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Computer-aided design of PV/wind hybrid system

Article  in  Renewable Energy · August 2003

DOI: 10.1016/S0960-1481(03)00011-9

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 Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512
www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Computer-aided design of PV/wind hybrid

system
B. Ai a,c,∗ 1, H. Yang b, H. Shen a, X. Liao c
a
Solar Energy Laboratory, Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Guangzhou 510070, China
b
Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom,
Kowloon, Hong Kong
c
Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083, China

Received 5 December 2002; accepted 27 December 2002

Abstract

A complete set of match calculation methods for optimum sizing of PV/wind hybrid system
is presented. In this method, the more accurate and practical mathematic models for charac-
terizing PV module, wind generator and battery are adopted; combining with hourly measured
meteorologic data and load data, the performance of a PV/wind hybrid system is determined
on a hourly basis; by fixing the capacity of wind generators, the whole year’s LPSP (loss of
power supply probability) values of PV/wind hybrid systems with different capacity of PV
array and battery bank are calculated, then the trade-off curve between battery bank and PV
array capacity is drawn for the given LPSP value; the optimum configuration which can meet
the energy demand with the minimum cost can be found by drawing a tangent to the trade-
off curve with the slope representing the relationship between cost of PV module and that of
the battery. According to this match calculation method, a set of match calculation programs
for optimum sizing of PV/wind hybrid systems have been developed. Applying these match
calculation programs to an assumed PV/wind hybrid system to be installed at Waglan island
of Hong Kong, the optimum configuration and its hourly, daily, monthly and yearly perform-
ances are given.
 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: PV/wind hybrid system; Optimum sizing; CAD

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-86-20-8767-9164; fax: +1-86-20-8769-8086.

∗

E-mail address: aibin@ms.giec.ac.cn (B. Ai).

1
Present address: Solar Energy Laboratory, Guangzhou Institue of Energy Conversion, Chinese Acad-
emy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510070, People’s Republic of China.

0960-1481/03/$ - see front matter  2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0960-1481(03)00011-9
1492 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512

Nomenclature
Ett,Eth total irradiance incident on tilted plane and horizontal surface
(W/m2)
Ebt,Ebh direct irradiance incident on tilted plane and horizontal surface
(W/m2)
Edt,Edh diffuse irradiance incident on tilted plane and horizontal surface
(W/m2)
Er ground reflection irradiance on tilted plane (W/m2)
E0 extraterrestrial normal radiant intensity (W/m2)
f latitude (deg)
b tilt angle of plane to ground (deg)
d declination of the sun (deg)
w hour angle (deg)
ws sunrise or sunset hour angle of horizontal surface (deg)
wrt,wst sunrise and sunset hour angle of south facing slope (deg)
r0 ground albedo
Tl local time (h)
ET error of time (minutes)
Longs longitude of the site for standard time (deg)
Longl longitude of the location (deg)
IPV module optimum operating point current at arbitrary conditions (A)
ISC module short circuit current (A)
Imp module maximum power current (A)
VPV module optimum operating point voltage at arbitrary conditions (V)
Vmp module maximum power voltage (V)
VOC module open circuit voltage (V)
a0 module current temperature coefficient (A/°C)
b0 module voltage temperature coefficient (V/°C)
Est standard light intensity (1000 W/m2)
TA ambient temperature at arbitrary conditions (°C)
Tst standard temperature (25 °C)
VPVA output voltage of PV array (V)
PPVA output power of PV array (W)
NPVS serial connection number of PV modules
NPVP parallel connection number of PV module strings
Fc factor representing connection loss
v wind speed at desired height, Z (m/s)
v0 wind speed at reference height, Z0 (m/s)
a ground surface friction coefficient
Pw(v) output power of wind generator at wind speed, v (W)
vc,vf cut-in and cut-off wind speed of wind generator (m/s)
EB(t) charge quantity of battery bank at the time t (Wh)
 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512 1493

