Techno-Economic Analysis and Optimization of an Off-Grid Hybrid Systems for Sustainable Energy Solutions

The worldwide demand for energy is increasing rapidly, especially in developing countries, raising the exhaustion of fossil fuel supplies, and highlighting critical necessity for renewable energy alternatives. This work seeks to estimate optimal hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) that utilize electricity generation, specifically tackling the issues posed by intermittent renewable energy sources (RES) through a techno-economic analysis. A prefeasibility analysis is conducted using HOMER software to address the power requirements of an Indian community. The optimization of system design relies on considerations such as minimum net present cost (NPC), reducing power expenses, and optimizing the use of RES. The findings of this study demonstrate that the most economically efficient HRES layout includes an 800-kW wind turbine (WT), a 50-kW electrolyzer, 63 No. of batteries, a 150-kW converter, and a hydrogen tank (H-tank) of 20kg. The obtained optimum design has a minimum NPC of $1.48M, a lowest cost of energy (COE) of $0.287 per kilowatt-hour, and a renewable energy fraction (REF) of 92.8%. It can deliver a reliable supply of power, meeting 90% of the daily onsite load requirement of 1625 kWh/day. The electricity at this location is exclusively derived from RES.