Techno-Economic Assessment of Hybrid Renewable
Resources for a Residential Building in Tehran
Sima Ashrafi Goudarzi ,a Farivar Fazelpour ,b Gevork B. Gharehpetian,c and Marc A. Rosend
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
b
Department of Energy Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran;
f_fazelpour@azad.ac.ir (for correspondence)
c
Electrical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
d
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Ontario, Institute of Technology, Oshawa ON, Canada
Published online 00 Month 2019 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/ep.13209
Abstract: Continued reductions in air pollution and green-
house gas (GHG) emissions are crucial in megacities like Teh-
ran, Iran, as they pose serious threats to both people’s health
and the environment. Reducing energy use through renewable
energy projects will result in the mitigation of GHG emissions.
Hence, this study was designed to assess the use of renewable
energy resources to provide the energy services for a residential
building. The specific objective of this article is to select a
hybrid renewable energy system that can meet the energy
demand of a 5-story residential building in Tehran. The energy
consumption of the building is calculated using DesignBuilder
software. Then, HOMER software is applied to propose an eco-
nomically feasible solar-wind hybrid system that can meet the
energy demand of the building. Initially, information required
for HOMER and DesignBuilder software such as the building
plan, details on electrical appliances used in the building, solar
radiation, wind speed, and cost of renewable systems were col-
lected. Subsequently, the energy performance of the building
was simulated in DesignBuilder software and the results were
applied to HOMER software. Finally, the hybrid systems pro-
posed by HOMER were economically compared. Furthermore,
the emissions produced by the proposed system were evaluated
against a diesel only system to assess the amount of offset
emissions. The comparison of the hybrid and diesel systems
shows that utilization of hybrid systems can significantly
reduce the magnitude of GHG emissions along with achieving
cost saving. © 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ
Prog, 2019
Keywords: greenhouse gas, renewable energy, solar energy,
wind energy, simulation
INTRODUCTION
Due to population growth, urbanization and rapid industri-
alization, energy demand has continuously been increasing [1].
In addition, energy consumption has been growing due to
changes in lifestyle. Overall, there is a direct relationship
between energy use and the quality of life and population
growth. For several years, the energy demand in most societies
has largely been met by fossil fuels such as oil. Fossil fuel
resources such as oil, gas and coal are limited and subject to
depletion [2]. This limitation affects fuel prices and thus
© 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep
countries’ economies [1]. Global warming has prompted a shift
toward renewable resources in recent decades. The utilization
of renewable energies is a practical option to conserve fossil
fuel resources, curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and
consequently mitigate global warming [3].
Renewable energy resources are derived from natural
resources such as wind, tides, waves, solar energy, and geo-
thermal heat. In contrast to other energy resources that are
concentrated in particular areas, these renewable natural
resources tend to be widely available. Initially, their implemen-
tation was impeded due to high costs. However, as the time
progress, these resources have become more economic due
to technology advancements, cost reductions and, increased
efficiency.
Renewable energies are relatively environmentally benign,
with no carbon footprint, and inexhaustible [4]. They are virtu-
ally carbon-free and can be used to address energy security
and climate change issues [5]. The use of renewable energy
resources can reduce emissions, providing environmental ben-
efits [6]. Therefore, interest in renewable energy by researchers
has grown in recent decades [7].
Several researchers have studied the application of hybrid
renewable energies considering different conditions and cli-
mates. For instance, Güler et al. assessed the viability of meet-
ing energy demand of a medium sized hotel using hybrid
energy systems. By utilizing HOMER software, their study
showed that the usage of on-grid wind system is economically
profitable. The surplus electricity can be injected to the grid
and in case of a power deficit, electricity can be obtained from
the grid [8]. Park and Kwon provided power generation system
for a university campus in the southern Kyung-Hee using
HOMER software [9]. A techno-economic feasibility study for a