s hourly self-discharge rate

EGA(t) total energy generated by PV array and wind generator at the time t
(Wh)
EL(t) the load demand at the time t (W)
hinv,hBatt efficiency of inverter and charge efficiency of battery bank
hcontr,hmppt efficiency of controller and MPPT
EBmin,EBmax minimum and maximum charge quantity of battery bank (Wh)
CBatt nominal capacity of battery bank (Wh)
DOD depth of discharge of battery bank
Vbt(t) terminal voltage of battery bank at the time t (V)
Nbs serial connection number of batteries
Nbp parallel connection number of battery strings
LLP loss of load probability
Tf,T power failure time and considered period of time (h)
LPSP loss of power supply probability
LPS(t) loss of power supply at the time t (W)
NPVP,min,Nbp,min lower limit of parallel connection number of PV module and
battery strings
CPVN minimum capacity of PV array to cover the monthly deficit caused
by using single wind power (W)
CSPV capacity of single PV module (Wp)
ELpd average daily energy consumption (Wh)
CSbatt capacity of single battery (Wh)
C initial equipment cost
Cspv cost of single PV module
Csb cost of single battery
C0 total constant cost of the hybrid system
A area of a PV module (m2)
hpv conversion efficiency of a PV module
Fp encapsulation factor of a PV module
WpA peak power of PV array (Wp)
EPVm(i) output of PV array in the ith month (kWh)
Ettm(i) radiation received by PV array planes in the ith month (kWh)
Fo coefficient representing loss caused by other factors
Ftm(i) temperature modification factor in the ith month
Tam(i) average ambient temperature in the ith month (°C)
EPVmn(i) energy required to be provided by PV array in the ith month
(kWh)
ELm(i) load demand in the ith month (kWh)
Pwm(i) output of wind generator in the ith month (kWh)
SOC(t) state of charge of battery bank at the time t
Esurp surplus energy generated by the system (kWh)
We effective wind power density (W/m2)
1494 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512

N’ total appearance hours of effective wind speed during the estimated

period (h)
N’i appearance hours of effective wind speed vi during the estimated
period (h)
r air density (kg/m3)
Z’ altitude of hub height of wind generator (m)

1. Introduction

Due to the alternation of day and night and change of the weather, there exist
instability shortcomings in electric energy production when using PV or wind power
alone. It not only affects normal energy consumption but also results in batteries
being discarded too early. At present, the cost of batteries during the lifetime of
wind generator and PV module has occupied fairly large part of the total cost of PV
or wind generating systems. How to prolong the operating lifetime of batteries has
become a big problem. By using PV/wind hybrid power generation, effective charge
time of the batteries can be increased remarkably, so that the operating lifetime of
the batteries is prolonged and the electricity production cost decreased. PV/wind
hybrid power generation acting as an energy production mode has attracted more
and more attention, and has been used more and more widely.
As known to all, optimum match design is very important for PV/wind hybrid
system, which can guarantee battery bank working at the optimum conditions as
possible as can be, therefore the battery bank’s lifetime can be prolonged to the
maximum and energy production cost decreased to the minimum. In last few years,
some commercial software packages for simulating wind power, PV and hybrid gen-
erating systems have been developed. By using computer simulation, the optimum
system configuration can be found by comparing the performances and energy pro-
duction costs of different system configurations. To simulate the practical operating
situations of renewable energy systems, many complicated factors need to be con-
sidered. Taking simulation of PV system as an example, the effect of shadow and
performance mismatch on the output of PV array need to be considered, as well as
the effect of gap and tilt angle of the PV arrays on the cost of land occupation.
Although these software packages can precisely simulate the operating situations of
the assumed system configurations, generally these software packages are costly and
not available for most users. Furthermore, the mathematical models used for charac-
terizing PV module, wind generator and battery are not known for commercial
reasons.
Many attempts have been tried to explore a relatively simple method for designing
renewable energy systems. However, most of them did not pay much attention on
accurately determining the performances of systems. Some methods [1,2] placed
more emphasis on the influences of statistical characteristics of meteorologic data
 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512 1495

on the system performances, or the influences of non-linear characteristics of compo-

nents and operation strategies on the sizing of renewable energy systems; others [3–5]
derived some empirical formulas to relate a limited set of meteorologic characteristic
parameters with the system configurations based on time-step performance simula-
tions, but the models used for the simulations are too simple, e.g. linear models are
used for simulating the characteristics of components, moreover, the load is always
assumed to be constant, so the application ranges of the derived formulas are very
limited. Borowy et al. [6] provided a more straightforward method for optimally
sizing the combination of a battery bank and PV array in a PV/wind hybrid system.
However, they did not distinguish the serial connection number of components from
parallel connection number of component strings during the course of the sizing of
a hybrid system, they used numbers of PV modules and batteries instead, in addition,
the mathematical models used for determining the operating situations of a hybrid
system need to be further improved.
Based on Borowy’s method, a complete set of match calculation method for opti-
mum sizing of a PV/wind hybrid system is given in this paper. In order to determine
the hourly operating states of a hybrid system more accurately, more practical math-
ematical models for characterizing PV module, wind generator and battery are used.
By fixing the capacity of wind generators, the whole year’s LPSP values of the
hybrid systems with different capacity of PV array and battery bank are calculated.
Given the LPSP value, the trade-off curve between the PV array and battery bank
capacity of the hybrid systems meeting this load demand can be drawn, then the
optimum system configuration can be uniquely identified by drawing a tangent to
the trade-off curve with the slope representing the relationship between PV module
and battery costs. At the end of this paper, an example for optimum sizing of a
PV/wind hybrid system by using this method is given, as well as the detailed
operating states of the optimum configuration.

