CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION


According to statistics made in recent years, it is found that almost 33% of the worlds
populations do not have access to electricity [1, 2]. Most of the non-electrified regions are found
in developing countries. These regions can be electrified either by extending the grids of the
existing power systems or by constructing isolated new power systems, which are alternative
energy sources.

Figure 1-1 shows the comparison of capital investment of public grid and PV hybrid system.



The grid extension costs are primarily distance dependent and thus the investment cost increases
whenever the site, which is to be electrified from the main grid system, is further away.
However, the investment cost of PV Hybrid systems are mainly dependent on the generation
capacity of the source which in turn is related to the demand by the customers. Thus, for a small
demand, a small investment is needed and for a large demand, a larger investment is needed. The
break-even distance is, therefore, related to demand.
For example, lets consider for the case of 30KW supply (Figure 1-1). It can be seen that the
investment cost increases with the distance of the site for the case of grid extension, whereas
only about 400,000 investment cost is required for a PV-hybrid power supply. The grid
extension, however, can only be comparably economical, in this case, when the site is located up
to (about) 17Km.
Figure 1-2 below shows the cost effectiveness of HPS, when compared to the conventional
energy sources, over their life time in Tanzania4 and India5 for village electrification. The initial
cost of HPS is higher than the conventional source. The large fuel cost, transportation costs,
replacement and maintenance costs of the conventional source throughout its life overshadow its
lower initial cost.



Though the initial investment for HPS is high, the low running cost and overall life-time cost
attracts users over conventional energy sources. Recent research and development of alternative
energy sources have shown excellent potential as a form of contribution to conventional power
generation systems. There is a huge potential for utilizing renewable energy sources, for example
solar energy, wind energy, or micro-hydropower to provide a quality power supply to remote
areas.

The abundant energy available in nature can be harnessed and converted to electricity in a
sustainable way to supply the necessary power demand and thus to elevate the living standards of
the people without access to the electricity grid. For remote places where electricity has not
reached yet it is recommended that decentralized generation, which is based on renewable energy
technologies, is perhaps the only efficient way to provide electricity. For the same reasons which
make difficulty of extending the conventional grids, transporting fuel to the remote areas and
replacement parts needed for the conventional sources like diesel generators, RES are suggested
to constitute the base of the electrical sources. The energy for RES is locally available and a
properly chosen RES can reduce the operating periods of the conventional power sources
considerably which will result in reduction of the fuel consumption and minimizing the need of
maintenance. This in turn will result in the improvement of sustainable power generation. A
system which depends entirely upon RES is possible but not reliable for the uninsured
availability of the resources for the RES systems. In order to meet the sustained load demands
during the varying natural conditions, different energy sources and power electronics converters
need to be integrated with each other for extended usage of alternative energy. Thus, the best
choice is to use HPSs which are optimally combined with conventional resource, like diesel
generator.


1.2. Objective

The objective of this project is to investigate for the best design layout (connection topology),
model and simulate the selected topology of the HPS, which consists of renewable energy
sources (PV-arrays and wind generator), conventional backup energy source(diesel engine
generator) and energy storage bank (battery bank) to sustainably and efficiently satisfy the
energy demand of remote places, especially in developing countries, where main grid electricity
has not reached yet due to many geographical and economic constraints.

1.3. Approach

To attain the objectives of the thesis, the following approach was adopted. To get a better insight
about the different energy sources and their advantages, an elaborated literature study was
essential. Under the literatures study, the general introduction about the thesis on hybrid power
system is described in Chapter-1; and the system includes sub-elements (solar arrays, wind
turbines, generator set, power converters and energy storage) which are explained in detail in
Chapter-2. The main and first task was to find the best choice out of the possible connecting
techniques of the different energy sources and Chapter-3 discusses on the different possible
connecting topologies. These topologies are compared and the best configuration is chosen. The
preliminary sizing approaches of these system elements are explained in Chapter-4.


























CHAPTER 2
ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEMS
2.1. Introduction
Remote rural areas, especially in developing countries, are in great need of affordable and
reliable electricity to achieve development. Likewise, an overview through the most important
literature on rural electrification proves that RESs are one of the most suitable and
environmentally friendly solutions to provide electricity within rural areas.
Some of the advantages of using RESs are [3]:
- gain an immediate access to reliable electricity at any time
- avoid long waits for grid extension and permit the connection it comes
- reduce the dependency from oil price fluctuations
- reduce the transportation costs of fuels
- improve health care and reduction in rural areas
- increase economic productivity and create local employment opportunities
- fight climate change and poverty
- allow for a better use of local natural resources

Off-grid renewable energy technologies satisfy energy demand directly and avoid the need for
long distribution infrastructures. Hybrid systems can provide a steady community-level
electricity service, such as village electrification, offering also the possibility to be upgraded
through grid connection in the future. Hybrid systems with a backup generator set run with
minimal fuel consumption because the generator set is brought on line only to assist in periods of
high loads or low renewable power availability. This in turn results in a large reduction in fuel
consumption as compared to a generator set only powered system. Furthermore, due to their high
levels of efficiency, reliability and long term performance, these systems can also be used as an
effective backup solution to the public grid in case of blackouts or weak grids, and for
professional energy solutions, such as telecommunication stations or emergency rooms at
hospitals.

The advantages of using renewable energy sources for generating power in remote islands are
obvious such as the cost of transported fuel are often prohibitive fossil fuel and that there is
increasing concern on the issues of climate change and global warming. The main disadvantage
of wind turbines and PV-systems is that naturally variable wind speed and variable solar
irradiation cause voltage and power fluctuation problems at the load side. These problems can be
solved by using appropriate power converters and control strategies. Another significant point is
to store the energy generated by wind turbines and PV-systems for future use when no wind
and/or no irradiation is available but the user demand exists. For this, an energy storage bank can
be incorporated in such a way that the battery stores energy whenever there is excess supply and
discharges (or supplies the load) when there is more demand than supply. Successful results have
already been obtained with hybrid systems worldwide To mention some [3]:
- Photovoltaic/Diesel hybrid systems: China (2006), Tanzania (2006), Algeria (1998-2000),
Ecuador (2006)
- Photovoltaic/Wind/Diesel hybrid systems: China (2002)
- Hydro/PV/Diesel hybrid systems: Laos (2007)
In this chapter, the different system components (energy conversion systems) are discussed one
by one. Some general approaches of sizing the different components and equations that relate for
their output power are derived.