standalone system using a combination of optimization models
for domestic use in Urumqi, China was performed by HOMER
software. It was concluded that solar energy is more efficient
than wind energy for energy production [10]. In exploring the
potential of renewable energy technologies, Salehin et al. used
HOMER and RETScreen to design renewable energy systems
focusing on electricity generation [7]. Rajbongshi et al. have
economically analyzed solar-biomass and diesel-solar hybrid
systems with HOMER to electrify rural areas where power grid
development is infeasible [11].
Nag and Sarkar modeled a hybrid system in Ref. [12], to sat-
isfy the power demand of a rural region in India. The system,
1
Figure 1. Photovoltaic power potential of Iran [29]. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
investigated in terms of net present cost (NPC), cost of energy
(COE) and emissions, consists of solar-wind-hydrokinetic-
bioenergy. They found that hybrid renewable energies are
better for meeting the power demand. Aagreh and Al-Ghzawi
studied technical and economic aspects of an off-grid renewable
energy system for a small hotel in northern Jordan in Ref. [13].
The net present cost and payback period of different configura-
tions was investigated and the results indicate that wind turbines
have the optimal performance. Shahzad et al. conducted a tech-
nical and economic analysis of a stand-alone system using
HOMER in 2017 [14]. They designed a solar-biomass hybrid sys-
tem for rural use in Pakistan considering NPC and COE.
In recent years, hybrid systems have attracted attention,
resulting in extensive research in this field. Iodice et al. exam-
ined the energy, economic and environmental performance of
a CCHP power plant in Naples, Italy. Their research has shown
that the renewable-based system is preferable owing to its
lower environmental footprint [2]. Fantidis et al. carried out a
study for locating a 20-kW photovoltaic power plant in
Greece. Forty-six locations in the country were considered and
due to the high solar radiation levels throughout the year, sig-
nificant annual reductions were achievable in releasing carbon
dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. Due to rising both die-
sel oil and natural gas prices, solar energy has become an eco-
nomic alternative in some countries [15]. AlBusaidi et al.
studied a PV-wind hybrid system for Oman from a power gen-
eration point of view [16]. Halabi et al. examined the perfor-
mance of a hybrid system, consisting of solar panels, diesel
generators and batteries, in Malaysia using HOMER software
2 Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep
[17]. The system performance has technically, economically
and environmentally, been assessed and the results indicate
that solar energy is more reliable than diesel generators.
However, Iran’s energy system that is highly reliant on fos-
sil fuels, is posing many problems and concerns for the coun-
try over potential depletion on fossil resources, environmental
degradation and rising costs. Thus, the development and utili-
zation of renewable energies is important for the country.
There exist challenges related to infrastructure, management
and economics that necessitate innovative policies [18].
Mostafaeipour et al. studied 14 regions of Khuzestan province
of Iran, which have high solar potential. These regions have
technically and economically been assessed using HOMER
software and ranked considering their net present cost, earn-
ings, power generation and emissions [19]. Fazelpour et al.
evaluated the feasibility of the electrical energy supply for a
medium-sized hotel in Kish Island, Iran, using a combination
of energy systems. The system has economically been exam-
ined using HOMER software and ultimately the best alternative
to meet the electrical needs of the hotel has been found which
was a wind-diesel-battery hybrid system [20]. In another
research project [21], the economic performance of hybrid off-
grid systems, to supply the energy needs of households in
Tehran, was studied. The most advantageous system was
wind-diesel-battery-inverter-electrolyzer hybrid system in
which the diesel generator worked with hydrogen fuel [21].
In the majority of the above mentioned studies, the load of
the building under study has been hypothetical, and this inex-
act load has been used as input to HOMER software,
Figure 2. Wind speed data for Iran [36]. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
potentially causing inaccuracies in the results. In the present
study, the load of the building, including lighting, heating,
cooling, and other electrical requirements consumptions, is
accurately calculated using DesignBuilder software and then
the output is used as input to HOMER software. The objective
determination of the most beneficial renewable hybrid power