2. Mathematic models and match calculation method

2.1. The configuration of a PV/wind hybrid system
The configuration of a PV/wind hybrid system considered in this paper is shown
in Fig. 1. Because most of electric appliances use AC power supply, an inverter is

Fig. 1. Schematic of PV/wind hybrid system under study.

1496 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512

used before the load. In order to guarantee the inverter working normally, a dump
load is used to consume the surplus energy generated by the system.

2.2. Calculation of hourly output of PV array

2.2.1. Mathematic model of PV module

The hourly output of PV module is related to the light intensity falling on the PV
module, environmental temperature and characteristic of PV module. Before calculat-
ing the hourly output of PV module, the average hourly light intensity on horizontal
surface should be converted to that on the PV module. Generally, Hay’s model is
used for this purpose, and its formulas are given in Appendix 1.
The practical characteristic equation of PV module is a transcend equation which
has no analytic solution, and it can not be directly used for calculating the output
of the PV module. Assuming that maximum power point tracker (MPPT) is used
and the PV module is always working at the maximum power point, the formulas
for calculating the optimum operating point current and voltage under arbitrary con-
ditions have the following forms [6,7]:

再 冋 冉
IPV ⫽ ISC· 1⫺C1· exp
VPV⫺⌬V
C2·VOC
⫺1 冊 册冎 ⫹ ⌬I (1)

where
C1 ⫽ (1⫺Imp / ISC)·exp[⫺Vmp / (C2·VOC)]
Vmp / VOC⫺1
C2 ⫽
ln(1⫺Imp / ISC)

冋
VPV ⫽ Vmp· 1 ⫹ 0.0539·lg 冉 冊册
Ett
Est
⫹ b0·⌬T

⌬V ⫽ VPV⫺Vmp

⌬I ⫽ a0· 冉冊
Ett
Est
·⌬T ⫹
Ett
Est 冉 冊
⫺1 ·ISC

⌬T ⫽ Tcell⫺Tst,Tcell ⫽ TA ⫹ 0.02·Ett

For the meanings of the symbols in above formulas, refer to the nomenclature. The
same remarks can be applied to other formulas in this paper.
 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512 1497

2.2.2. Calculation of hourly output of PV array

For practical use, a certain number of PV modules need to be connected to meet
user’s demand on voltage and power. The operating voltage of system determines
the serial connection number of PV modules, whereas parallel connection number
of PV module strings determines the capacity of the PV array, so does the situation
of battery bank. The hourly output voltage and power of PV array are:
VPVA ⫽ NPVS·VPV (2)
PPVA ⫽ NPVP·NPVS·VPV·IPV·Fc·Fo (3)
where NPVS is serial connection number of PV modules; NPVP is parallel connection
number of PV module strings; Fc and Fo are the factors representing connection loss
and other losses such as loss caused by accumulative dust etc.
2.3. Calculation of hourly output of wind generator
The hourly output of wind generator is determined by average hourly wind speed
at the hub height and output characteristic of the wind generator. Because wind speed
near to ground changes with height according to the power law and wind power is
proportional to the third power of wind speed, the hub height has great influence on
the output of the wind generator. When calculating the output of wind generator,
the measured data of average hourly wind speed must be converted to the correspond-
ing values at the hub height. The most commonly used formula is power law,
expressed as:
v
v0
⫽
Z
冉冊
Z0
a
(4)

where v is wind speed at desired height, Z; v0 is wind speed at the reference height,
Z0; a is the ground surface friction coefficient, in this paper, the one-seventh-power
law ratio is used.
Even if different types of wind generators with the same rated power are used at
the same site, they can generate different amount of electrical energy because of the
difference of the output characteristics. The hourly output of wind generator can
only be calculated accurately by using the characteristic equation of its own. In this
paper, the characteristic equation of wind generator is obtained by fitting the practical
output characteristic curve using least squares method. In order to guarantee the
fitting accuracy, three binomial expressions are used. The fitting equation of the
output characteristic of wind generator can be expressed as:

冦
0 (v ⬍ vc)
a1·v ⫹ b1·v ⫹ c1 (vcⱕv ⬍ v1)
2

Pw(v) ⫽ a2·v2 ⫹ b2·v ⫹ c2 (v1ⱕv ⬍ v2) (5)

a3·v ⫹ b3·v ⫹ c3 (v2ⱕvⱕvf)
2

0 (v ⬎ vf)
1498 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512

where Pw(v) is the output power of wind generator at wind speed, v; v is wind speed
at the hub height; vc and vf are cut-in and cut-off wind speed of the wind generator,
respectively. The hourly output of wind generator can be easily obtained by using
the characteristic equation of the wind generator and average hourly wind speed at
the hub height.

