Optimization of PV-wind Hybrid Renewable Energy System for Rural Electrification

Rural electrification is now one of the most important objective of a developing country like India. According to Electricity Act 2003, the government of India decided to electrify all villages that were not yet electrified. To achieve this target, new hybrid renewable energy system is necessary in the rural area where the energy consumption pattern is low due to very limited number of end use devices. The socio-economic psychology also restricts them to change their lifestyle. So without disturbing the balance, the lone solution is environmental planning and modeling. This paper presents the simulation and optimization of hybrid PV-Wind renewable energy system. The research tool used for simulation and optimization is the Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) developed by National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Sensitivity analysis is also carried out which helps to assess the effect of uncertainty or changes in the variables and finding the most optimal solution for hybrid energy system.