system according to economic and environmental perfor-
mance is to supply the required load for a 5-story building in
Tehran, Iran.
WIND AND SOLAR ENERGY POTENTIAL IN IRAN
Iran is a country with a population of 81,676,205 people
and an area of 1.648 million square kilometers [22,23]. It is
located at 32
250 1400 North latitude and 53
400 5600 East longi-
tude [24]. Iran has a diverse climatic condition and generally
has hot, long summers and cool, short winters [25–27].
Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep
Iran is located on the Solar Belt. The results of previous
studies show that solar energy can be effectively harnessed to
partially meet the energy demand of the country [28]. The pho-
tovoltaic power potential of Tehran is about 1826 kWh/kWp,
as shown in Figure 1 [29]. As noted, kWp denotes the kilowatt
“peak” of the system. Iran has about 300 sunny days per year,
with an average global solar radiation of about 5.3 kWh/m2day
on a horizontal surface. This value is higher in the central
region of the country [30,31].
Iran has a long history of using wind energy, having used
windmills for pumping water since the 17th century [32]. The wind
power generation capacity in Iran was about 178 MW in 2017 [33].
The potential of this power has been determined for provinces of
Iran, allowing the total wind power potential to be estimated at
140 GW, but only 20 GW is estimated to be economic [34].
As shown in Figure 2, the mean wind speed in Iran can be
as high as 10 m/s for the 11-year period of 2005–2016 [35].
3
Figure 3. Research methodology flow chart.
However, observational data indicate that the mean wind
speed can vary from 4.7 to 6.7 m/s in many regions of the
country [23].
SITE DESCRIPTION
Tehran, capital of Iran, is a city with 18,909 km2 of land area,
located at 35.6892
N latitude and 51.3890
E longitude [37,38].
The average temperatures are 4
C and 30
C in coldest (January)
and hottest (July) months, respectively. From May to November,
rainfall reaches its minimum with an average of 10 mm while the
maximum occurs in March, with an average of 50 mm [39,40].
According to the observational data collected by Tehran Meteoro-
logical Organization, the longest daylight hours is 13.5 h. The
daily average duration of solar radiation is about 8.5 h for the
5-year period of 2011–2016. The average daily global solar radia-
tion varies from about 2.55 kWh/m2 in cloudy days (December
and January) to about 7 kWh/m2 in summer (June to August).
4 Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep
LOAD DETERMINATION
The study procedure is summarized in Figure 3. Initially,
according to a one study [41], a dwelling is considered. The
house under evaluation is a one-story building, with a floor
area of 133 m2 and four residents, located in the city of Nico-
sia. The schematic diagram of the house is shown in Figure 4.
The house is simulated by Design Builder software considering
the specifications of the house, including materials of the
walls, windows and doors. DesignBuilder software is an
advanced-simulation tool for determining building energy con-
sumption [42]. There are three bedrooms, one kitchen, one
bathroom, one dining room and one hall in this house. Dimen-
sions of the doors and windows and the thickness of walls and
roof are also considered in the simulation.
Using the dwelling plan of Cyprus, a building with the same
plan is assumed in Tehran. The house is extended to a five-
story building. The floor plan is depicted in Figure 5. This
building, which is shown in the Figure 6, is simulated by
DesignBuilder software.
The purpose of this step is to simulate the energy perfor-
mance of the building considering equipment and occupancy.
Then, the results are used as input to HOMER software. The
seasonal load profiles obtained from the software, are shown
in Figures 7–9.
According to Figure 10, the peak load of the building is
about 12 kW in autumn and spring, while it is about 40 kW in
summer and winter since cooling and heating systems are
required in summer and winter, respectively. Moreover, the
Figure 4. One story building in Nicosia, Cyprus. [Color figure
can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Figure 5. Plan of dwelling. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep
peak electricity demand occurs in the evening when most
building occupants are at home.
WIND SPEED DATA
The average monthly wind speed over a 10-year period is
obtained using the location coordinates from NASA Surface
Meteorology and Solar Energy [43]. Data are measured at an
altitude of 10 m above ground level. As shown in Figure 11,
the average wind speed varies between 3.75 and 5.8 m/s, with
an annual average wind speed of 4.85 m/s.
Figure 6. Five story building in Tehran, Iran. [Color figure can
be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
5
 14

