Thesis Title
OPTIMIZATION OF SMALL-SCALE WIND TURBINES SYSTEM CONSIDERING EXTERNALITES |
Awarding University and Year
Faculty of Engineering- Fayoum University-2014 |
Abstract
This research is directed to study the technical and economic performance of wind- based energy generating system supplying a remote small community using simulation. The electrical energy is to cater for the basic needs of a small community. The study takes into consideration the environmental impact of wind energy convertors.
First, site data and wind speeds are analyzed and modeled using Weibull distribution. Daily load pattern is then estimated based on assumptions concerned with community size and its standard of living. Choosing a measure of the performance as the percentage of power shortage and an economic criterion as Net Present Cost (NPC), a software simulation package was selected. The system life time is taken equal to wind turbine life time and other technical and economic parameters are defined to estimate the feasibility of the hybrid renewable energy system under study. At the first stage of experimentation a wind/ battery (W/B) system was selected to supply the load at Ras Sudr and Siwa Oasis sites. For Ras Sudr site, the COE generated was found to be 0.86 $/kWh with recorded allowable power shortage of 12%. As for Siwa case the COE is 1.54 $/kW. As the COE is very high it is suggested to include a diesel generator in the system. Selecting the major factors, wind turbine & diesel engine rated powers, converter size, and storage battery capacity, a set of preliminary experiments were performed to define their applicable rang based on an acceptable percentage power shortage. Taking into consideration two other important factors; fuel price and site average wind speed, a set of simulation experiments were conducted. Using HOMER software, several simulation-runs; for different system configurations, were performed for the two case studies mentioned earlier; Ras Sudr and Siwa Oasis. The results were analyzed to select the optimum system for each case. Additional runs were conducted to test the sensitivity of the optimization results (NPC and COE) to the change in the most significant factors; site average wind speed and diesel fuel price. The results lead to the conclusion that wind/diesel/battery (W/D/B) systems are economical source of energy for the assumed community sites as the price of system generated electricity is about 0.308 $/kWh. W/D/B systems are more economical than W/B or diesel alone systems, as the COE is 0.86 $/kWh for W/B and 0.357 $/kWh for diesel alone. It was also found that an increase in the site average wind speed of 25% would decrease the net present cost about 20% on the average. |