Integrating renewable energy sources and storage into isolated diesel generator supplied electric power systems

The integration of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar energy, into isolated power systems, supplying remote communities, offers a number of economic and environmental advantages. Energy storage systems (ESS) can be used to offset the variability of the energy supplied by renewables. This paper presents a design methodology for configuring and sizing the various components added to a diesel generator supplied electric power system. A design example is given for a remote community, including parametric studies of the economics associated with optimizing the size of battery storage, considering all the components of the system. Control options and techniques for suitable energy storage systems are presented.