2.4. Mathematic model of battery

When the total output of PV array and wind generators is greater than the energy
demand, the battery bank is in charging state. The charge quantity of battery bank
at the time t can be described by
EB(t) ⫽ EB(t⫺1)·(1⫺s) ⫹ (EGA(t)⫺EL(t) / hinv)·hBatt (6)
On the other hand, the battery bank is in discharging state. In this paper, the
discharge efficiency of battery bank is assumed to be 1. Therefore the charge quantity
of battery bank at the time t can be expressed as:
EB(t) ⫽ EB(t⫺1)·(1⫺s)⫺(EL(t) / hinv⫺EGA(t)) (7)
where EB(t) and EB(t⫺1) are the charge quantities of battery bank at the time t and
t⫺1, respectively; s is hourly self-discharge rate; EGA(t) is the total energy generated
by PV array and wind generators after energy loss of controller; EL(t) is load demand
at the time t; hinv and hBatt are the efficiency of inverter and charge efficiency of
battery bank, respectively.
At any time, the charge quantity of battery bank is subject to the following con-
straints: EBminⱕEB(t)ⱕEBmax. Here, the maximum charge quantity of battery bank
EBmax takes the value of nominal capacity of battery bank CBatt, and the minimum
charge quantity of battery bank EBmin is determined by the maximum depth of dis-
charge (DOD): EBmin = (1⫺DOD)·CBatt. According to the specifications from the
manufacturers, the battery’s lifetime can be prolonged to the maximum if DOD takes
the value of 30–50%. In this paper, the DOD takes the value of 50%.
Only when the output voltage of PV array is higher than the float charge voltage
of battery bank can the electric energy generated by PV array be used. When judging
whether the output of PV array can be used or not, one need to know the float charge
voltage of the battery bank. In this paper, the following formula relating the terminal
voltage of battery bank with charge quantity and ambient temperature is used [8]:

冋
Vbt(t⫺1) ⫽ Nbs· 2 ⫹ 0.148· 冉 EB(t⫺1)
EBmax 冊册
·[1.0⫺0.001·(TA⫺25)] (8)

2.5. Match calculation method

The following two definitions of probability are often used to express the reliability
of power supply of system. One is the loss of load probability (LLP), defined as the
power failure time Tf divided by the estimated period of time T, i.e. LLP = Tf / T;
 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512 1499

the other is the loss of power supply probability (LPSP), expressed as the ratio of
power deficit to the sum of load demand during the considered period:

冘 冘
T T

LPSP ⫽ LPS(t) / EL(t) (9)

t⫽1 t⫽1

where LPS(t) = EL(t)⫺(EGA(t) + EB(t⫺1)⫺EBmin)·hinv.

For the given LPSP value of the whole year, many configurations can meet this
reliability demand of power supply. In this study, a program for calculating the
LPSP values of different configurations with certain number of wind generators is
developed, which flow chart diagram is shown in Fig. 2. In the program, the simu-
lated lower limits of parallel connection numbers of PV module and battery strings
are determined by the following expressions:
NPVP,min ⫽ Int[0.5·CPVN / (CSPV·NPVS)] (10)
Nbp,min ⫽ IntELpd / (DOD·hinv·CSbatt·Nbs) (11)
where CPVN is the minimum PV capacity needed to cover the monthly power deficit
caused by using single wind power. For the calculation of CPVN, refer to Appendix
2. CSPV is the capacity of single PV module. NPVP,min, the simulated minimum parallel
connection number of PV module strings, takes the value so that the resulted PV
capacity is equal to the half value of CPVN. Nbp,min, the simulated minimum parallel
connection number of battery strings, is determined by the principle that the energy
deposited in battery bank can be used to meet 1 day’s load demand. ELpd is average
daily energy consumption; CSbatt is the capacity of single battery; Nbs is serial connec-
tion number of batteries.
Given the LPSP value, the trade-off curve between parallel connection numbers
of PV module and battery strings can be drawn. Combining with the initial equipment
cost of different configurations, the optimum configuration which meets the load
demand with the minimum cost can be found. The initial equipment cost of the
hybrid system can be written as:
C ⫽ Cspv·NPVS·NPVP ⫹ Csb·Nbs·Nbp ⫹ C0 (12)
where C is initial equipment cost of the hybrid system; Cspv is cost of single PV
module; Csb is cost of single battery; C0 is the total constant cost of the hybrid system
including costs of wind generators and other balance components. Eq. (12) can be
changed to
Csb·Nbs C C0
NPVP ⫽ ⫺ ·Nbp ⫹ ⫺ (13)
Cspv·NPVS Cspv·NPVS Cspv·NPVS
where Cspv, NPVS, Csb and Nbs can be regarded as a constant once operating voltage
of the system and the types of PV module and battery are chosen, only NPVP, Nbp
and C are variables in Eq. (13). To make the initial equipment cost C to be minimum,
Csb·Nbs
i.e. to make the intercept of the line NPVP = ⫺ ·N + C’ on the NPVP axis
Cspv·NPVS bp
1500 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512

Fig. 2. Flowchart diagram for calculation of LPSP.

