Design, Sizing and Optimization of a Solar- Wind Hybrid Power System

Design, sizing and optimization of a solar-wind hybrid power system was carried out to determine its economic feasibility using Hybrid optimized model for electric renewable (HOMER) software aimed at selecting the most feasible configuration based on the net present cost to meet the load demand of 425 W for the appliances in a departmental office at Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi. The simulation results were used to develop a working prototype by sizing the four major components: the solar panels (350 W), a wind turbine (100 W), 2 battery systems of 12 V/200Ah and a charge controller (35.4 A) to regulate battery charging. The efficiencies of the wind turbine, PV solar panels and the inverter system were 48, 29.2 and 50 % respectively. The contribution of PV was 98 % and that of the wind turbine was 2 % due to low average wind speed (1.96 m/s at 15 m) from February to April. The results showed that solar energy contributed more to the charging of the inverter than the wind energy due to the high favorable solar insolation in the region. The optimized system configuration was chosen and this was based on the net present cost, levelized cost of energy and its renewable fraction respectively. The results demonstrated that the best hybrid combination consists of 0.35 kW PV Panels, 1 unit of 0.1 kW wind turbine, 2 units of deep cycle batteries (12V each/200Ah) and 1 unit of 1600 W Inverter. The prototype of the solar - wind hybrid power system based on the optimized components met the load demand for the basic appliances in the office. The results can be expanded to cover the entire department and the templates so obtained can be used generally within the University Community.