Techno-economic study of off-grid hybrid photovoltaic/battery and photovoltaic/battery/fuel cell power systems in Kunming, China

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study is to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of stand-alone hybrid photovoltaic (PV)/battery and PV/battery/fuel cell (FC) power systems for a community center comprising 100 households in Kunming by using the Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) software. HOMER is used to define the optimum sizing and techno-economic feasibility of the system equipment based on the geographical and meteorological data of the study region. In this study, different hybrid power systems are analyzed to select the optimum energy system while considering total net present cost (NPC) and levelized cost of energy (COE). The results showed that the optimal hybrid PV/battery system comprised 500 kW PV modules, 1200 7.6-kWh battery units, and 500 kW power converters. The proposed system has an initial cost of $6,670,000, an annual operating cost of $82,763/yr, a total NPC of $7,727,992, and a levelized COE of $1.536/kWh. While the PV/battery/FC power system is possible, the cost increases were due to the investment cost of the FC system. The optimal PV/battery/FC system has an initial cost of $6,763,000, an annual operating cost of $82,312/yr, a total NPC of $7,815,223, and a levelized COE of $1.553/kWh.

KEYWORDS:

• Hybrid power system
• solar energy
• fuel cell
• electrolyzer
• hydrogen
• total net present cost
• levelized cost of energy

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions to improve the quality of the paper. The author is also grateful to the scientific research project of Nanjing Xiaozhuang University (No.2017NXY41) and the talent introduction project of Nanjing Xiaozhuang University (No. 4177020).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the the scientific research project of Nanjing Xiaozhuang University [No.2017NXY41]; and the talent introduction project of Nanjing Xiaozhuang University [No. 4177020];