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Foxgo-Hybrid-Photovoltaic Power Generators Design PDF
Foxgo-Hybrid-Photovoltaic Power Generators Design PDF
143–157, 1999
1999 Elsevier Science Ltd
Pergamon PII: S 0 0 3 8 – 0 9 2 X ( 9 8 ) 0 0 1 3 9 – X All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain
0038-092X / 99 / $ - see front matter
Abstract—A methodology is developed for calculating the correct size of a photovoltaic (PV)-hybrid system
and for optimizing its management. The power for the hybrid system comes from PV panels and an
engine-generator – that is, a gasoline or diesel engine driving an electrical generator. The combined system is a
stand-alone or autonomous system, in the sense that no third energy source is brought in to meet the load. Two
parameters were used to characterize the role of the engine-generator: denoted SDM and SAR, they are,
respectively, the battery charge threshold at which it is started up, and the storage capacity threshold at which
it is stopped, both expressed as a percentage of the nominal battery storage capacity. The methodology
developed is applied to designing a PV-hybrid system operating in Corsica, as a case study. Various sizing
configurations were simulated, and the optimal configuration that meets the autonomy constraint (no loss of
load) was determined, by minimizing of the energy cost. The influence of the battery storage capacity on the
solar contribution is also studied. The smallest energy cost per kWh was obtained for a system characterized by
an SDM 5 30% and an SAR 5 70%. A study on the effects of component lifetimes on the economics of
PV-hybrid and PV stand-alone systems has shown that battery size can be reduced by a factor of two in
PV-hybrid systems, as compared to PV stand-alone systems. 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights
reserved.
143
144 M. Muselli et al.
radiation data and from assumed daily load pro- and have a higher price than conventional
files, the system behavior can be simulated, and a appliances.
system meeting the constraints can be sized. In our study, two possible hourly DC-load profiles
However, finding the best system must be done on have been chosen to represent the load. The first,
the basis of an overall systems approach. First, the ‘Low Consumption’ profile (Fig. 2), is based
certain physical and technical constraints are used on ‘adapted’ loads. It has a mean daily energy
to reduce the system parameters to a realistic consumption of 1.8 kWh per day and a peak
domain. Then minimizing the energy cost leads to
the optimal solution.
power demand of 170 W, which occurs in spring and for these supports, the average price falls to
and autumn. The second, the ‘Standard’ profile $US 0.83 / Wp (0.69 ECU / Wp).
(Fig. 3), is based on the French utility data Battery bank: The battery bank can be char-
(EDF), as reported by Eliot (1982). It has a daily acterized by its nominal capacity Cmax , its (maxi-
average load of 3.7 kWh per day and a peak mum) depth of discharge DOD, taken in this study
power of 680 W, the latter occurring in the to be 70% (Tsuda et al., 1994), and two conver-
summer. For each profile, the consumption is sion efficiencies rch and rdch , respectively, for
represented by a sequence of powers Pc (t), each charge and discharge, which were taken to equal
taken as constant over the simulation time-step, to 85% (Oldham France, 1992; Manninen and
Dt, which is normally taken as 1 h. Lund, 1989). The cost of the battery is quite
significant, because the initial investment is high
3.2. System characteristics and the battery has to be replaced several times
during the PV system lifetime. The battery bank
3.2.1. Photovoltaic subsystem. PV modules: typically accounts for about 40% of the total
For the PV subsystem, we assume a constant PV system cost (Notton et al., 1996a). Costs of
efficiency hPV of 10%. The PV power production batteries per kilowatt-hour stored capacity are
Pp (t) is then computed as the product of the PV plotted in Fig. 4, for the various battery types
efficiency, the hourly irradiation Ib (t) and the PV marketed by several French suppliers. The battery
module area, as has been proposed by several cost is strongly affected by its type; in particular,
works (Iskander and Scerri, 1996). The ‘peak- whether it is the stationary type used in many PV
Watt’ (or ‘Wp’) price was used as a fixed econ- applications or the starter type more readily
omic parameter, as has been done by several available in developing countries. Frequently-en-
authors (Keller and Afolter, 1995; Biermann et countered are costs of $US 130 / kWh and $US
al., 1995). It was set equal to $US 5.8 / Wp (5 217 / kWh (110 and 183 ECU / kWh). Thus, an
ECU / Wp), in accordance with the prices of the average price of $US 180 / kWh (150 ECU / kWh)
French producer PHOTOWATT and others sup- may be used for estimating the battery cost. The
pliers. battery lifetime is linked to physical parameters,
Module supports: A literature survey shows such as the charge–discharge rate, temperature
that the costs of module supports are in the range and maximum discharge; it is very difficult to
$US 0.35 / Wp (0.28 ECU / Wp) to $US 1.9 / Wp correlate the lifetime with these parameters. Based
(1.5 ECU / Wp) (Imamura et al., 1992; Palz and on our own experiences, a battery lifetime equal
Schmid, 1990). Using data collected from four to five years has been considered in this work.
