Reliable cost-efficient integration of pumped hydro storage in islanded hybrid microgrid for optimum decarbonization

The employment of renewable energy-based resources is growing rapidly, necessitating the use of energy storage technologies to effectively manage their intermittent power generation. This study proposes an optimal planning for various distributed generators in a microgrid system. The objective is to size and operate a reliable hybrid islanded microgrid with minimum total system operational cost. To determine the optimal energy management and size of each unit, the problem is formulated applying Particle Swarm Optimization methodology utilizing sets of historical data such as wind speed, solar irradiation, and load demand on an hourly basis. With the proposed methodology, the capacities of photovoltaic, wind turbine, pumped hydro storage, and fuel cell are optimized as 1300 kW, 1125 kW, 400 kW, and 1590 kW, respectively. The obtained results concluded that optimum size reduces 14.85 % and 22.6 % in the fuel cell consumption in summer and fall respectively. Furthermore, the amount of CO2 emission is reduced by 10.6 ton in those mentioned seasons. The results obtained indicate that the proposed system having cost of energy (COE) of 0.2961 ($/kWh), and an excess energy of 196.208 MWh. An effectiveness analysis highlights the significant impact of incorporating pumped hydro storage, increasing the reliability index by 50.9 %. •The simultaneous optimum planning and energy operating strategy in the hybrid microgrid system is considered.•Reliable cost-efficient methodology is developed for optimizing the size of DGs in the system.•Utilizing of the FC units as a renewable energy back up generation to satisfy the electrical demands.•Utilizing of PHS as an energy storage system to enhance the microgrid performance.•Considering the interruption of system loads penalty when the demands are not satisfied.