to charge
the battery if it is not fully charged. In case of the generated power from WTs and PV is not
satisfying the load needs, the battery can help them feeding the load if its state of charge
(SOC) is greater than the lower charge limit, EBmin, otherwise, the DG should be started to help
them feeding the load.

A. DC-coupled configuration (DCC)

The generated power from WTs should be converted to DC through AC/DC converter.
Also, the generated power from PV will pass through maximum power point tracker, MPPT for
maximum power extraction. The battery is connected to the DC bus through a battery charger
as shown in Fig. 1. The DG and AC loads are connected to AC-bus. Main DC/AC converter
will be connected between DC and AC-buses. Wind and PV will feed the load and the battery
if their generation is greater than the load requirements. The main drawbacks of DCC configu-
ration are in case of using WT with AC output, the losses associated with converting the WT
045502-3 A. M. Eltamaly and A. A. Al-Shamma’a J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 8, 045502 (2016)

FIG. 1. Schematic diagram of a DCC HRES.

AC power to DC and then to AC again which about 10% of WT Power, and in case of any
problems happened to the main converter, the wind, PV, and battery charger will be discon-
nected and the system will depend only on the DG.

B. AC-coupled configuration (ACC)

In the ACC configuration,9,18 the unregulated AC power generated from the WTs should
be converted to DC through AC/DC converter and then converted again to AC through DC/AC
inverter at regulated voltage as shown in Fig. 2. In case of the WTs with a regulated AC output
voltage, it can be connected directly to AC-bus. Also, the maximum power generated from PV
should be tracked through MPPT (DC/DC) converter and then converted again into regulated

FIG. 2. Schematic diagram of a ACC HRES.

045502-4 A. M. Eltamaly and A. A. Al-Shamma’a J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 8, 045502 (2016)

AC power through DC/AC converter. Battery will be connected to AC bus through bidirectional
DC/DC and DC/AC converters. DG and AC loads are connected to AC-bus. Main DC/AC
Inverter will be connected between DC and AC-buses. WTs and PV will feed the load and the
battery if their generation is greater than the load requirements. The main drawback of ACC is
the losses associated with the converting the WTs AC power to DC and then to AC again as in
the case of DCC. Also, the losses associated with converting the AC surplus power used to
charge the battery through bidirectional DC/DC and DC/AC converters. In ACC configuration
PV, WTs, and battery are connected to separate DC/AC inverter that allows them to work even
one of them has been disconnected which can increase the system reliability.

C. Mix-coupled configuration (MCC)

Mix Coupled Configuration (MCC)1 or sometimes called Hybrid Coupled Configuration
(HCC)5,10,11 is shown in Fig. 3. In this configuration, the unregulated AC power generated from
the WTs should be converted to DC through AC/DC converter and then converted again to AC
through DC/AC inverter at regulated voltage. In case of the WTs with regulated AC output
voltage, it can be connected directly to AC-bus. Also, the maximum power generated from PV
should be tracked through MPPT (DC/DC) converter and connected to DC-bus. Battery will be
connected to DC-bus through bidirectional DC/DC converters. DG and AC loads are connected
to AC-bus. Main DC/AC converter will be connected between DC and AC-buses. WTs have
the priority to feed the load with AC power. The main drawback of MCC is in case of any
problems happened to the main inverter, the PV, and battery charger will be disconnected and
the system will depend on the DG and WTs.

III. MODELING OF HRES COMPONENTS

The power flow between HRES components will be carried out using a computer program.
Each component of the HRES should be modeled to be inserted to this computer program.
Also, the dispatch system for each configuration should be modeled as shown briefly in
Sections III A–III H.

A. Wind turbine model

Wind turbine (WT) is used to convert the kinetic energy stored in the wind to mechanical
energy and then to electric energy through electric generator. Wind speed has a great impact on

FIG. 3. Schematic diagram of a MCC HRES.