PV suppliers (Wind and Sun, Eurosolare, Photo- Charge controller: Regulator costs vary widely.
watt, Siemens), support costs per Wp versus the Not all regulators work on the same electronic
number of modules per frame are equal to $US principle, and they can include special options,
1.63 / Wp (1.28 ECU / Wp). However, generally such as lightning protection, digital displays, etc.
PV frames are used with four modules or more, We estimated the average price to be $US 0.65 /
Fig. 4. Price of battery storage as a function of the nominal battery storage capacity.
146 M. Muselli et al.
Wp (0.55 ECU / Wp) (Iskander and Scerri, 1996), where PG and Q v are the generator power (kW)
which is close to the GTZ value (Biermann et al., and the hourly consumption (l / h), P 0G and Q 0v are
1995), and we based our model on this price. respectively the rated power and the consumption
Photovoltaic subsystem installation cost: There at this rated power, and PCIv is the heating value
is considerable experience in the installation of of the fuel (PCIv / diesel 510.08 kWh?l 21 and
21
small PV systems. In some PV-system projects in PCIv / gasoline 59.43 kWh?l ).
0 0
Corsica, the installation cost was 25% of the PV The ratio Q v /P G is the specific consumption,
panel cost, and this is in agreement with some defined as the fuel consumption required to
references (Illiceto et al., 1994; Paish et al., 1994; produce, at nominal power, one kilowatt-hour of
Abenavoli, 1991). Thus this percentage was used energy. Using a power law model for the con-
for the present study. sumption at rated power of gasoline engines we
Photovoltaic subsystem O&M cost: Concerning have:
the maintenance of the PV subsystem, we have 20.2954
considered an annual O&M equal to 2% of the Q 0v 5 0.7368.P 0G (3)
PV system investment, and a PV system lifetime
and assuming a constant value of 0.3 l / kWh
of 20 years (Notton et al., 1998).
(Thabor, 1988; Calloway, 1986) for diesel en-
3.2.2. Engine-generator subsystem. Engine-
gines, allows the determination of the reduced
generators may be compared using many different
consumption versus reduced power:
characteristics, including fuel consumption, motor
speed, continuous or periodic output, load factor, Qv PG
and noise level, etc. The higher the engine speed, 2 for diesel generators: ]0 5 0.22 1 0.78 ]
Qv P 0G
the faster the wear of the parts and the shorter the
lifetime; thus, a 3000 or 3600-rpm engine can (4)
only be used for a short time whereas a 1500 or Qv
1800-rpm engine can be used continuously. One 2 for gasoline generators: ]0 5
Qv
must also compare gasoline engines with 1500
and 3000-rpm diesel engines. In this study, just 10.2954 10.2954 PG
two parameters, ‘SDM’ and ‘SAR’ are used as
f1 2 0.576P 0G g 1 0.576P 0G ] (5)
P G0
indices of the engine-generator‘s role, at least so
far as the simulations are concerned. SDM and As an example, g 50.22 and j 50.78 for all diesel
SAR are the thresholds in battery charge at which generators, and g 50.29 and j 50.71 for a 2-kW
the engine-generator is switched on or off, respec- gasoline engine. We note the presence of a
tively, each expressed as a fraction of the battery consumption at zero load: 20% and 30% of the
capacity. full load for diesel and gasoline back-up
Fuel consumption: A back-up generator is generators. These results are in agreement with
characterized by its efficiency hc and its consump- recent works (Beyer et al., 1995a).
tion in relation to the produced electrical power as By using data collected from back-up generator
follows: manufacturers, we have computed the efficiencies
for each type of generator, and summarize these
PG results in Table 1.