2.2. System components
The system topology, this thesis is dealing on, is selected in Chapter-3. The hybrid power
system, described here, basically includes the following main elements.
1. Renewable energy sources: PV-system, Wind generator
2. Energy storage bank: Battery bank
3. Backup energy source: Diesel generator set
4. AC-loads
5. Power electronic devices
The following sections give the basic descriptions for the main elements used in the different
topologies which are discussed in Chapter-3.

2.2.1. Diesel Generator set
Diesel generator is one of the basic elements of the HPSs described in this thesis project. It
supplies the load when there is less supply than demand for an efficient, continuous and reliable
customers energy demand. A diesel generator is a diesel engine combined with an electrical
generator (alternator) via a rotating part to generate electric energy. The diesel engine coverts
the chemical energy available in fuel into mechanical energy in which the produced mechanical
power rotates the engine shaft connected to the alternator. The following figure, Figure 2-1,
shows the schematic of a diesel generator.


Ideally, the prime mover is capable of supplying any power demand up to rated power at
constant frequency, and the synchronous generator connected to it must be able to keep the
voltage constant at any load condition.
The diesel generator is used [6] to generate electric energy
- in places where there is no connection to power grid and/or
- as uninterruptable or emergency-supply
- when the grid cannot supply the full power demand for peak shaving
- to supply a location temporarily

A synchronous type generator is used to produce AC-power when turbine is rotated by a prime
mover coupled to the diesel engine shaft. It operates at constant speed of engine which
corresponds to the required generator output voltage frequency (50 Hz or 60 Hz). The
synchronous generator must control its output voltage by controlling the excitation current. For
this operation, the output voltage u is controlled by the control signal x
u
and the speed of the
engine and thus the frequency f is controlled by the control signal x
f
. These types of diesel
generators mostly operate at efficiency of about 30% for nominal load, and when they operate at
lower portion of the nominal load, the efficiency further reduces [8]. Generators of this type
operating at lower capacity than the nominal load consume more relative fuel consumption than
they can consume when operating at
nominal load, as shown by Figure 2-2 [6]. As explained in[8], this generator-set has the
following drawbacks.
- Very heavy and difficult to handle
- Noisy
- Low efficiency
As it can be observed from Figure 2-2, the generator-set fuel consumption depends on the output
power. About 25% of the fuel at rated full power is still consumed by the even if no power is
generated from it.


.
The relative fuel consumption (fc
relative
) at any time can be given by:

fc
relative
=

P
relative
(t) &
p
relative
(t) = p
dg
(t)/ p
dg max.peak
(2.1)

The relative fuel consumption depends on the instantaneous output power (p
dg
(t)) from
The generator-set which is expressed as a function of the nominal peak generator-set power(p
dg
max.peak
)
2.2.2. PV-array system

2.2.2.1. Introduction
The integration of PV-system with other renewable energy sources like wind energy and
conventional energy sources like diesel generator will assist in expanding a sustainable
electricity access in remote and rural areas, especially in developing countries, where the
communities have not access to grid electricity yet. This is an acceptable alternative means for
rural electrification if
- It is far distant from the main grid
- Status of electrification is too difficult (desert area, hilly area)
- Grid extension is not cost effective
- Density of consumers is too small
The solar irradiation varies daily with time and seasonally. These in turn results to the reliability
problems from such sources of energy seeking energy conversion, energy storage and load
control etc. when compared with conventional sources of energy. The advantages and drawbacks
of the PV-array energy can be summarized [9, 10] as below.

Advantages
- Environmentally friendly and pollution free (emission free)
- No use of fuels and water
- Requires minimum maintenance and low running cost
- Long lifetime, up to 30 years
- Modular or custom made energy, can be designed for any applications from watch to a multi-
megawatt power plant
- No restriction on harvesting as far as there is light

Drawbacks
- High initial cost
- PV cant operate without light
- PV generates DC current: energy storage, like batteries, and inverters are needed
- Large area needed for large scale applications
- cannot always generate stable output with ever-changing weather conditions
In the generation of energy from solar irradiation, the PV-arrays trap the photons of solar light
and convert the light energy into electrical energy. The energy obtained from the PV-systems can
be utilized in different applications. DC power is the direct output of PV-arrays and this DC form
power can be directly used with DC appliances. For AC appliances, this DC power has to be
changed into AC form using power electronic inverters.









2.2.2.2. System configurations
In the stand-alone hybrid power systems, PV-array system is used in such a way that loads can
be supplied any time in an efficient way. The intensity of solar irradiation varies with time and
season. So, the most advisable and efficient way of harvesting the solar energy is by connecting
energy storage devices (batteries) in such a way that loads can be supplied any time and the
battery can store whenever there is excess supply from the PV-array system. Then, the stored
energy in the battery can be used during times where there is less supply or there more demand.
Commonly, most appliances and loads are designed to operate on AC. However, the PV-array
system only gives a DC power. Thus, an inverter (DC/AC converter) is a must to be used so that
AC loads can be supplied from the PV-system.

Figure 2-3: PV-system supplying AC loads connected at the main DC-bus


When planning for a long-term operation of a stand-alone PV-system, the battery bank is playing
important role and it is necessary to avoid the overcharge and deep discharge of the battery to
enhance its usable life. Thus, a controller is an important element of the energy storage in the
PV-array system. Over and above, it is important to note that a bidirectional converter of DC/DC
type is used here allowing the battery to charge at times when there is more generation from the
PV-arrays and to discharge (or supply to the load) during times of more demand on load or less
supply.

