Optimization with excess electricity management of a PV, energy storage and diesel generator hybrid system using HOMER Pro software

A standalone microgrid power system is proposed to electrify a small agricultural community in Palestinian territories. The load includes residential and water pumping. The community comprises about 30 households with some service buildings in addition to the water pumping system. The average load energy demand is 300 kWh/day and the average power demand is 12.5 kW. The average energy demand for water pumping is 49 kWh/day. The region has abundant solar radiation potential with a daily average of 5.6 kWh/m2 . The optimum design was achieved using HOMERPro software. It took into consideration real solar radiation, electrical demand profile for the community and water pumping, and market cost of all equipment. The results showed that the best hybrid system among all feasible configurations is a PV with energy storage combined with a diesel generator. The net present cost of the system is USD 636,150 and the cost of energy (COE) produced is USD 0.438/kWh. Sensitivity analysis is considered to study the impact of variations in PV cost, diesel fuel price, and maximum annual capacity shortages (MACS), the results showed that MACS has no effects. Energy management procedure is followed to reduce the excess electricity from 10.6% to 6.24%. This reduces COE from 0.438 to USD 0.416/kWh.