Techno-economic modelling of hybrid energy system to overcome the load shedding problem: A case study of Pakistan

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 17; no. 4; p. e0266660
• Main Authors: Bakht, Muhammad Paend, Salam, Zainal, Bhatti, Abdul Rauf, Ullah Sheikh, Usman, Khan, Nuzhat, Anjum, Waqas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 26.04.2022; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Algorithms; Batteries; Biology and Life Sciences; Case reports; Diesel generators; Economic models; Economics; Electric generators; Electric power; Electric power generation; Electric Power Supplies; Electric power systems; Electrical engineering; Electrical loads; Electricity; Electricity distribution; Electricity pricing; Energy; Energy storage; Engineering and Technology; Feasibility studies; Hybrid systems; Irradiance; Load dispatching; Load shedding; Modelling; Optimization; Optimization techniques; Pakistan; Particle swarm optimization; People and Places; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaics; Physical Sciences; Power supply; Properties; Reproducibility of Results; Residential communities; Shortages; Social Sciences; Swarm intelligence; Uninterruptible power supplies; Pakistan; Quetta Pakistan; Malaysia
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266660

This paper demonstrates the application of hybrid energy system (HES) that comprises of photovoltaic (PV) array, battery storage system (BSS) and stand-by diesel generator (DGen) to mitigate the problem of load shedding. The main work involves techno-economic modelling to optimize the size of HES such that the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is minimized. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is used to determine the optimum size of the components (PV, BSS). Simulations are performed in MATLAB using real dataset of irradiance, temperature and load shedding schedule of the small residential community situated in the city of Quetta, Pakistan. The LCOE for the HES system under study is 8.32 cents/kWh—which is lower than the conventional load shedding solution, namely the uninterruptable power supply (UPS) (13.06 cents/kWh) and diesel and generator system (29.19 cents/kWh). In fact, the LCOE of the HRES is lower than the grid electricity price of Pakistan (9.3 cents/kWh). Besides that, the HES alleviates the grid burden by 47.9% and 13.1% compared to the solution using the UPS and generator, respectively. The outcomes of the study suggests that HES is able to improve reliability and availability of electric power for regions that is affected by the load shedding issue.