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Resource optimization is a major factor in the assessment of the effectiveness of renewable energy systems. Various methods have been utilized by different researchers in planning and sizing the grid-connected PV systems. This paper analyzes the optimal photovoltaic (PV) array and inverter sizes for a grid-connected PV system. Unmet load, excess electricity, fraction of renewable electricity, net present cost (NPC) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions percentage are considered in order to obtain optimal sizing of the grid-connected PV system. An optimum result, with unmet load and excess electricity of 0%, for serving electricity in Makkah, Saudi Arabia is achieved with the PV inverter size ratio of R = 1 with minimized CO 2 emissions. However, inverter size can be downsized to 68% of the PV nominal power to reduce the inverter cost, and hence decrease the total NPC of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Off-grid hybrid energy systems (HESs) have become more cost-effective and reliable than single-source systems for the electrification of rural areas. This paper presents a techno-economic and environmental analysis of different hybrid systems to supply electricity to a typical Iraqi rural village. The HOMER software is utilized for the optimization of the systems using the multi-year module, which has been overlooked in the literature thus far. The analysis shows that the PV/hydro/diesel/battery HES is the most economical option with a net present cost (NPC) of $113201, in addition to having acceptable technical and environmental performance levels. Throughout the project's 20 year lifetime, PV electricity production is reduced by 9.1% while diesel electricity production, CO 2 emissions and served load are increased by 90.8%, 91.7% and 8.8%, respectively. The NPC for the multi-year module shows an increment of 22.5% in comparison with that of the single year module. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis of some rarely reported parameters, such as water pipe losses, generator minimum load, battery roundtrip efficiency, battery setpoint state of charge, capacity shortage, PV capital cost multiplier and multi-year, demonstrated that variations in these parameters have significant effects on the system power flow and its economic analysis. Highlights • PV/hydro/diesel/battery hybrid energy systems are analyzed for different scenarios. • HOMER software is employed for the analysis using multi-year module. • Techno-economic and environmental performance of different systems are discussed. • Sensitivity analysis considering variations in several parameters is conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HOMER software is a powerful tool for modeling and optimization of hybrid energy system (HES). The main two default control strategies in HOMER are load following (LF) and cycle charging (CC) strategies. In these strategies, the decision to use the generator or battery at each time step is made based on the lowest-cost choice. Therefore, these strategies are difficult to be implemented in practice especially in countries with continuous fuel price fluctuations. In this study, a new dispatch strategy based on HOMER-MATLAB Link Controller for an isolated wind/diesel/battery HES is proposed to overcome the limitations of the default HOMER strategies. A detailed technical, economic, and greenhouse gas emission analysis is presented for the system under LF, CC, and the proposed dispatch strategies. Besides offering more realistic optimization, the results show that the proposed strategy offers the best economic and environmental performance with a net present cost of $56473 and annual CO 2 emissions of 6838 kg. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis reveals that the proposed strategy is not affected by the fuel price variation, in opposite to LF, and CC strategies which is affected dramatically by this variation. The findings are of paramount importance towards more realistic and efficient energy management strategies. • A new dispatch strategy for wind/diesel/battery hybrid energy systems using HOMER-MATLAB Link Controller is proposed. • Overcome HOMER default strategies limitation in dealing with continuous fuel price fluctuations. • The proposed strategy is compared with HOMER default strategies in terms of techno-economic and environmental performance. • Sensitivity analysis is conducted by considering variations in critical parameters. • The proposed strategy is more realistic and has better economic and environmental performance than HOMER default strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iraq has massive potential for electricity generation from solar energy. Because the country currently suffers from daily electricity shortages, a grid-connected PV system is an unsuitable option since the PV cannot serve the load during the electricity blackouts. This paper aims to analyze the techno-economic and environmental feasibility of a solar PV microgrid system which is able to supply the load during both grid availability and outage periods. A household in Baghdad was selected as a case study. HOMER software was used to carry out the overall analysis using five different control strategies. The results indicated that the most economical configuration was achieved by allowing the grid to charge the batteries at all rates, with a net present cost (NPC) of $29,713. A sustainability assessment revealed that preventing the grid from charging the battery resulted in the highest renewable fraction and the lowest CO 2 emissions with 64.9% and 4533 kg/year, respectively. Furthermore, inserting a diesel generator to an economically optimized system was found to reduce the NPC by 11.6%, while increasing the CO 2 emissions by 32.7%. This study showed that implementing this sort of project can provide clean, economical, and continuous electricity production in countries with daily blackouts. • A PV microgrid energy solution by considering the grid blackouts is investigated for a case study in Iraq. • 5 different control strategies are proposed and examined. • HOMER software is used as a tool to determine the optimum configuration. • Techno-economic and environmental analysis is carried out for the proposed system. • Sensitivity analysis is conducted considering variations in some important parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]