Optimal energy management of an isolated electric Tuk-Tuk charging station powered by hybrid renewable systems

Charging/discharging of a battery bank as well as its depth of discharge will influence its life span. Frequent discharge will contribute to a reduced life cycle; conversely minimal usage will prolong its life cycle. This paper investigates the possibilities of controlling and optimising the daily operation of a standalone hybrid renewable energy system by maximising the usage of the renewable resources whilst minimising the utilisation of the battery bank for supplying the required energy at an electric Tuk-Tuk charging station without any load rejection. The main objective is to develop an optimisation algorithm which will be employed to ensure that the energy stored in the battery banks is therefore utilised as a last resort when all means of supplying energy have been exhausted. The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed control strategy is performed and simulated using fmincon in a Matlab environment. The results for different scenarios are presented and analysed for different potential sites in South Africa where the charging stations can be implemented.