2.2.2.3. General design and system sizing approaches
When designing the PV-array system, many factors have to be considered seriously. These
include the technical specification, sizing of individual system components, safety considerations
as well as system economics.
As it can be referred from Figure 2-3 above, the system comprises basic components: the PV-
arrays, inverters and battery. While dealing with the efficiency of the system, the efficiency of
the basic components together with the wiring efficiency must be taken into an account. The
gross daily energy demand of a load can be given [11] as:

E
gd
= E
nd i W
Wh
/day)


Where E
gd
and E
nd
are
subscripts i and w representing the inverter and wiring respectively. As it is explained in[9],
inverters, batteries and the wiring of a well-designed PV-system have typical efficiencies of
85%, 85% and 98% respectively. Once the gross energy demand is calculated, the system
voltage can be fixed. As it is suggested in[9], system voltage is chosen to be 24V10 if daily
energy demand is greater than 1KWh11 and 12V if it is less than 1KWh.The system sizing
depends on the estimation of the peak-load demands of loads. The total estimated power demand
can be found [9, 11]:

P
est
=

(2.3)

Where Pest = total estimated peak-load power
Pl = Peak power of single load, for loads i = 1, 2, 3 n
The DCC of the PV-arrays can then be determined at this point as[9]:

DCC=

(Ah/ day)

PV-array sizing
The most important factors which have to be considered with the implementation of the
PV-modules are [9, 11]:
- daily energy demand
- solar isolation at the geographical location specified
- methods of mounting the modules
When talking about mounting methods of PV-modules, either fixed mounting or mounting on a
tracker techniques can be used with the latter yielding about 20% more output than the former
option[9]. However, it requires more skilled maintenance. Taking the less familiarity of rural
community toward this into consideration, fixed mounting techniques have been advisably used
in the rural electrification with HPS.



The number of series connected PV-modules can be calculated as follows[12]:

N
s
=

Where, Ns = the number of series connected PV-module (rounded up to a whole number)
Vsys = nominal system voltage
Vmod = nominal module voltage
The number of parallel panels can be determined as[9, 12]:
N
p
=

(2.7)
OR
N
p=

Where, Np = number of parallel connected modules (rounded up to a whole number)
LDA = Average daily load (A)
A:L = average photovoltaic Ah available-to-average daily load Ah ratio
SL = system loss
Imp = module current at maximum power (A)
DSH = the daily sun hours
Isc,PVmodule = Short circuit current per chosen PV module
The average daily PV-to-load Ah ratio
I
be determined from[12]

A:L =

(2.8)
Where DRT is the daily running time of the system and typical A:L values are 1.1-1.2 for non-
critical loads and 1.3-1.4 or higher for critical loads, and the month with lowest A:L ratio has to
be taken when designing a PV-array system[12].
The total number of PV-modules forming PV-array is, therefore[13]:

N NpNs
(2.9)

Inverter sizing
The sizing of an inverter is basically dependent upon the total load demand of the system.
The inverter capacity, IC in watt is given in[9] as:

IC =

(2.10 )

Where, Pest = total estimated energy demands in Watt,
ni = inverter efficiency, and
kloss = constant accounting for the reduction due to other system loss
System losses account about 10% - 15% for battery charging and discharging [9, 11, 13].Surge
currents by the load (which are about 25% higher) and market availability of the inverter have to
be considered while selecting the inverter model.


2.2.3. Energy Storage System
2.2.3.1. Introduction
There is currently considerable interest in electrical energy storage technologies, for a variety of
reasons. These include changes in the worldwide utility regulatory environment, an ever
increasing reliance on electricity in industry, commerce and the home, the growth of renewable
energy sources to meet the growing demand for electricity, and all combined with ever more
stringent environmental requirements.
The need of energy storage is to transfer the excess power during weak loads or excess supply
from RESs to the peak periods [14, 15]. The energy from the RESs has to be transformed into a
storable energy form first and then transformed when storing is needed.
This can be shown by the following block diagram.


.
The energy storage techniques with hybrid power systems applied to the electrification of remote
rural areas will be discussed in this section. The HPSs in this thesis consists of PV-array system
and wind turbines with diesel Genset. The solar irradiation varies with time and so does the wind
speed, throughout the day. Thus, in a HPS, both the RESs and the load are fluctuating throughout
the day. These fluctuations may result in imbalances in power distribution (energy sources are
not equal to energy sinks). As a result, the voltage and frequency in the power system will be
affected. The addition of energy storage will assist balancing the distribution of power in the
power network. The energy storage behaves like a large buffer to accommodate the unequal
instantaneous energy in the power system. The energy storage element can act as a load or a
generator depending on the supply to demand ratio. Ideally, at any instant of time, there should
be a zero net exchange between the energy sources and the energy sinks (both real and reactive
power) [14-16]. If this balance is not achieved, the voltage and frequency of the system changes
to maintain equilibrium.
There are many energy storage techniques. To mention some [6, 14]:
- Battery Energy Storage System (BESS)
- Pumped Hydroelectric Storage System (PHSS)
- Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage System (SMESS)
- Ultra-capacitors
- Flywheel Energy Storage Systems (FESS), etc.
The different energy storage techniques have different applications in power systems.
Some of them are [14]:
i. Rapid reserve,
ii. Area control and frequency responsive reserve,
iii. Commodity storage
iv. Transmission system stability,
v. Transmission voltage regulation,
vi. Transmission and Distribution facility deferral,
vii. Renewable energy management,
viii. Customer energy management,
ix. Power quality and reliability.
Each technology has its own particular strengths and operational characteristics. In this thesis,
the battery bank as energy storage device only considered.

2.2.3.2. Rechargeable battery
Battery bank is an electrochemical device which uses electrochemical reactions to store
electricity in the form of potential chemical energy. The energy storing batteries used with HPSs
are rechargeable in a sense that they can charge when there is enough supply from the RESs and
discharge when there is larger load demand than there is supply. They are sometimes also called
as secondary batteries. The charging time for the battery bank [17] is:
t
charge
=

(hr)
Where, t
charge
= charging time of the battery (hr)
BC = Battery Capacity (Ah)
I
rated,source
= Rated source current (A)
Rechargeable batteries have standard electric potential which is the potential difference between
the cathode and anode[6, 17]. A simplified equivalent circuit of a battery at its steady state is
given in[11] and is shown below (Figure 2-6) working as a voltage source with an internal
resistance.