12

10

Load (kW)
8

Time

Figure 7. Load profile for autumn/spring. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

45

40

35

30
Load (kW)

25

20

15

10

Time

Figure 8. Load profile for summer. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

SOLAR RADIATION DATA
The average solar radiation is obtained using HOMER software
for the latitude and longitude of Tehran, as well as specifying the
time zone. The solar radiation data are shown in Figure 12. Obser-
vational data indicate that the daily radiation varies between 2.25
and 7.75 kWh/m2/d, with an annual average of about
5 kWh/m2/d. The solar radiation levels are at peak from April to
September in contrast with the months of October to March.
SIMULATION TOOL
According to a review article [1], one of the most practical
software for hybrid renewable energy system that has been
applied by researchers is HOMER, which is employed for
techno-economically assessment of hybrid energy systems. The
HOMER software is used to facilitate the user exploration. It is
capable of simulating the system for 8760 h per year. It can be
used to simulate a grid-connected or standalone system [1,7].
Note that HOMER software can be used to predict costs and
to examine greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction benefits
[15]. It receives essential inputs and provides the necessary out-
puts such as economic and environmental performance [19].
In this article, we assume that all the required energy is
supplied by renewable sources. The hybrid system consists of
the components in Figure 13. The model, nominal power, life-
span and number of each component are input to HOMER.
HOMER processes the inputs and delivers the results. Compo-
nent specifications are listed in Table 1.
It is also worth noting that, in order to be able to carry out
an economic analysis by this software and obtain an optimal
hybrid renewable power system, it is necessary to have capital
costs, operating and maintenance (O&M) costs and replace-
ment costs for the main components. These costs are summa-
rized in Table 2. The HOMER software computes Net Present
Cost (NPC) and Cost of Energy (COE) for hybrid systems.
The NPC is defined as follows:
C tot
NPC =
ð1Þ
CRF i, T p
Where, Ctot, i and Tp are the total annual cost ($/yr), inter-
est rate and lifetime, respectively. CRF is expressed as
follows:

6 Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep

 45

40

35

30

Load (kW)
25

20

15

10

Time

Figure 9. Load profile for winter. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

Figure 10. Monthly load profile for the 5-story building. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

7 SYSTEM COMPONENTS
As shown in Figure 13, the hybrid system considered here,
6 comprises four main components: PV arrays, wind turbines,
batteries, and AC/DC converter. Wind turbines and solar
Wind speed (m/s)

5
panels are used to provide energy, batteries are utilized for
4 storing surplus energy, and converters provide AC/DC conver-
sion. The lifetime of this project is taken to be 25 years.
3

2 PV MODULE
As indicated in one study [41], the cost of a solar panel is
1 about 3.2 € per Watt, so the capital cost for a 1 kW photovol-
taic panel is about $3700. Replacement costs are assumed to
0
be $2700 for 1 kW PV panel. The annual O&M costs are about
25 $/yr/kW. In this study, the lifetime of the solar panel is con-
sidered to be 25 years. The capacity of the PV array can be
reached up to 90 kW according to the load.
Figure 11. Monthly average wind speed for Tehran, Iran. It is recommended to install solar panels on the roof of the
[Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] residential building and on its facade. According to Ref. [44],
The average dimensions of the suggested solar panels are
about 1.9*1 m2 with a thickness of 40 mm, which can supply
400 watts of energy.
i ð1 + i Þn
CRF ði, nÞ = ð2Þ WIND TURBINE
ð1 + i Þn − 1
The other main component of this hybrid system is the
wind turbine. To attain the optimal efficiency, the wind turbine
Where, n is the number of years. should be selected according to the typical wind speeds
COE can be written as below: of the location. Considering the power-wind speed curve
of the wind turbine, as shown in Figure 14, the Generic of
C tot 20 kW is selected in HOMER. The capital cost of this tur-
COE = ð3Þ
E tot bine is estimated to be about $15,000, the replacement cost
is $11,000 with the O&M cost of about $500 per year. Its
Where, Etot is the total annual energy used. lifetime is considered to be 20 years. As mentioned in

Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep 7

 Global Horizontal Radiaon
8 1

Daily Radiaon (kWh/m2/d)

7 0.9
0.8
6

Clarness Index
0.7
5 0.6
4 0.5
3 0.4
0.3
2
0.2
1 0.1
0 0

Daily Radiaon Clearness Index

Figure 12. Clearness index and Global Horizontal radiation for Tehran, Iran. [Color figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]

Table 1. Specifications of components.

