Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems’ Optimisation. A Review and Extended Comparison of the Most-Used Software Tools

Kosmas A. Kavadias and Panagiotis Triantafyllou
Additional contact information
Kosmas A. Kavadias: Soft Energy Applications & Environmental Protection Laboratory, Mechanical Engineering Department, School of Engineering, University of West Attica, 12241 Egaleo-Athens, Greece
Panagiotis Triantafyllou: Soft Energy Applications & Environmental Protection Laboratory, Mechanical Engineering Department, School of Engineering, University of West Attica, 12241 Egaleo-Athens, Greece

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-28

Abstract: To help stakeholders plan, research, and develop Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems (HRES), the elaboration of numerous modelling techniques and software simulation tools has been reported. The thorough analysis of these undoubtedly complex systems is strongly correlated with the efficient utilisation of the potential of renewable energy and the meticulous development of pertinent designs. In this context, various optimisation constraints/targets have also been utilised. This specific work initially carries out a thorough review of the modelling techniques and simulation software developed in an attempt to define a commonly accepted categorisation methodology for the various existing HRES simulation methods. Moreover, the widely utilised optimisation targets are analysed in detail. Finally, it identifies the sensitivity of two commercial software tools (HOMER Pro and iHOGA) by examining nine case studies based on different wind and solar potential combinations. The results obtained by the two commercial tools are compared with the ESA Microgrid Simulator, a software developed by the Soft Energy Applications and Environmental Protection Laboratory of the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of West Attica. The evaluation of the results, based on the diversification of the renewable energy potential used as input, has led to an in-depth assessment of the deviances detected in the software tools selected.

Keywords: HRES modelling; hybrid energy systems; standalone; simulation; RES; optimisation indicators; HOMER Pro software; iHOGA software; ESA software (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/24/8268/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/24/8268/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:24:p:8268-:d:697874

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().