045502-5 A. M. Eltamaly and A. A. Al-Shamma’a J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 8, 045502 (2016)

the power generated from WTs where the power in the wind is proportional to the wind speed
power of three. So, it is important to choose sites with high average wind speed to install
HRES. Some WTs are designed to work better in low average wind speed sites and others are
designed to work better for high average wind speed sites. So, choosing WT suitable for a cer-
tain site is crucial which has been discussed in many literatures.19,20 The power in the wind can
be defined as shown in the following equation:

1
Pw ¼ q At v3 ; (1)
2
where q is the air density, At is the area perpendicular to wind direction, and v is the wind
speed.
The relation of wind speed at different elevations to the wind speed at the measurement
elevation can be obtained from the following equation:
 a
h
uðhÞ ¼ uðhg Þ  ; (2)
hg

where hg is the height of where the wind speed is measured, h is the height above the ground
level, a is the power law exponent, which depends on the roughness of the ground surface, its
average value is (1/7).21
The variation of actual WT output power is different from WT to another, most of the liter-
atures used quadratic equation to represent the power output in the range of wind speed
between cut-in and rated wind speeds,22,23 as shown in the following equation which has been
used in the proposed computer program. Some other literatures used first order11 or third order
equations,24,25
8 9
>
> 0 v  VC & v  VF >
>
>
> >
>
< v2  VC2 =
Pw ðvÞ ¼ PR  2 ; V C  v  VR ; (3)
>
> VR  VC2 >
>
>
> >
>
:P V vV ;
R R F

where Pr is the WT rated power, v is the wind speed, and Vc ; Vr ; Vf are the WT cut-in speed,
rated speed, and cutoff speed, respectively.

B. Photovoltaic system model

Solar radiation data are collected on a horizontal surface. The generated power from PV
system can be increased considerably if the PV array installed facing the sun. Many configura-
tions can be used in this regard. The simplest and cheapest way is to choose the yearly best tilt
angle.6,26 In many literatures, the best tilt angle is the latitude angles of the site.27 In some
other literatures, the PV array tilted at monthly best tilt angle,10 some other configurations used
one axis28 or two axis29 sun trackers to increase the generated power from PV system but it
will increase the cost and system complexities. Maximum power point tracker5,30,31 should be
used to track the maximum power generated from PV system.
The global solar radiation on a best tilt angle can be obtained from the following
equation:1

GG;tilted ¼ Gdir;tilted þ Gdiff ;tilted þ Gref ;tilted ; (4)

where Gdir,tilted, Gdiff,tilted, and Gref,tilted are the hourly direct, diffuse, and reflected radiations on
the tilted surface.1 Values of these variables can be calculated from hourly solar radiation
GG,hor on a horizontal surface.
045502-6 A. M. Eltamaly and A. A. Al-Shamma’a J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 8, 045502 (2016)

The modified radiation data on a tilted surface shown by Eltamaly et al.11 has been used in
this study. The hourly output power from PV array is given by the following equation:1
!
GT
PPV ¼ PR fPV ½1 þ aP ðTc  Tc;STC Þ; (5)
GT;STC

where fPV is the PV module derating factor, PR is the PV module capacity, GT is the incident
irradiance on the tilted PV module, GT,STC is the incident irradiance at standard conditions,
aP is the temperature coefficient of power, Tc is the PV temperature, and Tc,STC is the PV tem-
perature under standard conditions.1

C. Modeling of battery storage

Due to intermitted nature of renewable energy sources, it needs a battery to store the sur-
plus energy in case of the generated power from the renewable energy sources is higher than
the load power and to feed the load with the deficit power when the generated power from
renewable energy sources is lower than the load power. It is assumed that EB,max and EB,min are
the maximum and minimum limits that the battery can work, respectively. The SOC of the bat-
tery after certain period of time Dt in charging and discharging processes (EB (t þ Dt)) can be
defined from (6) and (7), respectively, for DCC, (8) and (9), respectively, for ACC, and (10)
and (11), respectively, for MCC.
For DCC:
 
PL ðtÞ
EB ðt þ DtÞ ¼ EB ðtÞ ð1  rb Þ þ PW ðtÞ  gac þ PPV ðtÞ  gdc   gBC  Dt; (6)
ginv
 
PL ðtÞ
EB ðt þ DtÞ ¼ EB ðtÞ ð1  rb Þ   PW ðtÞ  gac  PPV ðtÞ  gdc gBD  Dt: (7)
ginv

For ACC:

EB ðt þ DtÞ ¼ EB ðtÞ ð1  rb Þ þ ðPW ðtÞ þ PPV ðtÞ  gdcac  PL ðtÞÞ  gdcac  gBC  Dt; (8)

EB ðt þ DtÞ ¼ EB ðtÞ ð1  rb Þ  ðPL ðtÞ  PW ðtÞ  PPV ðtÞ  gdcac Þ=ðgBD  gdcac Þ  Dt: (9)

For MCC:

EB ðt þ DtÞ ¼ EB ðtÞ ð1  rb Þ þ ðPW ðtÞ þ PPV ðtÞ  gdcac  PL ðtÞÞ  gdcac  gBC  Dt; (10)

