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Modeling tools for the optimal Hybrid Power Systems (HPS) supply planning and demand management have been relatively established. However, complementary tools that can provide planners, decizion-makers, energy managers and electrical as well as power engineers with graphical and visualization insights that are vital for better conceptual understanding of the problems, particularly at the onset of hybrid power systems planning and design, have just been developed over the last five years. This paper reviews the six-year development of the insight-based graphical and algebraic Process Integration (PI) tools for the optimal HPS supply planning and demand management, i.e., from its inception in the year 2011, until 2016. Known as the Power Pinch Analysis (PoPA), the tool has been among the next-generation PI techniques for resource conservation following the developments of the heat, mass, water, gas, materials, property, solid and carbon emission pinch analysis techniques. This paper discusses the progress, challenges and contributions of PoPA in promoting Renewable Energy (RE) utilization in HPS. Case studies on implementation of PoPA for HPS planning and design presented in the paper show encouraging improvement on HPS profitability and reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feed-in Tariff (FiT) has been one of the most effective policies in accelerating the development of renewable energy (RE) projects. The amount of RE electricity in the FiT purchase agreement is an important decision that has to be made by the RE project developers. They have to consider various crucial factors associated with RE system operation as well as its stochastic nature. The presented work aims to assess the sensitivity and profitability of a hybrid power system (HPS) in cases of RE system failure or shutdown. The amount of RE electricity for the FiT purchase agreement in various scenarios was determined using a novel tool called On-Grid Problem Table based on the Power Pinch Analysis (PoPA). A sensitivity table has also been introduced to assist planners to evaluate the effects of the RE system's failure on the profitability of the HPS. This table offers insights on the variance of the RE electricity. The sensitivity analysis of various possible scenarios shows that the RE projects can still provide financial benefits via the FiT, despite the losses incurred from the penalty levied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of Power Pinch Analysis (PoPA) for the design and optimisation of Hybrid Power Systems (HPS) is steadily progressing. Even though PoPA has been developed for a wide range of applications in HPS design and analysis, the economic aspect still needs more attention. Screening of various renewable energy (RE) technologies in HPS is crucial as different technologies may have different cost and efficiencies, and affect the overall system economics. This work presents a novel framework for the design of a cost-effective HPS by incorporating PoPA with a cost-screening tool known as the Systematic Hierarchical Approach for Resilient Process Screening (SHARPS). SHARPS, which was originally developed to screen various process changes options in water networks is adapted to perform economic analysis and RE technology screening in power networks. Two strategies namely substitution and intensification have been proposed, in order to customise a cost-effective HPS. The presented framework provides a handy and effective measure to visualise the trade-off between the performance and cost of various potential RE technologies for HPS. Application of the framework on a case study demonstrates that the HPS design has been successfully customised with the RE technology scheme and capacity acceptable to the owner, while meeting its targeted payback period of 10 y. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]