Assuming that the open circuit voltage and resistance when the battery was fully charged are E0
and R0, then the open circuit voltage and internal resistance at any time when battery is
discharging can be given as[11]:
E
i
= E
o
k
1
Q
d

&
R
i
= R
o
+k
2
Q
d
(2.12)
The open circuit voltage decreases and the internal resistance increases with the Ah discharge,
Q
d
. The constants K1 and K2 are found from curve-fitting test data[11]. The internal resistance is
a function of SOC13, battery capacity and operating temperature.With higher battery capacity,
the electrodes will be larger and the internal resistance will be lower[11].
Figure 2-7 shows simple circuit model of the simplified electric circuit with the
conducting resistance, Rohm included.


The simple electric circuit model shown above includes an internal resistance, Ri,
conductor resistance, Rohm and a standard cell potential E0. Applying the maximum power
transfer theory, the peak power, delivered from the battery in the above model is:
P
peak,store
=E
o
2
/4(R
i
+ R
ohm)
(2.13)
Since Ei and Ri depend on SOC, the maximum power that can be delivered to the load by the
battery also depends on SOC. The efficiency at any SOC can also be derived into thefollowing
form where it depends on SOC[11].

L
/ (R
i
+ R
L
+R
ohm)
(2.14)
The energy storage is dependent on the amount of active material in the battery cell[6].Thus, for
an active material of mass, m (in gram) and a cell volume, V (in liters), the specific power (in
W/g) and peak power density (in W/l) can be determined from thepeak power.
P P
peak,stored
2.15)
P P
peak,stored

Best batteries have high standard cell potential which results in high peak power capacity and
high theoretical charge capacity [6, 17, 18].

Battery characteristics
Battery capacity
This is a measure of how much energy the battery can store. The amount of energy that can be
extracted from a fully charged battery basically depends on temperature, rate of discharge,
battery age and battery type. The three main ratings to specify the capacity of a battery are[17,
18]:
- Ampere-hour (Ah): the current at which a battery can discharge at a constant rate
over a fixed interval of time.
- Reserve capacity: the length of time (in minutes) that a battery can produce a
specified level of discharge.
- KWh capacity: a measure of energy required to fully charge a depleted battery. A
depleted battery is not usually a fully discharged battery.
Battery Voltage
The battery voltage is that of a fully charged battery. It depends up on the number of cells and
voltage per cell. The battery voltage decreases when the battery starts discharging.
Cycle depth
Fully discharging batteries can facilitate the damage or totally destroy the battery life.Deep-cycle
batteries can discharge up to 15%-20% of their capacity[17]. This gives adepth of discharge of
85% - 80%.

Energy density/Specific energy
Energy density is a measure of how much energy can be extracted from a battery per unit of
battery weight or volume. By default, deep-cycle batteries provide the potential for higher energy
densities than non-deep-cycle varieties since more of the energy in the battery can be extracted
(e.g. larger acceptable DOD).

Power density/Specific power
Power density is a measure of how much power can be extracted from a battery per unit of
battery weight or volume.

Autonomy
This variable is defined by the ratio of restorable energy capacity to maximum power
discharge[17]. It refers to the maximum amount of time the system can continuously release
energy. The autonomy of a system depends on the type of storage and the type of application.
restore discharge
(2.17)

Durability (cycling capacity)
Energy storage system is designed to release the energy stored after each recharge in afixed time.
The number of times the energy storage can release the energy level it was designed for after
each recharge is referred to as durability or cycling capacity. It is expressed in number of cycles,
Ncycles. The cycling capacity mainly depends on the depth of discharge. The number of cycles
versus the DOD of VRLA14 batteries is shown by Figure 2-8 below.



The higher the DOD, the lower will be the cycles and the lifetime of the batteries (can beseen
from Figure 2-8).
Self-discharge
This refers to the portion of energy which was initially stored and dissipated in a givennon-use
period of time[17].There are different types of batteries, but the most commonly used
rechargeable batteries are [6, 11, 17]:
- Lead acid battery
- Nickel cadmium (NiCad) battery
- Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery
- Lithium ion battery
- Lithium-polymer battery
- Zinc-air battery
The main properties with their main application, the advantages and disadvantages of each these
batteries are explained in[6, 11].
The battery cycles depend on the DOD and EOL15[6].
Cycles f (DOD,EOL) (2.18)
The smaller the DOD, the more cycles can be provided by the battery but not in a linear
relationship because of the EOL criterion. The EOL, in general, is a decrease of 80% of its
capacity[6, 17]. The normal capacity needed can then be given [6] as:
1.25 nom calculated BC BC (2.19)

2.2.3.3. Battery sizing
Batteries are the main components of the PV-wind system used to store energy at times when
there is surplus of supply which can be used to supply the load at times of more demand from the
load. Many factors affect the sizing of the battery system and the most important are[11, 12]:
- daily energy demand
- number of days of storage
- maximum depth of discharge
The battery voltage is that of a fully charged battery. It depends up on the number of cells and
voltage per cell[11].
V
bat
= N
cells
V
Icells
(2.20)
Where V
bat
= the battery voltage

N
cells
= the number of cells in series
V
Icells
= voltage per cell
The battery capacity is the total Ampere-hour required to support the load requirement
and is given by[11, 12]:
BC = Ebat /
disch
(N
cell
. V
disch
).DOD. N
par
(2.22)

Where, BC = Battery capacity (Ah)
Ebat= energy required from the battery per discharge =efficiency of discharge path (including
inverters, wires, diodes, etc)
Ncell = Number of series cells in one battery
disch
=efficiencies of discharge path
Vdisch = average cell voltage during discharge
DOD= maximum allowed Depth of Discharge for required life cycle
Npar = number of parallel batteries
Batteries are generally not allowed to be discharged fully. The minimum value to which a
battery can be discharged before it is recharged is called maximum depth of discharge,
DOD. Deep discharge batteries can discharge up to 30- 40% of their state of charge,
SOC[11].
The total energy required from the battery to supply the required loads is the sum of
energies consumed by each load, which is the product of the duty ratio and peak energy
consumption. It is given as follows[11, 12]:
E
bat

