Design and optimal sizing of hybrid PV/wind/diesel system with battery storage by using DIRECT search algorithm

This paper focuses on the development of a methodology for sizing and optimization of four hybrid systems (PV/wind/diesel/battery, PV/wind/diesel, PV/diesel/battery and wind/diesel/battery). This approach makes use of the Dividing RECTangles (DIRECT) algorithm to suggest, among a list of commercially available system devices, the optimal numbers and types of system components ensuring that the total cost objective function is minimized. These four hybrid systems are assumed to be installed at the city of Le Havre (France), with the collection of hourly environment data (solar radiation, wind speed and ambient temperature) for a period of 5-year. Finally, an impact of optimum system configuration on system performance are compared and discussed in the case studied.