Optimum Design of a Hybrid Photovoltaic/Diesel/Battery/System Using Water Cycle Algorithm

This paper proposes a novel approach for the optimal design of an autonomous hybrid energy system. The hybrid system consists of photovoltaic panels, diesel generator and battery bank. The constrained water cycle algorithm is applied to minimize the cost of energy (COE) while the CO2 emission and unmet load are considered as constraints. The proposed method is tested and evaluated to find the optimal configuration of hybrid system, which is designed to electrify 25 households located in a rural Saharan village. The optimization results stated the efficiency and robustness of the proposed method. Moreover, based on the values of the unmet load and the minimum quantity of CO2 emissions constraints, an optimal solution (15 kWp of PV, 74.8 kWh of battery bank, 5 kW of DG) is chosen and analyzed. The COE of the optimal configuration is 0.45 $/kWh with a PV penetration of 97%.