 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512 1501

of NPVP⫺Nbp coordinate system to be minimum, and the line also need to intersect
the trade-off curve; the tangent to the trade-off curve with slope equal to ⫺
Csb·Nbs
meets this demand, the tangent coordinate is the optimum combination of
Cspv·NPVS
the parellel connection numbers of battery and PV module strings.
Once the parellel connection numbers of battery and PV module strings are
determined, another program can give the detailed operating situations of the opti-
mum configuration, which include:

Hourly operating state of the system, including state of charge of battery bank, energy
production and consumption state of the system, etc;
Daily operating state of the system, consisting of energy deficit, the loss of power
supply probability, power failure time, the loss of load probability, energy production
and consumption state of the system, etc;
The types of monthly data are the same with those of daily data;
Yearly data, comprising average daily load demand, the loss of power supply prob-
ability, the loss of load probability, output of PV array and wind generators, available
total energy and surplus energy generated by wind generators and PV array, etc.

3. Example

A PV/wind hybrid system is assumed to be installed at the Waglan Island of Hong

Kong (22.3° north latitude, 114.17° east longitude) for a lighting system. Waglan
Island is an isolated island, situated in the southeast of Hong Kong waters. The
location lies in the east eight time zone (the longitude of the site for the standard
time is 120° east longitude). The measured data of average hourly radiant intensity,
ambient temperature and wind speed of 1989 from the Hong Kong Observatory are
used for the match calculation.
The user’s demand on the hybrid system is as follows: (1) The load are energy
saving lights with capacity of 300 W, which will be turned on automatically once
the sun falls down and turned off automatically when daylight comes. (2) The
PV/wind hybrid system consists of a Fortis Espada 800 Watt wind generator and a
certain capacity of PV array and battery bank. For their detailed technical parameters,
see Appendix 3. (3) The operating voltage of the system is 24 Volt. (4) The PV
array is installed facing south with tilt angle equal to the latitude of the location
( 22.3°).
In order to estimate the complementarity of local wind power and solar energy
resources and validate the match calculation results, the monthly changes of the
effective wind power density at the hub height and radiation on the horizontal surface
and the array planes are given in Fig. 3. For the calculation of the effective wind
power density, refer to Appendix 4. From Fig. 3, both wind power and solar energy
resources are relatively poor in April, which means that the deficit of power supply
mainly happens in that month. According to the measured solar radiation data, the
direct radiant intensity does not dominate on most days of the year, therefore the
1502 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512

Fig. 3. Monthly variation of effective wind power density at the hub height and radiation on the horizon-
tal surface and the array plane.

difference between the radiation on horizontal surface and that on the tilted plane
is not remarkable. During the months from April to August, the former is higher
than the latter, whereas in other months the reverse occurs.
The hourly load demand profile is determined by the following method: the time
for sunrise and sunset, taking the values corresponding to the average day in each
month, are obtained by calculating the sunrise and sunset hour angle on the horizontal
surface; the time for lights turning off is half an hour earlier than the time of sun
rise, and the time for turning on is half hour later than the time of sunset. Table 1
gives the time for lights turning on and off in each month, the time has been rounded
to the nearest hour.
The characteristic curve of the 800 W wind generator can be described by the
following fitting equation:

冦
0 (v ⬍ 3.0)
0.007·(v⫺6.0) ⫹ 0.06·(v⫺6.0) ⫹ 0.13
2
(3.0ⱕv ⬍ 8.5)
Pw(v) ⫽ ⫺0.005·(v⫺14.0) ⫹ 0.04·(v⫺14.0) ⫹ 0.68 (8.5ⱕv ⬍ 20.0).
2
(14)
0.0008·(v⫺22.4) ⫺0.02·(v⫺22.4) ⫹ 0.68
2
(20.0ⱕvⱕ25.0)
0 (v ⬎ 25.0)

The wind generator characteristic and its fitting curves are shown in Fig. 4. From
Fig. 4, the output characteristic of the wind generator is fairly poor. When wind
speed reaches 5.0 m/s, its output is only 0.068 kW; other output data are 0.2 kW
(at 7.0 m/s), 0.464 kW (10.0 m/s), 0.714 kW (15.0 m/s), 0.745 kW (17.0, 18.0, 19.0
m/s), 0.736 kW (20.0 m/s), 0.677 kW (23.0 m/s) and 0.636 kW (25.0 m/s); it never
reaches the rated power; the maximum output is only 0.745 kW (at 17.0 m/s).
Table 1
The time for lights turning on and off in each month

Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

off 6:00 6:00 5:00 5:00 5:00 4:00 5:00 5:00 5:00 5:00 5:00 6:00
on 18:00 18:00 18:00 18:00 19:00 19:00 19:00 19:00 18:00 18:00 17:00 17:00
B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512
1503
1504 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512

Fig. 4. The output characteristic and its fitting curves of the Fortis Espada 800 Watt wind generator.

