A Cost Effective Operation Scheduling of a Solar PV-Biogas-Wind-Grid Integrated Microgrid Considering PV Soiling Loss

In scheduling the operation of a renewable integrated microgrid, stochasticity of renewable sources and load is generally considered. In solar photovoltaic (SPV) source PV soiling causes substantial loss in generation which is variable and dependent on the environmental parameters like solar radiation, ambient temperature, pressure, wind speed and direction, relative humidity (RH) and precipitation at the place of the plant. This variable loss in generation, save and except radiation, needs to be considered in the operation schedule of the microgrid. In this paper, a physics-based model for PV soiling is used to predict the generation loss, on the basis of which a novel energy management system is devised. The effects of cleaning of SPV plant along with the pre-estimation and inclusion of soiling loss on the sharing of different sources in a microgrid are explicitly demonstrated, leading to a cost-effective operation of the system. The proposition is validated in the field condition in a microgrid at IIEST, Shibpur, consisting of a rooftop SPV power plant (SPVPP), wind generator, biogas generator and grid. The results obtained are presented in the text and are encouraging.