hc 5 ]]] (1)
PCIv Q v Engine-generator price: The engine price de-
pends on nominal power, the price per unit kW,
Q PG tending to decrease with increasing nominal
]v0 5 g 1 j ]
Qv P 0G power. To represent this scale effect, a power law
has been used:
F P 0G
5 1 2 ]]]]0 1 ]]]]0 ]
hc .PCIv .Q v
GFP 0G PG
hc .PCIv .Q v P G0
G CG 5 C0 (P 0G )2 a (6)
(2) where CG is the cost per kW of engine-generator
Table 2. Statistical coefficients for the prices of back-up generators (Eq. (6))
MBE RMSE RMBE RRMSE
Type C0 a ($US / kW) ($US / kW) (%) (%)
Gasoline 718.1 20.585 226.3 180.3 5.4 23.2
Diesel 3000 rpm 704.1 20.2626 210.8 100.6 2.3 22.0
Diesel 1500 rpm 3362.2 20.7184 212.3 145.8 1.5 17.2
capacity, C0 the cost coefficient, and a the scale way, 1986; Cramer et al., 1990; Energie Relais,
factor. The coefficients in this equation, obtained 1995; Sandia National Laboratories, 1990;
by fits to data provided by French suppliers, are Energelec, 1995) are very different; we used a
presented in Table 2. lifetime of 6000 h and 10 000 h for diesel 3000-
Components of the engine-generator: We have rpm and 1500-rpm engine generators respectively.
allowed for a fuel storage tank, at a price of $US Engine-generator installation cost: According to
1.7 / l (1.43 ECU / l), in accordance with literature Paish et al. (1994); Calloway (1986), the engine-
from the French manufacturer GENELEC. The generator installation cost is equal to 10% of the
storage capacity is taken to be the equivalent of initial investment for the engine-generator. This
20 h of continuous engine-generator operation (in includes bedding, exhaust, and automatic control
fact the engine runs for only a few hours a day, on costs.
average). Engine generator subsystem O&M cost: While
The fuel price is strongly dependent on the the installation cost of an engine-generator system
energy policy of the country. A study (Hille and is relatively low, the annual O&M cost is rela-
Dienhart, 1992) illustrated the diversity of fuel tively high. It is often estimated as being propor-
prices. Prices range from $US 0.02 / l (0.016 tional to the total hardware cost (Biermann et al.,
ECU / l) to $US 0.75 / l (0.63 ECU / l), the last 1995; Paish et al., 1994; EGAT, 1990). The
figure representing that in developing countries. proportionality constant ranges from 5% to 20%.
Transport costs can increase the fuel price by $US However, such an hypothesis must be considered
0.12–$US 0.23 / l (0.1 ECU–0.19 ECU / l) for prudently, because the more an engine-generator
each 1000 kilometers of distance the fuel must be runs, the more costly is its annual maintenance;
moved by ground transport, and this is increased thus, it is good to take into account the annual
by a factor of nearly 40, if air transport is used. operating time of the engine-generator
We have considered a price of $US 0.55 / l (0.46 (Abenavoli, 1991; Calloway, 1986). Recently,
ECU / l) and $US 1.15 / l (0.97 ECU / l) for diesel some authors have calculated the maintenance
and gasoline fuels, respectively. cost as a fixed cost per kWh, thus linking it to the
Engine generator lifetime: The engine-genera- operating time (Benyahia, 1989).
tor lifetime is expressed as a function of the Faced with all these various assumptions in the
operating hours. Table 3 summarizes the predic- literature, we estimated the O&M cost based on
tions available in the literature. For gasoline the cost and occurrence of various maintenance
engines, in accordance with the great majority of operations; thereby, the O&M cost (including oil
authors (Sandia National Laboratories, 1990; changes) is linked to the operating time. Our
Energelec, 1995), we have used the mean value of assumptions are (i) that oil (costing 4.49 $US (3.8
the range, which is an engine lifetime equals to ECU) per l) is replaced every 100 h for all
3500 h. For diesel engines, the 1500-rpm diesel gasoline and all 3000-rpm diesel engines, and
lifetime is greater than the 3000-rpm diesel life- every 150 h for all 1500-rpm diesel engines; (ii)
time, because of the reduced rotational speed of that skilled laborer costs are $US 21.8 / h (18.5
the generator. The literature predictions (Callo- ECU / h); (iii) that each oil change, complete with
an air-filter cleaning, requires 40 min of skilled consumed energy L( T) over the same period.
