Optimal modeling of an integrated renewable energy system with battery storage for off grid electrification of remote rural area

The present study focuses an optimal modeling of an integrated renewable energy system by considering locally available different renewable energy sources namely micro hydro, solar, wind, biomass and biogas. Three decision variables, namely total active area of the PV panels, total swept area of wind turbine blades and state of charge (SOC) of battery system have been considered for optimization of proposed system. Seasonal hourly load demand have been synthesized through HOMER software based on estimated value of seasonal hourly load data. Genetic algorithm (GA) based approach has been used to minimize the total net present cost (TNPC) with ensuring system reliability. Simulation results in terms of optimal size, TNPC and cost of energy have been obtained based on two scenarios namely, device types and resources combination. Based on simulation results, three optimal models are considered for the study area, out of these, model S2 (MHG-BMG-BGG-WTG-BS) was found to be most feasible for the proposed remote area in Chamarajanagar district in Karnataka state, India. Further, optimal device types and resource combination for the proposed area have also been determined.