EB ðt þ DtÞ ¼ EB ðtÞ ð1  rb Þ  ðPL ðtÞ  PW ðtÞ  PPV ðtÞ  gdcac Þ=ðgBD  gdcac Þ  Dt; (11)

where PW(t) is the generated power from wind, PPV(t) is the generated power from PV, PL(t) is
the load requirements, and ginv is the inverter efficiency. The value of ginv is about 95% in both
directions from AC to DC or from DC to AC,1,5,10,32 gdc is the efficiency of DC/DC converter.
rb is the self-discharge rate which depends on the state of charge and the state of the health of
the battery, the proposed value of 0.2% per day is recommended for most batteries.1,32 gBC and
gBD are the charging and discharging efficiencies of the battery.
Equations (6)–(11) are valid only when the SOC of the battery within the allowable limits,
otherwise battery is not charging or discharging and the SOC of the battery can be obtained
from (12)

EB ðt þ DtÞ ¼ EB ðtÞ ð1  rb Þ: (12)

The values used in the simulation of the HRES of this paper are shown in Table I.
045502-7 A. M. Eltamaly and A. A. Al-Shamma’a J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 8, 045502 (2016)

TABLE I. The values used in the simulation of the HRES of this paper.

Variable Range value Used value

rb 0.1%–0.5%1,32 0.2%
gcon 0.9%–0.951–5 0.95
gdc 0.95%–0.975 0.95
gBC 90%–75%5 0.9
gBD 95%–80%8 0.95

The minimum allowable storage capacity of the battery, EB,min, can be obtained from the
following equation:

EB;min ¼ DOD  EBR ; (13)

where EBR is the rated or nominal capacity of the battery and sometimes it can be used to be
the same as the maximum allowable storage capacity of the battery, EB,max. DOD is the depth
of discharge of the battery. The value of DOD determines the battery life cycle where the
higher the value of DOD means the shorter the life cycles of the battery.

D. Modeling of power modifier

Power modifier or power electronics converter has been used in HRES to convert DC to
AC, and AC to DC. Modern PWM converters have improved efficiency with typical value
ranging from 90% to 95% with investment cost of $800/kW and $750 for replacement, $8 for
annual cost and maintenance, and 15 years life time.1,5,10

E. Diesel generator model

DG is used to supply the load with the required power in case of the generated power and
the battery is not sufficient to satisfy the load power. The fuel cost of the DG can be calculated
in terms of hourly fuel consumption, F(t), using the following equation:33

X
8760
CDC ¼ CF FðtÞ; (14)
t¼1

where CF is the fuel cost per liter, the hourly fuel consumption, F(t) can be obtained from the
following equation:21

FðtÞ ¼ A  PDG ðtÞ þ B  PR ; (15)

where PDG(t) is the DG generated power (kW), PR is the DG rated power, A ¼ 0.246 l/kWh and
B ¼ 0.0845 l/kWh are the fuel curve coefficients.21 From the above equation, it is noted that the
fuel consumption of the DG is directly proportional to the rated power and the DG generated
power. Therefore, DG should work around its rated value to increase the efficiency of fuel
consumption.1,34

F. System constraints model

In case of the generation from WTs and PV, and power provided by the battery and DG is
not enough to feed the load power, loss of load power will be happened. The ratio of total
hours that an insufficient energy results when the HRES is unable to supply the load to the total
numbers of hours is called loss of load probability (LOLP). The LOLP can be defined from the
following equation:
045502-8 A. M. Eltamaly and A. A. Al-Shamma’a J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 8, 045502 (2016)

!
X
n
LOLP ¼ PFT 8760; (16)
0

where PFT is the power failure time (hours), n is the total number of hours that the system can-
not fulfill the load power.
The optimization should ensure that the size of the components of the HRES is just satisfy-
ing the load requirements with an acceptable value of LOLP. The optimization constraints are
summarized in the following points:
• If PW(t) > PL(t) and EB,min  SOC(t) < EB,max
Only WTs will feed the load and the surplus power from the WTs and PV will flow to charge
the battery.
• If PW(t) > PL(t) and SOC(t)  EB,max
Only WTs will feed the load and the surplus power from the wind and PV will flow to dummy load.
• If PW(t) < PL(t) and PW(t) þ PPV(t) > PL(t) and EB,min  SOC(t) < EB,max
WTs and PV will feed the load and the surplus power from the WTs and PV will flow to charge
the battery.
• If PW(t) < PL(t) and PW(t) þ PPV(t) > PL(t) and SOC(t)  EB,max
WTs and PV will feed the load and the surplus power from the wind and PV will flow to
dummy load.
• If PW(t) þ PPV(t) < PL(t) and EB,min  SOC(t) < EB,max
WTs and PV with the help of battery will feed the load.
• If PW(t) þ PPV(t) < PL(t) and SOC(t)  EB,min
WTs and PV with the help of DG will feed the load.
• If PW(t) þ PPV(t) þ PDG(t) < PL(t) and SOC(t)  EB,min
In this case, the total generation is not satisfying the load requirements and the LOLP will
increase by 1/8760.