labour, (14.80 $US or 12.5 ECU); (iv) that the oil Thus
filter (costing 9.10 $US or 7.7 ECU) is replaced
O P (t).dt 5 h
T
after every two oil changes; (v) that the air-filter L(T ) 5 .SRef .Hb (T ) (11)
c PV
(10.9 $US or 9.2 ECU), and the fuel filter (5.4
$US or 4.6 ECU for gasoline and 10.9 $US or 9.2
ECU for diesel engine) and the spark plugs (4.6 where Hb (T ) is the global daily irradiation inci-
$US or 3.9 ECU for gasoline engine) are changed dent on PV modules inclined with an angle b and
after four oil changes. Each of these operations the summation is taken over all the days in the
take 2 h (43.7 $US or 37 ECU). Accordingly, the period T. We then define the dimensionless PV
O&M costs (in ECU / h) are to be computed from area SDim as the ratio of the actual module area to
the following equations: the reference area SRef .
We also define a dimensionless storage capacity
(i) for gasoline engines, CO & M 5 (0.4005 C, which is expressed in terms of days of
1 0.1532.Pgene ) 3 15.2 1 120.1 / 400 (7) autonomy. C is obtained by dividing the actual
storage capacity by the annual mean of the daily
(ii) for 3000 rpm diesel engines, CO & M load consumption:
(iii) for 1500 rpm diesel engines, CO & M 3.4. PV-hybrid system behavior. Simulation
calculations
5 (0.242 1 0.3505.Pgene ) 3 15.2 1 120.8 / 600
The system simulation is performed by consid-
(9) ering a Loss of Load Probability equal to 0%; in
Notton et al. (1997) have shown that the above other words, the system reliability is 100%,
costing hypothesis is consistent with the findings leading to autonomy for the system.
of several earlier studies. Given the values of irradiation on tilted planes
Battery charger: The nominal power of the and the consumption patterns previously de-
battery charger is related to its nominal storage scribed, the system behavior can be simulated
capacity. One must take into account that the using an hourly time step-several workers (Man-
electrical current produced by the generator must ninen and Lund, 1989; Beyer et al., 1995b)
not be greater than one fifth of the ampere-hour having shown that the simulation of PV systems
capacity of the battery (Sandia National Lab- requires only an hourly series of solar data. Based
oratories, 1990): on a system energy balance and on the storage
continuity equation, the simulation method used
0 Cmax here is similar to that used by others (Sidrach de
P charger 5 ]] (10)
5 Cardona and Mora Lopez, 1992; Kaye, 1994).
A battery charger’s efficiency hcharger is equal to Considering the battery charger output power
90% according to the manufacturers MASTER- Pcharger (t), the PV output power Pp (t) and the load
VOLT and PRIMAX. For its cost, a power law power Pc (t) on the simulation step Dt, the battery
relationship was used. The different parameters energy benefit during a charge time Dt 1 is given
and the statistical errors associated are as follows: by (Dt 1 ,Dt):
C0 51099, a 5 20.691, MBE5 2113 $US / kW,
RMSE5418 $US / kW, RMBE5 20.5% and
RRMSE519%. C1 (t) 5 rch E [P (t) 1 P
p charger (t) 2 Pc (t)] dt (13)
Dt 1
3.3. Relevant dimensionless variables
Two dimensionless variables characterize the The battery energy loss during a discharge time
PV-hybrid system: the PV module surface and the Dt 2 is given by (Dt 2 ,Dt):
battery storage capacity; both are independent of
the daily load. For the PV area, we first define a
reference area, Sref as the PV module area (m 2 ) S DE
1
C2 (t) 5 ]]
rdch
Dt 2
[Pp (t) 1 Pcharger (t) 2 Pc (t)] dt
that will produce, over the simulation period T
(say 19 years), an electrical energy equal to the (14)
Design of hybrid-photovoltaic power generator, with optimization of energy management 149
The state of charge of the battery is defined SOC is compared with the intrinsic parameters
during a simulation time-step Dt by: (maximum and minimum capacities). If SOC(t),
Cmin the system is failing and if SOC(t).Cmax ,
C(t) 5 C(t 2 Dt) 1 C1 (t) 1 C2 (t) (15) the system produces wasted energy.
