Title: Techno-economics of off-grid hybrid wind-diesel power systems for electrification of residential buildings of Yanbu - a potential industrial location of Saudi Arabia

Authors: S.M. Shaahid

Addresses: Center for Engineering Research, Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia

Abstract: The study analyses wind-speed data of Yanbu (West-Coast, Kingdom of Saudia, KSA) to assess the feasibility of hybrid wind-diesel power systems to meet the electrical load of hundred typical residential buildings (with annual demand of 3512 MWh). The wind speeds range from 3.9-4.8 m/s. The systems simulated consist of 600 kW wind machines supplemented with diesel generators. NREL's HOMER software is employed for techno-economic analysis. The results indicate that for a hybrid system comprising of 600 kW wind capacity with 1.0 MW diesel system (two 500 kW units), the wind penetration (at 50 m hub-height, with 0% annual capacity shortage) is 27%. The cost of generating energy (COE, $/kWh) from this system is 0.070 $/kWh (assuming diesel fuel price of 0.1$/liter) and the reduction in carbon emissions is 147 tons/year. The study exhibits that the operational hours of diesel gensets decrease with increase in wind farm capacity.

Keywords: hybrid wind-diesel systems; residential loads; diesel generators; carbon emissions; Saudi Arabia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGW.2018.094314

International Journal of Global Warming, 2018 Vol.16 No.1, pp.86 - 101

Received: 15 Apr 2016
Accepted: 08 Aug 2017
Published online: 29 Aug 2018 *

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