Optimizing Wind-Solar Power Plants: Novel Structures for Identifying Potential Sites and Capacity Ratios in Iran

This paper proposes two novel structures to identify potential sites for wind-solar power plant construction, along with the optimal capacity ratio of wind-to-solar power plants in each region. The first structure comprises three modules, namely, identifying the best wind turbine and its output power, predicting global tilted irradiation at the optimal angle, and obtaining the capacity ratio of wind-to-solar power plants. The second structure is used to identify regions with the highest energy harvesting potential per square meter by evaluating the algebraic sum of two Capacity Factors (CFs) and determining the capacity ratio based on the maximum installed capacity of each power plant in that area. The results of applying these structures to 4900 points in Iran show that the solar power plant CF is higher than 20% in more than 95% of the selected points, while the CF for wind power plants was only above this threshold in 12% of the examined points. The selection of the optimal wind turbine significantly affects the CF and output power, and hybridization of the two power plants has little effect on improving the CF. Less than 10% of the areas were deemed suitable for constructing hybrid power plants. This study provides valuable insights into identifying potential areas for wind-solar power plant construction and determining the optimal capacity ratio of wind-to-solar power plants. The proposed structures can assist policymakers and industry experts in making decisions about where to build wind-solar power plants, helping to increase the efficiency of renewable energy generation.