If C(t) reaches SAR by an energy benefit C1 (t) By simulating many PV-hybrid systems having
during the charge period with the engine-genera- the same load, one can, in principle, find an
tor working, the generator has to be stopped and infinite set of physical solutions, each solution
the charge time Dt 1 during Dt is calculated being characterized by a PV module area SDim , a
assuming a linear relation: storage capacity Cmax , and a nominal engine-
generator power. Each solution defines a ‘pair’
Dt
U
SAR 2 C(t 2 Dt)
]1 5 ]]]]]
Dt C1 (t) U (16)
(SDim , Cmax ). Several technical constraints, for
example, the available products, reduces the
infinite number of solutions to a finite number of
Moreover, if during the discharge period when the configurations. For each configuration, some
engine generator is stopped, C(t) reaches SDM, physical variables are calculated by simulations:
the motor is started and the discharge time Dt 2 the wasted energy, the working time and the fuel
during Dt is calculated by a linear relation as: consumption of the engine- generator, and the
times when certain subsystems need replacement.
Dt
Dt U
C(t 2 Dt) 2 SDM
]2 5 ]]]]]
C2 (t) U (17) The energy cost is then computed for each pair,
and the minimization of this parameter yields the
As an input of a simulation time-step Dt (taken as optimal operating configuration.
1 h), several variables must be determined: PV
output power, load power, battery state of charge,
and back-up generator state (ON or OFF) in the 4. SIMULATION RESULTS
previous time-step. A battery energy balance
indicates the operating strategy of the PV-hybrid 4.1. Operating mode
system: charge (energy balance positive) or dis- To illustrate the battery energy state evolution
charge (energy balance negative). Some tests are as a function of the engine-generator thresholds,
necessary to study the SOC variations as com- we have plotted in Figs. 5 and 6, which show,
pared to the starting and stopping thresholds. If respectively, the energy stored and the engine-
SOC(t) falls below SDM, the motor is started; and generator operating hours as a function of time,
if SOC(t) exceeds SAR, it is stopped. So, the over five days. Assumed parameter settings for
charge and discharge times (Eqs. (16) and (17)) the figures are as follows: C5two days, the initial
must be calculated on the simulation time-step in charge on the battery5100% of capacity, dimen-
order to compute the different energy flows in the sionless PV module surface50.94, SDM530%
system (Eqs. (13) and (14)). Then, the battery and SAR550%, 70% and 100%. Also, the ‘Low
Fig. 5. Evolution of the battery state of charge for several assumed values of the thresholds (SDM, SAR) governing the operation
of the engine-generator.
150 M. Muselli et al.
Fig. 6. Plot of the back-up generator operating time for several assumed values of the thresholds (SDM, SAR) governing the
operation of the engine-generator.
Consumption’ load profile was used, and a nominal engine-generator power is undersized and
gasoline engine was assumed. the autonomy constraint is not respected. Thus, in
the remainder of this paper, only batteries with
4.2. PV-hybrid system sizing curves capacities greater than to two days will be consid-
Fig. 7 presents the solar contribution (defined ered.
as the percentage that the PV production is of the Fig. 8 presents the sizing curve, as obtained
total energy production) versus dimensionless assuming the Standard load profile, the SDM and
storage capacities (one to six days). These plots SAR are equal to 30% and 80%, respectively, and
have been parameterized using dimensionless PV a gasoline-driven engine. The existence of some
areas ranging from 0.81 to 1.44. We concluded ‘discontinuities’ in Fig. 8 are due to the number of
that it was not necessary to consider a PV-hybrid changes of the engine-generator with the decrease
system with a storage capacity greater than two or in dimensionless PV areas. The optimal configura-
three days of autonomy. Sidrach de Cardona and tion, i.e., the one corresponding to the lowest
Mora Lopez (1992) have obtained the same energy cost, is determined for each sizing curve.
conclusion considering a PV-hybrid system in In Figs. 9 and 10 (which apply to ‘Low Consump-
which the back-up generator was applied directly tion’ and ‘Standard’ profiles respectively), we
to the load and to a battery charger, at the same have plotted the sizing curves parameterized by
time. The simulations demonstrate that for a the storage capacities (two to six days) for
system with only one day of autonomy, the SDM530% and SAR580%.
