Challenges with Solar/Diesel Hybrid
Industries powered by diesel generators can work to reduce their operating costs by utilizing large scale solar energy solutions.This is achieved by synchronizing the output of the solar energy solution with the diesel generator(s). The result is
- Reduced diesel consumption and CO2 emissions, and
- Hedge against diesel price increase
However, this comes with some technical challenged due to the intermittent nature of solar, mostly caused by passing clouds.
This can be resolved with using a high power, short duration (15-30 minute) Energy Storage Solution (ESS).
The image below illustrates in a simplistic form how the output of a solar energy system can be made firm
Sizing the ESS Power and Energy can be tricky. Items to focus on
- Ramp rate limit of generator (KVA/minute or %/minute)
- Solar size
- Inertia of the power system (before solar is added)
- Distance between the solar panels
Summary
Solar coupled with a generator results in
- Hedge against diesel price fluctuation
- Lower operating cost
- Low emissions
When integrating solar into your system, care should be taken:
- Generators with low ramp rates
- Solar penetration > 60% of average load
Home ESS Solution Provider: [email protected]
4 年like what our hybrid inverters done, ??
Power Manager, Renewable Energy Researcher, Climate Crisis Advocate, Solar & Wind Energy Installer.
5 年Quite instructive. To buttress your point further, my personal house was designed and built in a similar configuration with your illustrations above. THE SOLAR HOUSE EJIGBO has 63 units of 200w solar modules and 48 units of 200ah batteries. It has been running since 3rd Sep 2016 powering 6 units of 1hp, a water pump, 3 water heaters, 4 freezers, and all other home appliances. It is backed up with a 20kva Diesel generator that actually supports less than 10% of the time all year round. It has surpassed my expectation in that I have had very few issues with it to date. See link below... https://guardian.ng/technology/first-off-grid-solar-house-unveiled-in-lagos/
Microgrid Development| Renewable Energy Specialist| Developing Solutions| Business Improvement|
5 年Great write up.? However, I believe that the Scale of the load would impact on the ESS required, Moreover you might now have to integrate costly ESS just for that period that you require to maintain firm renewable capacity. It would be nice to carry out a comprehensive comparison between additional cost of ESS and the dependence on diesel generator for the period of intermittent renewable penetration. For Instance would you rather install large ESS to cater to 24hrs rainy and cloudy day that only occurs for about 2 months all year round in a location like Kano State or depend majorly on the generator output to the loads during this periods???
IT Manager Grünwattsng
5 年Get Grunwattsng solar and inverter and productive today ????
Renewable Energy Engineer and Project Manager
5 年One of the most challenging projects I worked on was a PV-genset solution, had to integrate an ATS for 2 inputs, genset and grid. From your piece, I do not think storage should be optional, it's a must for 100% BOS, smooth load/ power transfer and less down times/ fluctuations.