G. Renewable energy fraction (REF) model

In case of the generated energy from renewable energy and the stored energy in the battery are
not enough to fulfill the load power, the DG should supply the load with the rest of the power. The
summation of the renewable energy generated to the total energy delivered to the load is called
Renewable Energy Fraction (REF). REF can be defined from the following equation:1,35
 
EL;DG
REF ¼ 1 ; (17)
EL;served

where EL,DG is the load energy served by the DG, EL,served is the total energy delivered to the
load. REF ¼ 100% is corresponding to a system without DG (pure renewable system).
REF ¼ 0% is corresponding to a system without renewable system (pure DG system). In the
system under study, the value of REF is between these two values.

H. System economics model

The Cost of Energy (COE) is the main factor of this study because it can determine to go
for installing the HRES or not. The easiest way to calculate COE is to divide the annualized
system cost (ASC) by the yearly energy served as shown in the following equation:35

ASC
COE ¼ ; (18)
EL;served

where the annualized system cost (ASC) is the summation of the annualized capital cost
(Cacap), the annualized maintenance cost (Camain), and, the annualized replacement cost (Carep)
as shown in the following equation:1
045502-9 A. M. Eltamaly and A. A. Al-Shamma’a J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 8, 045502 (2016)

ASC ¼ Cacap þ Carep þ Camain : (19)

The annualized capital cost of each component is given by the following equation:

Cacap ¼ Ccap CRF ði; Yproj Þ; (20)

where Ccap is the initial capital cost, CRF is the capital recovery factor, and Yproj is the period
lifetime. The Ccap is given by the following equation:

Ccap ¼ CPV þ CWT þ CBatt þ CDG : (21)

The equation of the capital recovery factor is

Yproj
i ð1 þ i Þ
CRFði; Yproj Þ ¼ Yproj ; (22)
ð1 þ i Þ 1

where CPV, CWT, CBatt, and CDG are the capital costs of the PV array, WT, Battery DG, respec-
tively. The Yproj and i are the system life time and annual real interest rate, respectively. The
annualized replacement cost is the annualized value of all the replacement costs occurring
throughout the lifetime of the project, and it can be expressed by the following equation:1

Carep ¼ Crep  SSF ði; Yrep Þ; (23)

where Crep is the replacement cost of the component, SSF is the sink fund factor, and Yrep is
the component lifetime(years).
The equation for the sinking fund factor is

i
SSFði; Yproj Þ ¼ : (24)
ð1 þ iÞYrep  1

The capital cost, replacement cost, O&M cost of the HRES components and the lifetime of
each component in this study are summarized in Table II.

IV. COMPUTER MODEL DEVELOPMENT

To assess these three configurations under study, a smart computer program has been intro-
duced. The input data of this computer program is listed in the following points:
• Hourly wind speed for complete year.
• Hourly radiation on horizontal surface and hourly site temperature for complete year.
• Hourly load power for complete year.
• WT specifications data, such as rated power, cut-in, rated, and cut-out wind speeds, hub height,
and price per kW.
• PV specifications data.
• Diesel engine specification and fuel cost.

TABLE II. The costs and lifetime of the system components.1,36–39

Component Initial cost [$/kW] Replacement cost [$/kWh] O&M [$/kW] Life time Interest rate

PV module 1600 Null 20 20 2%

Wind turbine 1000 Null 30.33 20 …
Battery 200 200 25 10 …
Inverter 700 700 … 10 …
DG 360 360 0.012 10 …
045502-10 A. M. Eltamaly and A. A. Al-Shamma’a J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 8, 045502 (2016)

TABLE III. Battery bank specifications.

Model Nominal capacity (Ah) Voltage (V) gB (%) DOD (%) Life time (year)

Surrette-6CS25P 1156 6 80 60 12

TABLE IV. PV module specifications.

