Optimization strategy for element sizing in hybrid power systems

This paper presents a procedure to evaluate the optimal element sizing of hybrid power systems. In order to generalize the problem, this work exploits the "energy hub" formulation previously presented in the literature, defining an energy hub as an interface among energy producers, consumers and the transportation infrastructure. The resulting optimization minimizes an objective function which is based on costs and efficiencies of the system elements, while taking into account the hub model, energy and power constraints and estimated operational conditions, such as energy prices. input power flow availability and output energy demand. The resulting optimal architecture also constitutes a framework for further real-time control designs. Moreover, an example of a hybrid storage system is considered. In particular, the architecture of a hybrid plant incorporating a wind generator, batteries and intermediate hydrogen storage is optimized, based oil real wind data and averaged residential demands, also taking into account possible estimation errors. The hydrogen system integrates an electrolyzer, a fuel cell stack and hydrogen tanks. The resulting optimal cost of such hybrid power plant is compared with the equivalent hydrogen-only and battery-only systems, showing improvements in investment costs of almost 30% in the worst case. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.