Fig. 8. Sizing curve of PV-hybrid systems for a gasoline engine, ‘Standard’ load profile, and SDM and SAR equal to 30% and
80%, respectively.
The lowest points on the curve define the (SDim 50.97, 0.95 and 0.73 for the three cases in
optimal configuration. Although the locations of Fig. 11). The optimal size of the engine generator
the lowest points are indistinct around the optimal is easily deduced from the optimal capacity (two
point, the optimal configuration is always ob- days) and from Eq. (10), by dividing the battery
tained when the storage capacity equals two days charger rated power by the charger efficiency
of autonomy. These findings have been confirmed hcharger .
for other values of the starting and stopping For the combinations of SDM and SAR and for
thresholds. the optimal pairs (SDim , Cmax ) of Fig. 11, we have
To make these results more general, a sensitivi- combined the solar contribution curves obtained
ty analysis of the energy costs to various parame- for a battery capacity of two days to deduce
ters must be performed. A short sensitivity study optimal solar and fossil fuel contributions for each
presented in a previous paper (Notton et al., engine-generator type, and these are given in
1998) confirmed the main conclusions shown Table 4.
here. In previous works in our laboratory Notton et
al. (1996b) applied such an optimization to a
4.3. Influence of the back-up generator hybrid-system, but without including the engine-
operating strategy generator behavior in the system simulation. In
In accordance with the above results, a storage that work, the stand-alone PV system without the
capacity of two days will be used for the analysis engine-generator had been sized for several loss-
of the back-up generator operating strategy. Also, of-load probabilities, and then the energy deficit
the energy cost has been calculated for various was supplied by the engine-generator. This con-
combinations of SDM and SAR, by varying them figuration has led to identical optimal contribu-
by steps of 10%, (i.e., SDM[[30%; 90%] and tions (75% solar and 25% fossil), whichever the
SAR[[40%; 100%]). For each combination, we engine type. In this study, the results have been
computed the optimal pair leading to the lowest found to depend on the engine type. The varia-
energy cost. Fig. 11 presents the results for each tions in the contributions for the diesel 1500-rpm
engine type and for both load profiles. The type can be linked to its longer lifetime, which
optimal configuration is obtained when SDM5 leads to reduced replacement costs. The results
30% and SAR570%, regardless of the load are very dependent on the lifetime and mainte-
profile and the engine-generator type. nance of the engine, and have been calculated by
Thus we have now demonstrated that the optimizing these two parameters (Notton et al.,
optimal size of the battery capacity is two days 1997).
and the best energy management is obtained when
SDM and SAR are respectively equal to 30% and 4.4. Wasted energy
70% of the nominal storage capacity. The optimal We have also studied, over a given time period,
PV area for each configuration is close to unity say T, the influence of the engine-generator
152 M. Muselli et al.
Fig. 9. Sizing curves obtained for a storage capacity ranging from 2 to 6 days of autonomy, for each engine type (The Low
Consumption load profile is assumed).
Design of hybrid-photovoltaic power generator, with optimization of energy management 153
Fig. 10. Sizing curves obtained for storage capacities ranging from 2 to 6 days of autonomy, for each engine type (Standard load
profile is assumed.)
154 M. Muselli et al.
Fig. 11. Influence of back-up generator operating strategy according to engine type.
