Design and Optimization of a Hybrid Photovoltaic-Battery-Diesel Genrator system for a Remote Islanded Electrical Network

In this paper, a hybrid photovoltaic-battery-diesel generator system is designed and optimized for a remote islanded electric network in the northwest regions of the country. Considering the hardship of transferring fuel to the region where the system is installed, this study aims to minimize the generator fuel consumption. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed system economically, the HOMER software is used to find appropriate sizes for the photovoltaic and battery systems in order to minimize the fuel cost of generator. After finding the power sources’ optimized sizes ,a power management system for reducing the generator work hours during a day is introduced using MATLAB software. In the proposed management method, the predicted photovoltaic power production and anticipated load demand profiles are used. As it is concluded in this paper, taking advantage of the proposed method, the generator work hours and consequently the generator fuel consumption are decreased to its minimum value. Moreover, in the proposed method, the required battery capacity is much lower than one presented by the HOMER, in turn, resulting a lower system installation and fuel costs. Furthermore, it is confirmed that, in the middle of the day, when the photovoltaic power generation and load consumption are at their maximum and minimum values respectively, there is no need to waste the surplus of photovoltaic power in dump loads. As in the proposed method no dumping loads are needed, the generator average working time per day is decreased by 26% compared to the method used in HOMER software.