E
bat
= Wh energy of battery during discharge when all loads (i=1, 2n) are connected
E
bi
= Wh energy of battery during discharge when load-i is connected
Dbi= Duty ratio for load-i during battery discharge
Pbi = Peak power consumption by load-i during battery discharge in watts
Tri = repetition period for load-i in hrs
The parallel strings, Nbat are used to meet design requirements like[11, 17]:
- to increase the existing battery capacity
- to provide redundancy
- to provide battery reserve in case of string disconnection for maintenance
To ensure an optimal and safe cell recharge voltage, calculation of the number of series
cells is important. The number of series cells can be determined from the battery window
voltage limits and voltage per each cell, as given[20] below.
N
cell

(2.23)
Where, Ncell = number of series cells
Vbat, max/min = maximum or minimum nominal battery voltage
Vcell,max/min = maximum or minimum cell voltage at Vbat,max or Vbat,min respectively
The lowest maximum voltage, Vmax and the highest minimum voltage, Vmin define the
voltage window within which all loads in the system operate properly. In general, it is
economical and recommended[20] to use fewer cells of higher capacity than more cells
of lower capacity while sizing the battery system.
The total number of batteries required in series will be[11]:
N
ser
=

And the total batteries required in the system are:
N
bat
N
par
N
ser
(2.25)

2.2.3.4. Lead-acid Vs. Lithium ion battery
A battery is an electrochemical device, meaning it creates electricity through controlled chemical
reactions between different substances. Most batteries, including lithium ion and lead acid
batteries, include an anode, a cathode and a substance between them serves as an electrolyte. The
anode is usually the positive terminal, and electric current flows into it when the battery is in use.
The cathode is usually the negative terminal, and when in use electric current flows out of it. The
chemistry between them is what provides the electric current with its charge, but they require a
third substance in the form of an electrolyte to serve as a medium. If the anode and cathode came
into contact, the result would be a short circuit. Two of the battery types that are most common
are the lead acid battery and the lithium ion battery.



Lead Acid Electrochemistry
The anode and cathode in a typical lead acid battery are made from lead and lead dioxide,
and they are bridged by an electrolyte of a solution that is roughly one-third sulfuric acid.
As the battery discharges electricity, the chemical reaction gradually converts the two
electrodes into lead sulfate. Recharging the battery partially reverses that conversion.

Lead Acid Features
Lead acid batteries are one of the oldest practical, rechargeable battery designs, dating back to
the mid-19th century. They have one of the lowest energy-to-weight and energy to-volume
battery designs in existence (Figure 2-9), making them very big and heavy for the total amount
of power they can put out. What they do have going for them is that they have a very high surge-
to-weight or power-to-weight ratio, meaning they can deliver a big jolt of electricity all at once.
These features, along with their low cost, make them attractive for users and perfect for
applications that need a big, sudden surge of power, such as car starters. However, they aren't
very good in roles that require a steady, low or middling supply of electricity over a long period
of time. They also have long recharging times.

Lithium Ion Electrochemistry Lithium Ion batteries are a type of rechargeable battery in which
a lithium ion moves between the anode and cathode. These batteries use a variety of substances,
with the common element being the migration of lithium between the electrodes during the
electricity-producing reaction. Graphite is typically used to make the anode, while cathodes can
be made from lithium cobalt oxide, lithium iron phosphate or lithium manganese oxide, and
other lithium-based substances besides. The electrolyte is typically a solution of lithium salt in an
organic solvent. Recharging a lithium ion battery reverses the migration of lithium in the
battery's chemistry. The lithium ion moves from the anode to the cathode during discharge and
from the cathode to the anode when charging.

Lithium Ion Features
Especially when compared with a lead acid battery, lithium ion designs have a high power-to-
weight and power-to-volume ratio (Figure 2-9). Lithium ion batteries are more applicable with
power-thirsty electronic devices for meeting their demands with other battery designs would
mean heavier batteries and shorter lifetimes. There are even lithium ion batteries with a big surge
capability, like that of a lead acid battery. However, they have two big drawbacks. First, they are
very expensive to make. Second, their ability to hold a charge decays even when the battery isn't
in use. A lead acid battery can go on working with good capacity for several years. Lithium Ion
cells have a very flat discharge curve and hence small DOD.


Figure 2-9: Ragone plot - characterizing the trade-off between effective capacity and power
handling[21]

2.2.4. Wind Turbines

2.2.4.1. Introduction
Wind turbines are used to generate electricity from kinetic power of the wind i.e. the
generation of wind energy primarily depends on the wind speed[22]. To enhance the
energy capture, the turbine is mounted on a tall tower. Wind is an intermittent resource;
however, wind turbines are not unreliable technology. Modern wind turbines capture
more than 90% of available energy from wind, compared with fuel efficiency between
30- 40% for a conventional coal fired station, which typically loses a significant portion
of energy through heat loss and pollution.
Some advantages of using wind turbines to generate power are
- environmentally friendly
- produce no pollution
- no traditional fuel required
- requires relatively little maintenance
- long life time (up to 30 years)
Disadvantages
- interference with radio/TV signals if located inappropriately
- the wind doesnt blow all the time at required speed
- high initial cost
The main components of a wind turbine are the rotor of the turbine, which is the prime
mover, and the induction generator. The rotor is connected to the generator via a gearbox
which matches and enhances the rotational speed.
As the wind does not blow all the time nor does the sun shine all the time, solar and wind
power alone are poor power sources. Hybridizing solar and wind power sources together
with storage batteries to cover the periods of time without sun or wind provides a realistic
form of power generation.

