Economic Assessment of Combination of Wind and Solar with Dual Axis Tracking and Anti-tracking for PV Panels

Decrease in capital costs, increase in life of operation, capacity factor and regularity in supply are the major factors that dictate the fixation of the levelized cost of energy for any power generation technology. The factor of intermittent supply is one of the main hurdles that prevents the proliferation of renewable forms of generation like solar and wind. The questionable figures associated capacity factor of the solar PV portfolio in certain regions also hamper its growth. This study conducts an overall economic assessment of combined solar/wind system, which is equipped with dual axis tracking/anti-tracking for PV panels. Such system promises to save the investment in capital costs. Subsequent evaluations of capacity factor have been carried out with the help of System Advisory Model (SAM) of NREL. The results are subsequently used to evaluate the overall decrease in levelized costs of energy after factoring in the change in capital costs associated with the combined system for a scale of 1 MW power generation. In conclusion the economic advantage of having solar tracking/ anti-tracking combined with wind generation at certain geographical locations is inferred.