PV module
Model Typical
Power 1 kW
Life time 25 yr
Derating factor 80%
Tracking system No
Quantity 10, 20, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 70, 80, 90 kW
Wind turbine
Model Generic 20 kW
Rated power 20 kW
Hub height 12 m
Life time 20 yr
Quantity 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10
Battery
Model Hoppecke 24 OpzS 3000
Nominal voltage 2V
Nominal capacity 3000 Ah (6 kWh)
Figure 13. Configuration of wind-PV-battery hybrid system. Life time 10,196 kWh
[Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] Float life 18 yr
Batteries per strings 12
Strings’ quantity 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
Converter
Model Typical
Power 1 kW
Lifetime 18 yr
Table 1, the proposed wind turbine has a height of 12 m Efficiency 90%
with wind power output capacity of 20 kW power [45], and Size 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 65, 70, 75 kW
a land near residential building is suggested for its installa-
tion location.

BATTERY
For specific hours of a day, residents are not at home
or they do not consume large amounts of energy. In those
periods, the surplus energy produced by the system can
be stored in batteries. A Hoppecke 24 OpzS 3000 battery
with a nominal voltage of 2 V and nominal capacity of
3000 Ah is selected here. The capital and replacement
costs of the unit are the same and equal to $1100. Also,
the O&M cost is $10 per year. It is assumed that there are
12 batteries in each string. The lifetime of the batteries is
about 18 years.
AC/DC CONVERTER
In this system, a power converter is used for converting DC
and AC power. The initial and replacement costs of a 1 kW
converter are about $555 and $445, respectively. The lifetime
of a converter is considered to be 15 years.
RESULT
Validation
To validate the results of the DesignBuilder software, the
simulation output of the specified house by Simplified Building
Energy Model (SBEM) software is used [41]. Considering the

8 Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep

consumption schedule of building equipment and the heat
pump HVAC system, the total building load is obtained by
DesignBuilder software. Seasonal load graphs for weekends
and weekdays are obtained by the same software. For exam-
ple, the electricity consumption of the summer season is pre-
sented in Figures 15 and 16.
compared with results obtained for the same period of time in
Figures 17 and 18, respectively. Note that Figures 17 and 18
are obtained from SBEM in Ref. [41]. As indicated, the areas
below the graphs are approximately equal.
error =
The verification of the results is carried out by comparing  
Load from reference article − Load from DesignBuilder
the area under the curves. For example, the load profile   × 100
 Load from reterence article 
obtained from DesignBuilder software on weekdays and
weekends in summer (as shown in Figures 15 and 16) are ð4Þ

The simulation error is calculated using Equation 4, and the

Table 2. Component costs [14,20,21,46]. results are presented in Table 3. The differences between the
simulation results obtained from DesignBuilder software and
PV Wind the reference article [41] is negligible.
Component module turbine Battery Converter
DISCUSSION
Capital cost 3700 $ 15,000 $/ 1100 $ 555 $ The results of the study are presented in two parts. First,
turbine the system is selected to make sure it is technically and eco-
Replacement 2700 $ 11,000 $/ 1100 $ 445 $ nomically feasible. The designed systems, by HOMER, consist
cost turbine of renewable resources (wind turbines and solar panels), bat-
Operating & 25 $/yr 500 $/ 10 $/yr – teries, and converters. Using this software, the systems, which
maintenance turbine/ are capable of meeting the load demand, are presented in the
cost year form of scenarios, and then the best system is chosen in terms
of economic cost.
In the second part of the study, the selected system is com-
pared with a system that supplies the load by a diesel genera-
tor using fossil fuels. In this case, we can determine the
amount of pollutant emissions released from the diesel system.
Hence, using a renewable system can provide air-quality, pub-
lic health, and greenhouse gas emission benefits as they
reduce reliance on combustion-based generation.
The results of the simulation are categorized in HOMER
software. Each of the category represents the same classifica-
tion with the same component type, but not in number. For
example, the wind-solar-battery system refers to all systems
that include these components, or the wind-battery system,
represents all the systems that employ this combination. Subse-
quently, the most economic system in each category is
selected. This indicates that the wind-solar-battery-converter
system is the best one in terms of being the most economic
Figure 14. Power-wind speed curve for Generic 20 kW wind system composed of these elements. In fact, each of these sce-
turbine. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] narios is the most economic type for each category consid-
ered, as presented below.