Design of hybrid-photovoltaic power generator, with optimization of energy management 155
operating strategy on the wasted energy WE(T ) subsystem during its lifetime. The results are
produced by the system, presented in Fig. 13. For hybrid systems using
gasoline and 3000-rpm diesel engine-generators,
O
T
the PV contribute 35% and the engine contributes
WE(T ) 5 [Pp (t) 2 Pc (t)] dt (18)
P p (t ).P c (t ) 40% of the total cost. The total investment cost is
C(t ).C max made up of the following: PV modules about
30%, engine-generator about 20%, PV support
For example, for a gasoline engine the influence about 4%, O&M for the engine-generator about
of the stopping threshold (SAR[[40%; 70%]) on 5%, and the charge controller about 3.5%. With
the wasted energy for a given starting threshold the lifetime of a gasoline engine being lower than
(SDM530%) is shown in Fig. 12. We found a the lifetime of a 3000-rpm diesel engine, the
trivial result: increasing the PV module increases gasoline engine must be replaced during the
the energy excess. On the other hand, the charge hybrid-system lifetime, whereas the diesel engine
strategy represented by the SAR variation is not does not. Moreover, the fuel consumption cost is
significant. The increase of SAR causes an in- greater for the gasoline engine, because its fuel
crease from 2 to 4% of the energy surplus over all consumption and its fuel prices are higher than
PV area ranges. We note that, considering the those for a 3000-rpm diesel engine. For the
optimal configurations previously given (SDim 5 system using the 1500-rpm diesel engine, the
0.97 for gasoline engine), the energy surplus is initial costs are more important: the PV and
inferior to 5%; this demonstrates the competitive- engine-generator investment (about 20% and
ness of hybrid-PV systems, as compared to stand- 50%), PV support parts (about 3%), the O&M
alone PV/ battery systems with an energy excess back-up generator (about 3%), and the charge
about 50%. controller investment (about 3%). We note that the
battery contribution to the cost is about 20%
4.5. Economical study on the PV-hybrid system (made up of about 9% for investment and 11% for
lifetime replacement) regardless of the engine type. This
From optimal configurations previously de- result agrees with previous findings (Notton et al.,
scribed (SDM530% and SAR570%), for each 1996a) relating to stand-alone PV/ battery sys-
engine type and for the Low Consumption load tems, for which the storage represents 40% on the
profile, we have determined the investment, total lifetime cost. Thus the addition of a back-up
maintenance and replacement costs for each generator to a traditional PV system cuts the
Fig. 12. Influence of the stopping threshold on the energy excess (SDM set equal to 30%).
156 M. Muselli et al.
Fig. 13. Breakdown of the contributions (investment, maintenance, replacement) of each subsystem in determining the PV-hybrid
system lifetime.
battery’s contribution to the total cost by a factor FOSSIL, the contribution of fossil in the latter
of two. Previously, Notton et al., 1996b showed combination being higher, because of the longer
that the energy cost produced by a PV hybrid lifetime of a diesel engine. The work has demon-
system is half of a traditional PV/ battery stand- strated the competitiveness of PV-hybrid systems,
alone system. which can work with an energy excess as low as
5% and a battery storage half of that of the
traditional stand-alone PV system, based on the
5. CONCLUSIONS system lifetime. In conclusion, the approach
In this paper, we have studied the behavior of a presented here appears to be a valuable tool for
stand-alone PV-hybrid (PV and engine-generator) the design and evaluation of PV-hybrid systems
system. We have considered the sizing of PV supplying power in remote areas.
systems by using hourly total irradiation values on
tilted surfaces and hourly load profiles taken as NOMENCLATURE
constant over the seasons. The study has shown
that the optimal configuration, i.e., the configura- C Dimensionless battery storage
capacity
tion that minimizes the energy cost, is obtained C(t) Battery state of charge Wh
with a battery storage capacity of two days. The C1 (t) Battery energy benefit during the Wh
influence of the engine-generator’s operating period Dt
strategy has also been studied. It was found that C2(t) Battery energy loss during the Wh
period Dt
an optimal configuration is one where the engine-
C0 Cost coefficient $US
generator is switched on when the battery charge CG kW price $US
is at 30% of maximum battery capacity and where Cmax Nominal storage capacity Wh
it is turned off when the battery charge is 70% of Cmin Minimal storage capacity Wh
maximum battery capacity. The study has de- DOD Depth of discharge %
Hb (T ) Solar irradiation received by PV Wh?m 22
termined optimal contributions for both solar and
modules on a tilted plane
fossil fuel energy sources. For gasoline powered Ib (t) Hourly solar irradiation on tilted Wh?m 22
engine-generators, the combination of 75% plane
SOLAR with 25% FOSSIL are the most econ- L(T ) Energy consumed by load in the Wh
omical solutions, and 3000-rpm diesel powered period T
Pc (t) Instantaneous power to the load W
engine-generators, 80% SOLAR and 20% FOS-
PCIv Heating value of fuel kWh per l
SIL are the most economical solutions. For 1500- PG Generator power W
rpm diesel powered engine-generators, the opti- Pc (t) Instantaneous power represent- W
mal combination is 65% SOLAR with 35% ing the load
Design of hybrid-photovoltaic power generator, with optimization of energy management 157