The serial connection numbers of the PV module and the battery take the values:
NPVS = 2, Nbs = 12, which are determined by the operating voltage of the system.
During the course of match calculation, the following parameter values are used:
0.99, 0.99 and 0.92 for the efficiency of MPPT, controller and inverter, 0.85 for the
charge efficiency of battery bank, 0.98 and 1.0 for the factors representing the con-
nection loss and other loss. According to the parameters stated above and the average
daily energy demand ELpd = 3298.356 Wh, the minimum capacity of battery bank
is 7170.34 Wh, which can meet 1 day’s load demand; the simulated lower limits of
parallel connection numbers of the battery and PV module strings are Nbp,min = 3,
NPVP,min = 7. The program has calculated the whole year’s LPSP values of different
configurations with Nbp changing from 3 to 45 and NPVP from 3 to 70. Parts of
calculation results are shown in Fig. 5, as well as the tangents to the trade-off curves
Csb·Nbs 580 × 12 87
with slope equal to ⫺ =⫺ = ⫺ . Two kinds of reliabilities of
Cspv·NPVS 1400 × 2 35
power supply with the LPSP value equal to 0.01 and 0.1 are chosen. For LPSP =
0.01, the optimum combination is Nbp = 5, NPVP = 17, which is denoted by configur-
ation 1. For LPSP = 0.1, the optimum combination is Nbp = 3, NPVP = 7, which is
denoted by configuration 2. The detailed operating situations of these two kinds of
configurations will be given in the following paragraphs.
Fig. 6 gives the hourly state of charge (SOC) of battery bank for these two con-
figurations. For the configuration 1, the minimum SOC mainly happens in April
(between 2161 h and 2880 h). For the configuration 2, the SOC reaches the lower
limit of discharge nearly in each month, with the lower limit being reached mainly
in April, August (between 5089 h and 5832 h) and December (between 8017 h
 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512 1505

Fig. 5. Trade off curves between the parallel connection numbers of battery and PV module strings for
the different LPSP values.

Fig. 6. Hourly variation of the SOC of battery bank for the two kinds of optimum configurations.

and 8760 h). The daily energy production and consumption situations of these two
configurations are given in Fig. 7. The maximum daily energy consumption is 3900
Wh of December, and the minimum value is 2700 Wh of June. For both configur-
ations, the fluctuations of the total outputs are all fairly violent. Furthermore, the
output of the wind generator changes more fiercely than that of the PV array, which
is determined by the inhomogeneity nature of wind power and solar energy distri-
butions. The only difference between the situations of the two configurations is that
PV array contributes more to the total output of the configuration 1 than to that of
configuration 2.
1506 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512

Fig. 7. Daily energy production and consumption situations for the two kinds of optimum configurations.

Monthly operating situations of these two configurations are summarized in Table

2, including the surplus energy (Esurp), the loss of power supply (LPS), power failure
time (Tf), the loss of load probability (LLP) and the loss of power supply probability
(LPSP). The results coincide well with those indicated by Figs. 3, 6 and 7. Due to
the scarcity of wind power and solar energy in April, as shown in Fig. 3, the
maximum deficit of power supply appears in that month for both configurations. For
configuration 2, due to the limited capacity of PV array, the output of the wind
generator dominates the total output of the hybrid system, as shown in Fig. 7. The
situation of power loss happens nearly in each month. Besides April, the energy
losses are also comparatively severe in August and December, which are caused by
the poorest wind power in August and the maximum load demand in December,
respectively; because the energy demand is the least in June and the wind power is
the most abundant in October, the power loss is the least in these 2 months. For the
configuration 1, because the capacity of PV array is big enough to cover the energy
deficit caused by using single wind generator, except for April, the situation of energy
deficit rarely happens. This configuration embodies the strongpoint that a PV/wind
hybrid system should possess, i.e. by taking advantage of the complementarity of
wind power and solar energy the power failure time is dramatically decreased. It is
noted that surplus energy is generated in each month by both configurations, which
results from the inhomogeneity of the distributions of the natural resources. In sum-
mary, the operating situations of the systems are determined by various factors such
as the load demand, distributions of the natural resources and the capacities of chosen
components, etc.
Table 3 gives the whole year’s operating situations of these two configurations.
Although the load demand can be satisfied by the single wind power in terms of
balance of energy supply and consumption in the whole year, due to the mismatch
Table 2
Monthly energy profit and loss, power failure time (Tf), LLP and LPSP of two configurations