5
Load (kW)

Time

Figure 15. Load profile of considered one-story building on a typical summer weekday from DesignBuilder. [Color figure can be
viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep 9

 7

5
Load (kW)
4

Time
Figure 16. Load profile of considered one-story building on a typical summer weekend from DesignBuilder. [Color figure can be
viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

Figure 17. Load profile of considered house on a typical summer weekday, reported in Ref. [41].

Figure 18. Load profile of considered house on a typical summer weekend, reported in Ref. [41].

Two optimal configurations are shown in Table 4; these As presented in Table 4, the first scenario is a hybrid system
are determined by HOMER software in terms of NPC consisting of two wind turbines, one 80 kW PV module, 72 bat-
and COE. teries and one 70 kW converter. The NPC of this scenario is
Scenario I: PV-Wind-Battery-Converter. $676,500 and its COE is 0.274 $/kWh. This system has an initial

10 Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep

cost of $444 and an annual O&M cost of $4500. According to Scenario II: PV-Battery-Converter.
the results obtained in this study, this scenario is most eco- In this scenario, the energy is provided by solar panels. The
nomically desirable. Figure 19 illustrates the energy produced total NPC of the system and O&M costs are $678,700 and
by the wind turbine and PV. The NPC breakdown of the first 3950 $/yr, respectively. The investment cost is equal to
scenario is presented in Table 5. $474,700. As listed in Table 4, the components of this system
are one 90 kW solar panel, 96 batteries and one 65 kW con-
Table 3. Validation results. verter. The NPC breakdown of this scenario is presented in
Table 6. According to this table, the maximum cost is related to
Reference Simulation Simulation the capital cost and due to not using the diesel generator the
load (W) load (W) error (%) fuel cost is zero.
WeekDay 31,100 30767.853 1.06 Note that the purpose of this study is to select a wind-
WeekEnd 30,600 30671.744 0.23 solar hybrid system in order to combine these two systems
to cover their shortcomings. Since the first scenario is

Table 4. Optimization results.

Component Cost
Number of Number of Converter Initial capital Operating Total COE
PV (kW) wind turbines batteries (kW) cost ($) cost ($/yr) NPC ($) ($/kWh)
80 2 72 70 444,050 4459 676,345 0.274
90 – 96 65 474,675 3915 678,647 0.275

Figure 19. Monthly average production of PV-Wind system (Scenario I). [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

Table 5. Net present cost breakdown of scenario I.

Component Capital ($) Replacement ($) O&M ($) Fuel ($) Salvage ($) Total ($)
PV 296,000 0 104,202 0 0 400,202
Generic 20kW 30,000 61,369 52,101 0 −59,483 83,987
Hoppecke 24 oPzS 3000 79,200 220,929 37,513 0 −214,139 123,502
Converter 38,850 67,236 0 0 −37,432 68,654
System 444,050 349,535 193,815 0 −311,055 676,345

Table 6. Net present cost breakdown for scenario II.

Component Capital ($) Replacement ($) O&M ($) Fuel ($) Salvage ($) Total ($)
PV 333,000 0 117,227 0 0 450,227
Hoppecke 24 oPzS 3000 105,600 294,572 50,017 0 −285,519 164,670
Converter 36,075 62,434 0 0 −34,759 63,750
System 474,675 357,006 167,243 0 −320,275 678,647

Table 7. Net present cost breakdown system with diesel generator.

Component Capital ($) Replacement ($) O&M ($) Fuel ($) Salvage ($) Total ($)
Generator 65,000 194,874 68,914 217,770 −559 545,998
System 65,000 194,874 68,914 217,770 −559 545,998

Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep 11


Figure 20. Configuration of system with diesel generator.
[Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Table 8. Environmental emissions during system lifetime
(25 yr).
Pollutant Emission mass (kg)
Carbon dioxide 5,922,075
Carbon monoxide 14,625
Unburned hydrocarbon 1620
Particulate matter 1102.5
Sulfur dioxide 11,900
Nitrogen oxides 130,425
economically feasible, a wind-solar hybrid system is
selected to provide the energy demand of the residential
building.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATION
Iran’s pollution has steadily increased in recent years,
claiming lives and damaging environment, and Tehran is
known for its high levels of air pollutants. In some days, the
result is a choking, thick haze that blankets the city, often
obscuring the city’s prominent landmarks. Children, elderly
people and those with weak lungs are most affected by the
pollution. Iran is ranked seventh worldwide for pollutant emis-
sions into the air [47].
To study the positive impacts of a hybrid renewable energy
system on the environment and the reduction of greenhouse
gas emissions, it is assumed that the energy required to meet
the load is initially considered to be provided by a diesel gen-
erator. The system is shown in the Figure 20. Based on a study
[21], the diesel price is 0.4 $ per liter in Iran. The initial and
replacement costs of a diesel generator are assumed to be
$1000 and $900, respectively [20]. The maintenance costs are
0.02 $ per hour. The lifetime of the diesel generator is taken to
be 15,000 h. The input values considered in the HOMER soft-
ware are 40, 50, 55, 60, 65, and 70 kW. Then the best alterna-
tive is selected.
In order to use diesel generator to provide energy, its
capacity is determined according to the peak load consump-
tion. So, 65 kW diesel generator will be used to supply this
building load demand. As presented in Table 7, the total NPC
of this system and O&M costs are $546,000 and 68,900$/yr,
respectively. This system has an initial cost of $65,000 and
COE of 1.901$/kWh. its fuel cost is equal to $217,770.
12
The amounts of pollutants emitted by considering only the
diesel system are listed in Table 8. The emission of GHGs is
taken to have a penalty cost of $20 per ton, based on the value
reported in Ref. [20]. Therefore, given the fact that the solar-
wind energy system produces no emissions that are harmful to
the environment, the utilization of renewable energy sources for
meeting the energy consumption of the selected building can
effectively mitigate the release of pollutant emissions into the
atmosphere. Hence, the results of this study indicate that the
usage of renewable systems which is a change to cleaner
sources of energy would reduce the emissions of air pollutants,
and thus reduce concerns about air pollution, while also reduc-
ing emissions of the GHGs having the largest effects on climate.
As listed in the Table 8, the total amount of pollutants
released during the system lifetime is about 6082 tons; this
amount of emission has a penalty cost of $121,600. Consider-
ing the penalty costs, the utilization of hybrid systems may
even offer more economic benefits.
On the other hand, the economic survey shows that, the
NPC of the energy system using diesel generator and the system
using wind and solar sources are $546,000 and $676,500 respec-
tively. It may appear that the use of fossil fuels is economically
feasible; however, Iran’s energy conservation program is mov-
ing toward the removing fossil fuel subsidy, so renewable
energy sources will be far more preferred in the near future.
According to the latest statistics, the number of houses in Teh-
ran is about 3 million and 300 thousand [48]. After applying the
statistical information obtained in this article, each unit of residen-
tial houses emits approximately 1220 ton of pollutants. Assuming
that the energy demand of existing houses in Tehran is being pro-
vided mainly by using renewable energies, it will substantially mit-
igate large amount of these pollutants to be emitted into the air.
CONCLUSIONS
In this article, a five-story residential building is simulated
using DesignBuilder software for calculating the building
energy demand at different times and different levels of con-
sumption, permitted an optimal renewable energy system to
be designed for meeting the energy demands of the building.
The results of analyses of hybrid renewable energy systems
also show that using these systems to provide energy for the
buildings is advantageous in many respects. These systems
can significantly improve environmental performance by sub-
stantially reducing the amounts of greenhouse gas and other
air pollutants. Additionally, two optimal hybrid systems have
been found by HOMER in terms of NPC and COE. The opti-
mum system with the minimum NPC and COE of $676,500 and
0.274 $/kWh, respectively, consists of two wind turbines,
80 kW solar panel and 72 batteries. The second optimal sys-
tem, with NPC of $678,700 and COE of 0.275 $/kWh, is com-
posed of 90 kW solar panel and 96 batteries. Using the
renewable energy systems prevents 6082 tons of pollutants to
enter to the air and also, cost savings of $121,600 over 25-year
system lifetime. Overall, the air pollution emitted by the usage
of fossil fuel is linked with premature death, and a host of
other serious environmental problems. Most of these negative
health and environmental impacts come from air pollution that
clean energy technologies simply do not produce.
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