Optimal Planning of Nuclear-Renewable Micro-Hybrid Energy System by Particle Swarm Optimization

To minimize the anticipated shocks to economic, environmental, and social systems for developing and least developed countries, the reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions is mandatory to a large extend. The nuclear-renewable integrated system is proficient in optimal energy distribution to multiple production schemes to reduce GHG emissions and maximize profit. This paper addresses the hybridization of the micronuclear reactor and Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) Energy Sources (RESs) to develop a flexible, cost-effective, sustainable, and resilient off-grid Hybrid Energy System (HES). The paper presents three types of hybridization methods, termed “Direct Coupling,” “Single Resource and Multiple products-based Coupling,” and “Multiple Resources and Multiple products-based Coupling.” The hybridization techniques are used to plan and identify the most efficient Nuclear-Renewable Micro-Hybrid Energy System (N-R MHES). The sizing, performance, and characterization of N-R MHES solely depend on the RES and load characteristics' availability. Based on proposed hybridization techniques, mathematical modeling of N-R MHES's economy is carried out in the MATLAB environment. An artificial intelligence optimization algorithm, namely Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), is used to minimize the Net Present Cost (NPC) and achieve the optimal system configurations of different N-R MHESs. The simulation results determine that “Multiple Resources and Multiple Products-based N-R MHES” provides around 1.8 times and 1.3 times lower NPC than “Single Resource and Multiple products-based Coupling” and “Multiple Resources and Multiple products-based Coupling,” respectively, with an acceptable margin of reliability. A sensitivity analysis has also been conducted in this paper to strengthen the findings of the study.