Optimal sizing and cost assesment of hybrid Renewable Energy Systems for Assam Engineering College

Fast depleting reserves of fossil fuels, increasing cost of fuel for conventional power generation in recent times, along with a regulatory framework to minimize the carbon footprint worldwide, the use of Renewable sources of power generation has become an inevitable reality. The paper makes a feasibility assessment of Renewable Energy System (RES) as a possible source for electrification for an education institution namely Assam Engineering College, located at Guwahati, Assam, India (26.13 °N, 91.66 °E). A combination of one or more renewable sources like photovoltaic (PV) and wind either in standalone or grid connected mode with energy storage capacity based energy systems are investigated in this paper. The objective of the study is to optimize the size and cost of renewable energy system at the selected site to meet the electrical demand of a load of 24kWh/day having a peak load of 6.5 kW. The modeling, optimization and analysis of the hybrid system is carried out using HOMER software produced by National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Colorado USA. The hybrid systems are evaluated on the basis of Net Present Cost (NPC), Levelised Cost of Energy (COE), Initial Cost, Operating Cost, and Renewable Fraction obtained on the basis of computation results. The results are favorable for the use of renewable energy based sources at the selected site with PV-Wind-Grid connected system emerging as the most economic RES with COE equal to 0.209 $/kWh.