Estimation of hybrid energy generation of solar-wind tower for electric vehicle charging: A case study of Indian highway

Advances in non-conventional energy technologies and increasing fossil fuel prices along with environmental concerns have made hybrid renewable energy systems important. In view of this scenario, solar panel mounted on a vertical axis wind turbine (called as solar-wind tower) can be utilized to produce more electric energy than individual one. This solar-wind tower will be located in the space available between two opposite roads of expressways/highways. Solar-wind tower located in such a manner that the air velocity produced from driving vehicles on both sides of the road is adequate to cut the turbine blades which will produce unidirectional torque. A battery energy storage system (BESS) stores the power produced by the solar-wind tower so that it can subsequently be used for local loads and electric vehicle charging stations (EVCS) and remaining energy can be supplied to the grid. In this work, a hybrid system composed of wind and solar is designed and modelled in Simulink (MATLAB) and tested on real data of wind speed and validated by Opal-RT simulator. From the simulation result, it is estimated that total electrical power output of a single solar-wind tower is around 15 to 20 kWh in a day under the assumed conditions.