Two-level planning approach to analyze techno-economic feasibility of hybrid offshore wind-solar pv power plants

In this paper, a two-level planning framework has been proposed to assess the techno-economic feasibility of hybrid offshore wind-solar PV power plants. In the first level, the optimal layout design of hybrid offshore wind-solar PV plants is determined to maximize the generation considering wake effect and shadow loss for wind turbines (WTs) and solar PV panels, respectively. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is used to determine the optimal layout of hybrid power plants. In the second level, economic analysis has been conducted to determine the feasibility of the hybrid offshore power plants for any particular site. In this context, two scenarios have been investigated. In scenario-1, the optimal share of wind and solar generation for an offshore hybrid plant of given capacity is determined from a techno-economic point of view. On the other hand, in scenario-2, the optimal share of solar PV panels utilizing the existing electrical infrastructure of offshore wind plants has been determined. Both cases are compared on the basis of the Levelized cost of energy (LCOE), and the best alternative has been highlighted for a site in this study. Yearly data of wind speed and solar irradiation of a site near the coast of Gujarat in India has been considered to investigate the proposed approach.