Hybrid solar wind diesel power generation system

There are many problems posed by conventional energy such as oil supply insecurity, extreme pollution, and climate change risks due to fossil fuel burning. Therefore, looking for alternative non-conventional energy resources has become an urgent matter. One of the most popular non-conventional power resources are solar energy power plants which convert the solar energy or solar heat to electricity. Yet, the disadvantage is that it does not work when there is cloudy or rainy weather. This has created the need to combine solar energy with wind energy to obtain a solid power source known as a hybrid solar wind power generation system. This paper proposes the modification of a hybrid solar-wind power generation system in which the flow of power from different sources is monitored and controlled by using a wireless distant monitoring station and microcontroller. In addition to solar panels and wind turbines, a backup stand-by diesel engine is used to supply power only when there is a shortage in the power supply. There are two main advantages of the proposed system in this study compared to others. First, the energy of the proposed system is used wisely and efficiently by monitoring the load power and the available renewable energy to define the quantity of needed power and to select the best available source. Secondly, additional batteries are used as a dumped load in the proposed system, which can be used if there is a shortage in the renewable energy source to minimize the usage of the diesel engine. In addition, a wireless monitoring system will be used to help in self-troubleshooting and a fast alarm system, which will minimize maintenance efforts. The simulation of the control algorithm implemented by the microcontroller shows the efficiency and the applicability of the proposed system. To verify the implementation of the proposed system, a prototype is assembled in the labs of Electrical and Computer Engineering department in Effat University, Jeddah, KSA. The proposed system offers efficient features in the area of smart grid. Fig. 1 shows a schematic for the hardware block Diagram used in this research.