Capacity design and operation planning of a hybrid PV–wind–battery–diesel power generation system in the case of Deokjeok Island

Abstract The study was conducted for optimal design of hybrid power generation system (HPS) in which diesel generators and renewable energy generators are incorporated to supply electricity to islands isolated from the national grid. In order to optimally design capacity and operation planning of the hybrid system, hourly electricity demand data is needed over 8760 h of a year. The required hourly data was simulated from monthly electricity consumption reports and EnergyPlus-based building models. An optimization method that matches hourly supply and demand may encounter problems of exhaustive computing time and ‘out of memory’ because size of associated matrices increases in multiples of 8760 × 8760. The problems were resolved with sparse matrices and the linear programming algorithm. Linear constraints necessary for the linear programming were developed in this study. According to the simulation result with the target island (Deokjeok Island), the optimization method recommends a hybrid generation system rather than a conventional diesel only system due to high fuel cost. And the capacity design reflects renewable energy resources abundant in the island. And designed operation planning illustrates good hourly matching of demand and supply over 8760 h with minimal excess electricity, which validates integrity of the proposed design method.