Design and optimisation of stand-alone hybrid energy system for rural areas

The main aim of this work is to design and select the optimal photovoltaic based energy system that can meet the rural area irrigation and domestic load demand. The selection of optimal energy system configuration is based on modelling, economic and reliability analysis. Soft optimisation computing tools (MATLAB & HOMER Pro) and Markov reliability methods are used to identify optimal energy system configuration. The results show that the COE of PV/battery is ≠6.87, PV/diesel/battery is ≠14.29, PV/DG is ≠30.25, DG/battery is ≠34.71 and DG is ≠36.12. Energy capacity shortage is higher in PV/battery (8%) and approx. zero in PV/DG/battery system. The reduction of fuel cost from diesel only system to hybrid PV/DG/battery energy system is 42.46%. PV/DG/battery failure rate (0.01101), EENS (0.080), and LOLP (0.00000725) are minimum as compared to another configuration. The obtained results conclude that a hybrid PV/DG/battery energy system is a cost-effective, sustainable and reliable system for rural areas in India. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.