Abstract

This paper presents a methodology to calculate the optimal size of a stand-alone hybrid Wind- photovoltaic (PV)-Battery system. The study was interested in the influence of the wind and solar potential and the shape of the load profile on the optimal configuration. The collection of one year of wind speed, solar radiation and ambient temperature, recorded every hour in Kayar and Potou located in the northwestern of Senegal were used with the manufacturer’s specifications of a wind turbine and a photovoltaic (PV) panel to calculate the power generated by the wind turbine and the PV modules for each hour of the day. The mathematical modeling of the principal elements of the hybrid wind/PV system is presented showing the main sizing variables. The results of simulations, by the use of the load profile n°1, show that the optimal configuration was hybrid system wind/PV/batteries with 71 and 64% of energy coming from the wind turbine on the site of Potou and Kayar, respectively. The results also show that the load profile n°2 was more suited to the hourly wind and solar energy output for the two sites compared to the rest of the load profiles.

Key words: Hybrid system, load profile, modeling, optimization, genetic algorithm, solar energy, wind energy.