OPTIMIZATION AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NON-RENEWABLE AND RENEWABLE SYSTEM

A Hybrid Renewable Energy System (HRES) for rural electrification is a better solution to reduce environmental pollution. Renewable energy systems offer power supply to those areas where grid electricity is not feasible or cost of grid extension is relatively large. The main objective of this paper is to compare a non-renewable system with a renewable energy system for remotely located site in Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu. The current system is operated using a diesel generator and batteries and the proposed system integrates a hybrid combination of wind and solar energy system into existing diesel generator and battery system to serve the same load. This paper also performs cost optimization of the proposed system and the optimal cost analysis of HRES is done using Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER). The HOMER is a energy modelling software for designing and analyzing hybrid power systems, which contain a combination of conventional generators, wind turbines, solar photovoltaic's, hydropower, batteries, fuel cells, hydropower, biomass and other inputs.