Model Maximum power (Pmp, W) Nominal voltage (Vnom,V) Module efficiency (gmp, %) NOCT (  C)

BP3135 135 12 13 47 6 2

TABLE V. Technical specifications of the wind turbine.

Speed characteristics (m/s)

Rated power (kW) Cut-in speed (m/s) Rated speed (m/s) Cut-off speed (m/s) Hub height (m)

250 3 12 25 60

• Battery and power modifiers specifications.

• Price of all components and their maintenance and replacement cost.
• Site latitude and longitude.
• Specified limits for LOLP and REF.
The technical characteristics of the battery bank, PV module, and WT used in this study
are listed in Tables III, IV, and V, respectively. The hourly data of wind speed and solar irradi-
ation on the horizontal surface are plotted in Fig. 4. The interest rate of 2% is based on the

FIG. 4. Wind speed and solar radiation for the village under study.
045502-11 A. M. Eltamaly and A. A. Al-Shamma’a J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 8, 045502 (2016)

FIG. 5. Load demand for the village under study.

actual economic condition in Saudi Arabia. Fig. 5 shows the load profile during a complete
year used in this study.
The above data will be supplied to the proposed computer program. The flowchart of the
proposed computer program is shown in Fig. 6. The guess initial values of the size of wind
(Number of WTs), size of PV (Number of modules), and battery size are randomly chosen and
become as the chromosomes of GA. These values with other data will be supplied to the energy
balance part of the program which has the model for all components of HRES and the logic
behind the dispatch of three-configurations under study. This part of the program simulates the
balance between the load and generation and checks if the generation is just enough to fulfill
the load requirements and determine LOLP and REF. The GA finds the best estimation of solu-
tion (chromosomes) that meet the LOLP and REF. This is accomplished by performing natural

FIG. 6. Flowchart of the proposed computer program.

045502-12 A. M. Eltamaly and A. A. Al-Shamma’a J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 8, 045502 (2016)

selection together with the genetics stimulated operators of crossover and mutation on the prear-
ranged population. Each chromosome consists of genes, and each gene is an instance of a par-
ticular allele. The selection operator selects the chromosomes that will be permitted to repeat,
and those chromosomes that have a lower cost of energy value create more offspring than the
lower ones. On the other hand, crossover operator substitutes subparts of two chromosomes,
something like natural recombination between two single chromosomes. Mutation operator arbi-
trarily modifies the gene values of some positions in the chromosome. A segment in Matlab
code showing the GA is shown in the Appendix.
The optimization model should ensure that the selected chromosomes satisfy the load
demand within the boundaries set of LOLP and REF. If the guess is not satisfying the optimiza-
tion requirements, GA will introduce another value until it gets the optimum conditions. The
optimum solution must satisfy the following conditions:
• The yearly energy generated satisfies the load energy.
• LOLP must be within the specified limits.
• REF must be within the specified limits.
After obtaining the optimum size of each component of the HRES, these data will be intro-
duced to cost estimation module to calculate the COE. The program will select the chromosome
has a lowest COE among all generations as the optimum solution in this generation. The pro-
posed program will repeat again these steps with another chromosome generated by GA until it
gets the optimum solution. The new chromosomes will then be subject to the crossover and
mutation processes to create the next population.

V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A GA-based MATLAB code has been developed to find out the optimal sizing of the
HRES consisting of PV, WT, DG, and batteries intended to supply a remote community in
Saudi Arabia. The simulation of the HRES has been carried out using smart GA-based
MATLAB computer program. In this simulation, GA parameters consist of 100 populations and
400 maximum generations. Each chromosome consists of three genes representing PV power,
number of WTs and number of batteries. The DG rated power is sized to meet the peak load
demand. The proposed computer program determines the optimum size of each component of
HRES for COE within the specified limit of LOLP and REF. This computer program has been
used in this paper to assess different configurations of HRES under different operating condi-
tions. Three configurations have been introduced in this computer program to select the best
one depending on the lowest cost of the generated energy and highest reliability. Fig. 7 shows
the variation of COE with the REF for different HRES configurations. It is clear from this fig-
ure that the lowest COE is associated with AC connected configurations and the highest COE

FIG. 7. The variation of COE with the REF for different HRES configurations.
045502-13 A. M. Eltamaly and A. A. Al-Shamma’a J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 8, 045502 (2016)

FIG. 8. The variation of ASC with the price of fuel at optimum condition.

