A particle swarm optimization-based approach to achieve optimal design and operation strategy of standalone hybrid energy systems

Authors: MAHRAM GHAZVINI, ALI ABBASPOUR TEHRANI FARD, MAHMUD FOTUHI FIRUZABAD

Abstract: As a cost-effective and reliable alternative to supply remote areas, standalone hybrid energy systems (HESs) are recently under investigation to address various concerns associated with technical, financial, and environmental issues. This paper presents a comprehensive algorithm that can simultaneously optimize the component size, operation strategy, and slope of the photovoltaic panels of a standalone HES using an improved variant of particle swarm optimization (PSO), designated as the passive congregation PSO. A new operation strategy is proposed based on the set points of the control system. The optimization algorithm determines the optimal values of the set points to efficiently optimize the HES operation. The applicability and effectiveness of the proposed method are investigated through some numerical analyses performed on a practical remote area in Iran. In doing so, the proposed method is applied to various HES configurations and the results are compared with those obtained using the existing methods. Several load growth and wind speed scenarios are considered, and their impacts on the optimization results are examined.

Keywords: Hybrid energy system, optimal operation strategy, passive congregation particle swarm optimization, unit-sizing

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