2.2.4.2. Speed and power relation
Air of mass m moving with speed v has a kinetic energy given by[11]:
KE

mv
2

The power P in moving air is the flow rate of KE16 per second. Thus the mechanical
power in the moving air can be given by[11, 22]:
P

rot
v
3
W] (2.27)
Where, P = mechanical power in moving air, W
= Air density, Kg/m3
rot
= area swept by the rotor blades exposed to the wind, m2
v= wind speed, m/s
The swept area, A depends on the dimensions of the rotor. For a horizontal axis turbine of
rotor diameter d, the swept area can be given by[11]:

rot

3 2
28)
For a vertical axis turbine of maximum rotor width wr and rotor height hr, the swept area
can be approximated by[11]:
rot

r r
2
(2.29)
The air density depends on pressure and temperature. It can be expressed as[11]

3
](2.30)
Where P is the air pressure, T is the absolute temperature and R represents for the gas
constant. The gas density is about 1.225 kg/m3 at sea level, 1-atm and 289K temperature;
but it has less value at high elevation[11, 22].
The volumetric flow rate is (A.v) and the mass flow rate of the air in Kg/s (.A.v)
resulting in the above expression for the mechanical power in the moving air. The
potential of wind power at a given site is expressed in terms of wind power per square
meter area of the swept rotor blades, referred to as specific power and is given as:
P
specific

v
3

2

(2.31)
This power which is in the upstream wind[11] varies with air density linearly and cube of
the wind speed. The extracted power by the blades is, therefore, less than the above
valued as some power is left in the downstream air which continues to move at reduced
speed. The actual mechanical power extracted by the rotor blades is[11]:
\
P
o

m
fr
(v
2 2
o
) [W] (2.32)
Where v and vo are the upstream and downstream wind velocities at the entrance and exit
of rotor blades respectively and the mass flow rate of air, mfr is given as a function of the
average speed.
m
fr

rot
(v+v
o

With some algebraic manipulation, the power extracted by the rotor blades can be
expressed as a fraction of upstream wind power as follows [11, 22, 23].
P
o

rot
v
3
C
P

is the fraction of upstream wind power captured by the rotor blades, also called
as power coefficient of the rotor or the rotor efficiency, expressed as:
C
P

(2.35)
Cp depends on vo/v ratio and is a single (theoretical) maximum value function whose
value varies between (0.59 0.2) depending on the type of turbines i.e. Cp value of less
than 0.5 for high speed, 2-pole turbine and Cp value between 0.2 and 0.4 for low speed
with more blades are commonly used[11, 23].


The total (actual) amount of wind energy that passes area Arot by wind speed V is[22, 23]:
P
w

C
p

g gb rot
v
3
(2.36)
Where Cp = coefficient of performance (0.59 0.35 depending on the turbine types)
g
= efficiency of generator
gb
= gearbox/bearings efficiency
A general characteristic curve that describes the wind turbine output power variation with
steady wind speed is shown in Figure 2-11 below[24].

Figure 2-11: Typical wind turbine power output with steady wind speed characteristics[24]
From the above characteristic curve, there are three important points at which much attention is
paid for the speeds and the corresponding turbine output powers for every wind turbine. These
are the cut-in speed, rated output speed and cut-out speed. The important terms characterizing the
turbine power-speed (Figure 2-11) characteristics are described below. Cut-in speed A very low
wind normally exerts insufficient torque on the wind turbine blades to make them rotate. When
the speed increases, the wind turbine starts rotating and generating electrical power. The speed at
which the turbine first starts to rotate is called the cut-in speed and is typically between 3 and 4
m/s[24]. Rated output wind speed
When the wind speed increases beyond the cut-in speed, the wind turbine generates electrical
power and this increases rapidly as it is cubic function to speed and this can be seen in Figure 2-
11. However, depending on the type of turbines, the wind turbine reaches a point where its
capability of generating the maximum output power limit is attained at some speed. This limit to
the generator output is called the rated power output and the wind speed at which it is reached is
called the rated output wind speed. At higher wind speeds, the design of the turbine is arranged
to limit the power to this maximum level and there is no further rise in the output power. How
this is done varies from design to design but typically with large turbines, it is done by adjusting
the blade angles so as to keep the power at the constant level.
Cut-out speed As the speed increases above the rate output wind speed, the forces on the turbine
structure continue to rise and, at some point, there is a risk of damage to the rotor. As a
result, a braking system is employed to bring the rotor to a standstill. This is called the cut-out
speed and is usually around 25 m/s[24]. In general, if wind speed is between the rated speed and
the furling (cut-out) speed of the wind turbine, the power output will be equal to the rated power
of the turbine and if the wind speed is either less than the cut-in speed or greater than the furling
speed of the wind turbine, then the output power will be zero[24].

2.2.5. Load profile
Most of the appliances we use are operating with AC-powers and thus AC-loads are considered
here. Two types of daily load profile are considered in this thesis. One of them is described as
load profile-A which is mainly a daytime load and the second load is basically a nighttime load.
They are given by Figure 2-12.


Figure 2-12: Total estimated daily load profiles- A and B [25, 26]
The load profile-A [25] includes two parts: load profile for the administration/academic part and
load profile for the residential part. The administration/academic part of the load profile requires
high power during office hours (7:00 15:00hrs) and small lighting loads at the corridors are
possibly left for the security lighting form 19:00 7:00 hrs. Furthermore, demand rises during
early morning, lunch time and dinner time for breakfast, lunch and dinner activities respectively
than the demand for other normal activities are indicated in Figure 2-12. The load profile-B[26]
shows the high demand appears during nighttime. It explicitly accounts for the residential loads
like in most rural areas, where power is consumed for lighting and other related activities. In this
case, the operation of the load is for about 7 hours/day during nighttime.
The two load profiles are totally different in type (daytime and nighttime). They have different
peak demands, average demands, base demands, daily energy demands and
average daily demands. They are considered here to compare how the sizing of system elements,
the power shares of system elements with each PMS, and the cost analysis are affected.
































CHAPTER-3
CONNECTION TOPOLOGIES OF HYBRID POWER SYSTEMS

3.1. Introduction
electricity storage bank.
In this thesis, a hybrid system of solar-wind-Genset with battery bank is considered. Here, we
have different power generating units. Some of them generate AC and others DC power directly.
These generation systems have to be connected at some point and somewhere before the loads
are supplied. In this chapter, an intensive literature study is conducted to know the different
connecting topologies. Section 3.2 gives the literature study of possible topologies. The
comparisons of the different topologies are discussed in section 3.3 and best system layout is
chosen.
3.2. Technical configurations for hybrid power systems
The hybrid system can be designed following different configurations to effectively use the
locally available renewable energy sources and to serve all power appliances.