Month Configuration 1 Configuration 2

Esurp(KWh) LPS(KWh) Tf(h) LLP LPSP Esurp(KWh) LPS(KWh) Tf(h) LLP LPSP

1 102.33 – – – – 68.00 5.20 30 0.0403 0.0465

2 109.74 0.52 2 0.0030 0.0052 54.35 8.80 43 0.0640 0.0873
3 127.22 – – – – 67.06 4.01 21 0.0282 0.0392
4 34.21 9.75 40 0.0556 0.0985 21.72 27.01 106 0.1472 0.2728
5 99.67 0.26 4 0.0054 0.0028 67.45 13.61 59 0.0793 0.1463
6 114.41 – – – – 56.38 0.31 2 0.0028 0.0038
7 117.22 – – – – 53.10 6.04 26 0.0350 0.0649
8 48.68 0.44 2 0.0027 0.0047 12.92 24.35 103 0.1384 0.2618
9 94.07 – – – – 46.20 15.26 63 0.0875 0.1541
10 251.74 – – – – 185.24 2.26 11 0.0148 0.0221
11 171.61 – – – – 103.80 1.37 6 0.0083 0.0127
12 100.74 1.42 5 0.0067 0.0117 66.82 18.06 71 0.0954 0.1493
B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512
1507
1508 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512

Table 3
The whole year’s operating situations of the two configurations

Configuration 1 Configuration 2

Energy demand (kWh) 1187.408 1187.408

Output of the wind generator (kWh) 1593.503 1593.503
Output of the PV array (kWh) 1247.750 513.779
Total energy generated by the system (kWh) 2800.488 2081.124
Surplus energy generated (kWh) 1371.641 803.032
Loss of power supply (kWh) 12.39147 126.258
LLP 0.00605023 0.06175799
LPSP 0.01029277 0.1048742

of wind power and load profile, sometimes power loss happens, and sometimes sur-
plus energy is generated. By choosing the reasonable capacity combination of wind
generator and PV array, such as configuration 1, the complementarity of wind power
and solar energy can be fully used; consequently, the power failure time is dramati-
cally decreased. For configuration 1, the total cost of PV array, wind generator and
battery bank is 47’600.0 + 12’000.0 + 34’800.0 = 94’400.0 RMB; the whole year’s
power failure time is 53.0 h; the loss of power supply is 12.39 kWh, which corre-
sponds to the accumulative power failure time of 41.3 h. For configuration 2, the
total cost is 19’600.0 + 12’000.0 + 20’880.0 = 52’480.0 RMB; the whole year’s
power failure time is 541.0 h; the loss of power supply is 126.26 kWh, which corre-
sponds to the accumulative power failure time of 420.8 h.

4. Conclusion

A complete set of match design method for PV/wind hybrid system is introduced.
In this method, the more practical mathematical models for characterizing PV mod-
ule, wind generator and battery are adopted. According to local hourly measured
meteorologic data, load demand, the characteristic and price of the components and
reliability requirement on power supply, the optimum configuration which meets the
load demand with the minimum cost can be uniquely determined by this method.
Based on this method, a set of match calculation programs has been developed.
Applying these programs to an assumed PV/wind hybrid system to be installed at
Waglan island of Hong Kong, two optimum configurations and their detailed
operating situations are given.

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by National Key Technologies R&D Program
during the 9th Five Year Plan Period in China under Contract no. 96-A17-08-01,
and 1998 ‘One Hundred Talents Plan’ of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Thanks
 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512 1509

are owed to Dr. Lu Lin of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for beneficial
discussion on calculation of the output of the wind generator.

Appendix 1. Hay’ sky diffusion anisotropic model

Ett ⫽ Ebt ⫹ Edt ⫹ Er (A1)

where
Ebt ⫽ Ebh· 冋
cos(f⫺b)·cosd·cosw ⫹ sin(f⫺b)·sind
cosf·cosd·cosw ⫹ sinf·sind 册
Edt ⫽ Edh· 冉 E0
· 冊冋
Eth⫺Edh cos(f⫺b)·cosd·cosw ⫹ sin(f⫺b)·sind
cosf·cosd·cosw ⫹ sinf·sind 册
⫹ Edh· 冉
1 ⫹ cosb
2 冊冉
· 1⫺
Eth⫺Edh
E0 冊
r0
Er ⫽ ·E ·(1⫺cosb)
2 th

