Economic Modeling of Hybrid Renewable Energy System: A Case Study in Saudi Arabia

Renewable energy has great potential as an alternative source to supply electricity to the growing communities of modern world. However, the intermittent availability of renewable resources requires the use of hybrid systems so that the resources complement each other. This paper addresses the economic sizing of hybrid renewable energy using three sites of Saudi Arabia as a case study. A methodology is developed to determine the best wind turbine, WT type out of 140 wind turbines from different manufacturers and the best-fit WT for a site to maximize energy production. Similarly, the best-fit WT is matched with the best-fit PV arrays in a determined penetration ratio to meet the load requirements of the sites under study. A detailed economic methodology to obtain the price of kWh has been introduced. A new computer program has been introduced to handle the calculation of the whole system, and to select the best option for installing the hybrid renewable energy system.