3.2.1. AC/DC-coupled Hybrid Power Systems
For the hybrid power system whose demand is to be supplied from wind turbine, PV-system, a
diesel generator and a battery, different configurations are explained in [1, 3, 5, 27]. In general,
there are three accepted categories hybrid system technological configurations according to the
voltage they are coupled with each other and the load. These are:
a. AC-coupled hybrid power systems
b. DC-coupled hybrid power systems
c. Mixed-coupled hybrid power systems

3.2.1.1. AC-coupled Hybrid Power Systems
With this type of configuration, the different HPSs are connected at the AC-bus with the load.
The AC coupled HPSs are further divided into two sub-topologies.
i. Centralized AC-coupled HPSs
ii. Distributed AC-coupled HPSs
These two sub-topologies are explained below in detailed with schematic block diagrams which
may help to give us the insight of the overall system.
i. Centralized AC-coupled Hybrid Power Systems
An AC-coupled HPS is said to be centralized when all the energy conversion systems
constituting it are connected to a main AC-bus before being connected to the load. This
configuration can be depicted by the following figure, Figure 3-1.


GENSET-SOLAR-WIND HYBRID POWER SYSTEM OF OFF-GRID POWER STATION
FOR RURAL APPLICATIONS
3.1
Figure 3-1: Centralized AC-coupled HPSs [1, 3, 5, 28, 29]
The wind turbine and diesel generator produce AC powers, thus they can be directly coupled
onto the main AC-bus or with AC/AC converters. The PV-array produces DC power and an
inverter must be used before it is coupled onto the main AC-bus. The charging or discharging of
the battery bank with a DC current seeks for a bidirectional inverter must be used (Figure 3-1).
ii. Distributed AC-coupled Hybrid Power Systems
AC-coupled HPSs is said to be distributed or decentralized when the different ECSs constituting
it are not connected to a main AC-bus; otherwise, some or all of them are individually connected
to the load. The following figure, Figure 3-2, depicts the configuration.


Figure 3-2: Decentralized AC-coupled HPSs [3, 28, 29]
In this topology, the power sources do not need to be connected to one common bus as in the
previous cases. These sources may not also be installed close to each other i.e. the sources are
distributed in different geographical locations and each source is connected to the load
separately. The DC powers obtained from the PV-system and the battery need to be converted to
AC before feeding the AC load, thus appropriate inverters are required. This type of topology is
advantageous in a sense that the different sources are appropriately located and installed
geographically in such a way that the PV-systems are installed in places where there is more
solar irradiation and the wind turbines in locations where there is more wind. However, there is
also disadvantage with this topology in that
controlling of the system is difficult[27].
Comparing the centralized and decentralized ones, centralized HPSs have advantages
over decentralized HPSs in that they are robust as they can be controlled more easily.

3.2.1.2. DC-coupled Hybrid Power Systems
In DC-coupled HPSs configuration, all the ECSs, unlike AC-coupled HPSs, are
connected to a DC main bus before being connected to the load. Connection with the AC
loads is done through a main inverter. This configuration is also termed as centralized
DC-bus topology. Figure 3-3 below shows the configuration scheme for DC-coupled
HPSs.


Figure 3-3: (Centralized) DC-coupled HPSs [1, 3, 5, 28, 29]
Since the energy sources are connected at the DC-bus bus, the wind turbine and the diesel Genset
need AC-DC converters before they are connected at the main bus. The AC load is connected to
the main bus via the main inverter.

3.2.1.3. Mixed-coupled Hybrid Power Systems
It is also possible to combine AC-coupled and DC-coupled HPS systems and form mixedHPSs
[1, 3, 29]. With this type of configuration, some of the RESs (PV-array, in this case) are
connected with the battery bank at the DC-bus and other RESs (wind turbine, in this case) are
connected with the Genset at the AC-bus. Figure 3-4: shows the mixed type of HPSs
configuration.


Figure 3-4: AC-coupled sources connected with DC-coupled sources or mixed HPSs[1]
A comparison of mixed, AC- and DC-coupled systems show that AC-coupled systems have
numerous advantages[29] such as standardized coupling of different components, off-the-shelf
grid components can be used, simplified design and operation of island grids, compatibility with
existing grids, reduction of system costs, increased reliability of electrical power supply as well
as expandability. DC integration in many cases involves high costs for engineering, hardware,
repair and maintenance; and more importantly power system expandability for covering needs of
growing energy and power demand is also difficult with DC integration[28]. A detailed
comparison of the different topologies will be discussed in section 3.3 while selecting a layout
topology for this thesis project.

3.2.2. Series-Parallel Hybrid Power Systems
Based on how the load is supplied from the RESs and the Genset, a hybrid power system whose
power is to be supplied from wind turbine, PV-system, a diesel generator and a battery bank, two
broad classes of configurations are explained in[5, 28]. These are
a. series hybrid systems
b. parallel hybrid systems
From this point of view, the AC/DC coupled or mixed HPS schemes, which are explained
earlier, can be included within these classes.

3.2.2.1. Series hybrid power systems
In the series HPSs scheme, all the DC power is fed into the battery. Thus, the power generated
by diesel generator, wind generator and solar PV-array are used to charge a battery bank before
supplied to the load. Therefore, each component has to be equipped with an individual charge
controller and in the case of diesel generator with a rectifier. Then, the inverter will convert the
DC power stored in the battery bank to AC at standard level of voltage and frequency and then
supplies to the AC load. The charge regulators used can prevent overcharging of the battery bank
from the wind/PV generators when the renewable power exceeds the load demand and the
batteries are fully charged. In a similar fashion, they will protect the battery bank from deep
discharge when demand exceeds the supply, if it happens. Figure 3-5 shows a typical series
configuration of HPSs.


Figure 3-5: Series hybrid power system[5, 28]
This type of configuration is also termed as Centralized DC-bus topology in the sense that all the
energy generators and the battery are connected at the DC-bus and the AC load is supplied via a
single point. Here, it has to be noted that the AC powers from the wind turbine and the diesel
generator must be converted into DC by utilizing AC/DC converters or rectifiers before power is
delivered to the DC bus where the BB disconnected.
This configuration type results in relatively simple implementation. There are drawbacks,
however, with this configuration.- As most of the energy passes through the battery, it results in
increased cycling of the battery bank and reduces system efficiency[27, 28].There is a need for
large size of battery bank to limit the depth of discharge and there is limited control of the diesel
generator as the system is based on level of charge in the battery rather than the site load[28, 29].
Most of the existing systems operate at battery voltages between 24 V and 120 V. In this scheme,
the use of standardized components becomes impossible and every solution has to be engineered
individually increasing the cost of the system[28, 29].