is associated with DC configurations for different values of REF. This figure has been drawn
for the local price of diesel fuel which is less than $0.1/l.1 This is lower than the world market
price which is about $1.0/l.1 The variation of COE with the price of fuel at an optimum condi-
tion is shown in Fig. 8. It is clear from this figure that the DC-coupled configuration has the
highest COE for all values of fuel price. Also, the COE is increasing considerably with increas-
ing the fuel price. Also, it is clear from Figs. 7 and 8 that the COE of ACC configuration is
lowest all over the values of REF and fuel cost, respectively, but it is very near to the one for
MCC configuration.
Fig. 9 shows the variation of PV size, kW with the fuel price for all configurations under
study. It is clear from this figure that the optimum size of PV array increased with the increase
of fuel price. This means that the PV can compete with the DG when the price of diesel fuel
increases. Also, it is notable that MCC and DCC PV contribution is almost the same but PV
associated with ACC is lower than the other configurations. This happened because of the PV
in ACC should be converted to be regulated to DC component then to AC component again
and then converted again to DC to feed the battery which make it lose a considerable amount
of each value in these conversions. This makes that PV is not compete with wind and DG in
ACC configuration.
Fig. 10 shows the variation of wind energy size, kW with the fuel price for all configura-
tions under study. It is clear from this figure that the optimum size of WTs increased with the
increase of fuel price in most cases. This means that the wind can compete with the DG when

FIG. 9. The variation of PV size with the fuel price for all configurations under study.
045502-14 A. M. Eltamaly and A. A. Al-Shamma’a J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 8, 045502 (2016)

FIG. 10. The variation of wind energy size, kW, with the fuel price for all configurations under study.

the price of diesel fuel increases. Also, it is notable that MCC and DCC wind contribution is
almost the same but wind size associated with ACC is higher than the other configurations
because of the PV in ACC should be converted to be regulated to DC component then to AC
component again and then converted again to DC to feed the battery which make it lose a con-
siderable amount of each value in these conversions. This makes that PV is not competent with
wind and DG in ACC configuration.
From the above results, it is recommended to use ACC configuration with 40%–60% REF
for lowest COE. Also, it is notable that there is no much difference in COE between ACC and
MCC, but DCC has higher COE in most of the operating ranges. Also, it is clear that the con-
tribution of PV in MCC and DCC is higher than ACC as shown in Fig. 9. Also, the contribu-
tion of WTs in ACC is higher than MCC and DCC as shown in Fig. 10.

VI. CONCLUSIONS
Renewable energy sources are good options for the electrification of remote communities.
Connecting many renewable energy systems with diesel generators (DG) in a hybrid system
can increase its reliability. Different configurations can be used for dispatching the power
flow through the hybrid system. Three configurations have been studied in this paper, DC-
coupled (DCC), AC-coupled (ACC), and Mix-coupled configurations (MCC). A detailed anal-
ysis for these three systems has been carried out to assess their performance operation under
different operating conditions. A smart computer program using a genetic algorithm has been
used to carry out this study. ACC shows the lowest cost of energy configuration (COE) than
the other two configurations. Despite the fact that DCC is the simplest configuration, it is
associated with the highest COE. It is also found that for the same renewable energy fraction
and same fuel price the ACC has higher excess energy than the others and this excess energy
can be used to supply any deferrable load. It is recommended to use the ACC configuration
with 40%–60% Renewable Energy Fraction (REF) for lowest COE. Also, it is notable that
there is not much difference in COE between ACC and MCC, but DCC has a higher COE in
most of the operating ranges.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge the College of Engineering Research Center and Deanship of
Scientific Research at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the financial support to
carry out the research work reported in this paper.
045502-15 A. M. Eltamaly and A. A. Al-Shamma’a J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 8, 045502 (2016)

APPENDIX: GA SEGMENT IN THE MATLAB CODE

While generation < Maximum_Generation

% Calculate Fitness function of each Chromosome
FitV¼System_Cost(Chrom(:,1),Chrom(:,2),
Chrom(:,3),Chrom(:,4))
%-----------GA Operation----------
% Select individuals for breeding
SelCh ¼ select(’rws’, Chrom, FitnV);
% Recombine selected individuals (crossover)
SelCh ¼ recombin(’xovdp’,SelCh);
% Perform mutation on offspring
SelCh ¼ mutate(’mutbga’,SelCh);
% Reinsert offspring into current population
Chrom ¼ reins(Chrom, SelCh, 1, 1, FitV);
%----------------------------------
generation ¼ generation þ1;
end

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