Power balancing possibilities for a small wind-PV panel hybrid system for a nearly autonomous unit consumer

Abstract

Wind is, compared to solar irradiation, a highly stochastic energy source. Nevertheless, both are usable (to some degree) almost everywhere and therefore are very convenient energy sources. There are several possible configurations for a system with renewable energy sources, for example standalone and grid connected. In the current paper we estimate a small wind-PVpanel hybrid system connected to the grid, with or without storage equipment. It is important to find correlation between the rated capacities of wind and solar PV equipment. Besides, sizing storage equipment is important, as it is expensive. The main goal of estimation is minimizing the amount of electrical energy from the grid by using the minimal amount of storage equipment. In the calculations, the weather data acquired from meteorological databases (hourly time series data over 6 years from several locations), a 1 kW unit consumer, normalised wind generators, standard PV-panels and batteries are used.