During the course of calculation of hourly mean irradiance on a tilted plane by

using above formulas, declination of the sun d and extraterrestrial normal radiant
intensity E0 take daily average values. For their calculation formulas, refer to Ref.
[9,10]. Ett,Ebt,Edt,Er and hour angle w take hourly average values. The relationship
between hour angle w and local time Tl is [9]:

w⫽ 冋冉 Tl ⫹
ET Longs⫺Longl
60
⫹
15
⫺12 ⫻ 15 冊 册 (A2)

where hour angle w and local time Tl take hourly values. Error of time ET take daily
value. According to the ET data of 1, 6, 11, 16, 21 and 26 in each month given in
Ref. [9], the ET data of each day in the whole year can be obtained by linear interp-
olation. Longl and Longs are the longitudes of the location and site for standard
time, respectively.
It should be mentioned that during the course of calculation of hourly irradiance
on a tilted plane by using Hay model, in order to avoid error, the formulas are used
only when hour angle w is between sunrise hour angle wrt + 5° and sunset hour
angle wst⫺5°. The formulas for calculating the sunrise or sunset hour angle on a
tilted plane are given in Ref. [9].

Appendix 2. Calculation of the minimum capacity of PV array CPVN to cover

the monthly deficit

According to the definition of peak power of PV module:

Wp ⫽ 1000·A·hpv·Fp (A3)
Similarly, the peak power of PV array can be written as:
WpA ⫽ 1000·NPVS·NPVP·A·hpv·Fp·Fc (A4)
1510 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512

The monthly output of PV array composed of NPVS × NPVP modules can be approxi-
mately expressed as:
EPVm(i) ⫽ Ettm(i)·NPVS·NPVP·A·hpv·Fp·Fc·Ftm(i)·Fo (A5)
where Ftm(i) is temperature modification factor in ith month, which can be estimated
by assuming that the operating temperature of solar cell is 20 °C higher than ambient
temperature. Therefore
5
Ftm(i) ⫽ 1⫺ ·(T (i)⫺5) (A6)
1000 am
The energy required to be provided by PV array in each month can be
expressed as:
EPVmn(i) ⫽ (ELm(i) / hinv⫺Pwm(i)·hcontr) / (hcontr·hmppt) (A7)
From above equations, the formula for capacity of PV array needed in each month
can be derived as:
1000·(ELm(i) / hinv⫺Pwm(i)·hcontr)
CPVmn(i) ⫽ (A8)
Ettm(i)·Ftm(i)·Fo·Fc·hcontr·hmppt
where CPVmn(i) is the capacity of PV array needed in each month (Wp); Ettm(i) is
monthly radiation on the planes of PV array (kWh/m2); ELm(i) is monthly energy
consumption (kWh); Pwm(i) is monthly output of wind generator (kWh); Fo is the
coefficient representing the power loss caused by other factors such as accumulat-
ive dust.
So the formula for calculating the minimum capacity of PV array to cover the
monthly deficit can be written as:
CPVN ⫽ max(CPVmn(i)) (A9)

Appendix 3. Detailed information of the chosen components

1. Parameters of PV module

Manufacturer: Siemens Solar

Type: M35
Max. power output: 35.0 W
Max. power voltage: 17.0 V
Max. power current: 2.12 A
Open circuit voltage: 22.0 V
Short circuit current: 2.3 A
Voltage temp. coeff.: ⫺0.1152 V/°C
Current temp. coeff.: 0.000224 A/°C
Cost of single PV module: 1400.0 RMB
 B. Ai et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 1491–1512 1511

2. Parameters of wind generator

Manufacturer: Fortis
Type: Fortis Espada
Rated power: 800 W
Output (12 m/s): 600 W
Cut-in wind speed: 3 m/s
Cut-off wind speed: 25 m/s
Hub height: 12 m
Number of blades: 2
Length of blades: 1.01 m
Cost of the wind generator: 12 000.0 RMB

3. Parameters of battery

Manufacturer: TOYO
Type: GFM-100
Rated voltage: 2 V
Rated capacity: 100 Ah
Hourly self-discharge rate: 0.0001
Cost of single battery: 580.0 RMB

Appendix 4. Calculation of the effective wind power density at the hub

height

The formula for calculating the effective wind power density at the hub height is:

We ⫽
1
N’
冘 1 ’ 3
r·N ·v
2 i i
(A10)

where N’i is the appearance hours of effective wind speed vi during the estimated
period; N’ is total appearance hours of effective wind speed during the estimated
period; r is air density, which can be estimated by the following formula:
r ⫽ 1.225·exp(⫺0.0001·Z’) (A11)
’
where Z is the altitude of hub height of the wind generator. The altitude of Waglan
Island is 55.7 m, and the hourly wind speed is measured by anemometer at the height
of 26.3 m from the ground. The wind speed at the hub height is obtained by using
the power law formula Eq. (4). In this paper, the range of effective wind speed takes
the operating wind speed range of the wind generator (3–25 m/s).

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