Economic feasibility studies on wind-biomasssolar based microgid power system through a modified differential evolution technique

An economic evaluation of a network of distributed energy resources (DERs) forming an autonomous power delivery system in an Indian scenario has been made. The mathematical analysis is based on the application of a modified differential evolution (MDE) algorithm. The total annual costs for the power delivery networks involving different types of consumers, organized into a microgrid and sharing power from a combination of DERs, battery have been evaluated. The DERs studied in this work are solar module (SPS), wind-turbine (WT) and biomass gassifier units (BMGU). To meet the consumption, the DERs are supported by a battery electrical storage system (BESS) and the provision to purchase/sale of power from/ to an utility connected to the microgrid. Two different sets of hybrid DERs namely WT-BMGU and SPS-BMGU are compared for the economic performance through the evaluation of the corresponding optimal power operation conditions. The results using a combination of SPS and BMGU as DERs are found to be more cost competitive. A reduction of 5.6 % in the annual cost is obtained using solar photovoltaic and biomass gassifier unit to that using wind-turbine and biomass gassifier unit for the same load demand in case of microgrid operation.