3.2.2.2. Parallel hybrid power systems
In parallel hybrid system configuration, as shown in Figure 3-6, the diesel generator and
renewable energy generators supply a portion of the load demand directly. There are two types of
sub-configurations of this hybrid system. These are the DC-coupled and AC coupled
configurations. The DC-coupling configuration system, shown in Figure 3-6(a), utilizes a bi-
directional inverter, which is operated in parallel with the diesel generator and can act as inverter
and rectifier/battery charger. It is a DC-coupled configuration hybrid system in a sense that the
renewable energy sources are connected together at the DC bus to the battery and supply the AC
load via the bi-directional inverter. Here, the AC power from the wind turbine must be converted
into DC by utilizing AC/DC converters or rectifiers before power is delivered to the DC-bus.

Figure 3-6: Parallel Hybrid power system [5, 28]
The parallel hybrid power system with DC-coupling configuration can further be improved by
connecting all of the renewable generators to the AC-bus to perform an AC coupling
configuration as shown in Figure 3-6 (b). The load can be supplied from the renewable energy
supplies in parallel with the diesel Genset. A bidirectional inverter is utilized here such that the
battery can either supply the load or be charged depending upon the load requirement and the
status of other energy sources. Over and above, the DC power obtained from the PV-array
system and battery must be converted to AC before it is fed into the AC-bus. This type of
configuration is also referred to as centralized AC-bus topology in a sense that all the energy
generators are connected at the AC-bus and the load is supplied at a single point[29].

CHAPTER-4
LOAD PROFILES AND PRELIMINARY SIZING OF SYSTEM ELEMENTS

4.1. Introduction
For isolated consumers, Solar-wind-diesel hybrid systems are undoubtedly interesting solutions
for the electrification. The sizing of system elements is a very important part in which the
demand and the supply should be synchronized. Oversizing of system elements result in their
inefficient utilization and unwanted investment. When the system elements are undersized, the
load demand might not be met and the system will fail to keep its balance, thus the need for
proper sizing. The proposed system, including a properly sized battery, leads to a significant
reduction of the fuel consumption, in comparison with a diesel-only installation, also protecting
the diesel generator from excessive wear. On the other hand, a properly designed PV-wind-diesel
installation remarkably reduces the required battery capacity, in relation to a PV/wind-only based
stand-alone system. For a proper design, the complete load demand profiles and resource profiles
of the site have to be known first. In this chapter, typical load profiles are considered and the
considered data of the renewable resources are applied to derive their respective powers per unit
system. Thus, the preliminary approaches for the sizing of each system elements are developed
and presented in this chapter.

4.2. Load profile and renewable power resources
The natures of the load profiles used in this thesis paper are is described in section-4.2.1. The
renewable power resources and the power calculations from the renewable power sources are
discussed in section-4.2.2. Then, system elements are preliminarily sized in section-4.3
depending on the demand and supply.

4.2.1. Load profiles considered for the Thesis
The load profiles[25, 26], whose daily demand curves at the AC-bus are introduced in Chapter-2,
are considered in this thesis to apply different PMSs and come up with the most efficient and
cost effective system. The data are extrapolated to a 24-hour load profile21 and averaged into
hourly values. The load profiles are the collective demands of loads at the AC-bus.
For sites of these types of load profiles, a wind-Solar-Genset hybrid system with energy storage
device is to be designed, modeled and applied to different power management technologies for
the continuous and efficient utilization energies. For this, a best topology shown by Figure 4-1 is
chosen in section-3.3.2.


To apply the power management techniques easily, all quantities of the energy sources,the
storage device and the load are referred and represented at the DC-bus by taking thelosses
associated with the power conversion and storage devices into consideration. Theload demand at
the DC-bus can be obtained as: (Euation Section 4)

Using the base quantities22, the actual power demand values are converted into per-unit
quantities and the demand curves at the DC-bus where the PMSs are applied in Chapter-5 are
shown by Figure 4-2.


Figure 4-2: Considered load profiles in per-unit quantities and referred to DC-bus
From the load profile, it can be seen that the nature of the load profile-A is all time-load with
high demand at daytime. High loads occur at daytime where all administrative offices and
academic activities are running in addition to the normal daily activities and load rises during
breakfast, lunch and dinnertimes. Whereas, that of load profile-B is nighttime for which high
loads are during nighttime. Once we have the load data profiles at the DC-bus, we can deal with
the available resources from the renewable energy sources and the energy storage device can be
sized accordingly.


4.2.2. Renewable power resources
The renewable energy resources used here are the solar energy and the wind energy. The
renewable energy resources (insolation and wind speed) data are discussed in section-4.2.2.1 and
the corresponding power calculations from a single PV-panel and a wind turbine are discussed in
section-4.2.2.2. The same renewable resources are assumed for both types of load profiles where
they could also be different in the actual case.

4.2.2.1. Solar irradiation and wind speed
To meet the load demand defined by Figure 4-2, the energy sources (PV-arrays, wind turbines
and Generator set) with the storage devices must be sized properly so that efficient power
utilization can be achieved. The hourly average solar insolation and wind speed data must be
collected from the site where the hybrid power system is to be installed and must be examined
over a series of years. These data are used in system unit sizing, and the generation and load are
assumed to keep constant in each hour interval.
For the site in consideration, the solar average hourly insolation23 and wind speed24 are shown
in Figure 4-3.


Figure 4-3: Average hourly solar insolation and wind speed considered
The insolation (irradiation) is the intensity of power per unit area given in (KW/m2) and the
wind speed is given in m/s. The insolation and wind speed data considered here are given
assuming they are constant each hour though resources vary each hour and seasonally. It is
hardly possible to get high solar irradiation and high wind speed at the same time, and from
Figure 4-3 it can be seen that high insolation is at daytime (around 12:00 16:00hrs) and high
wind speed at nighttime (around 19:00 01:00hrs). Depending on the geographical location of
the site considered, the data of the renewable sources also vary and thus these data are only used
here to develop the approach for
sizing the renewable energy sources.