Design and evaluation of hybrid wind/PV/diesel power systems for Brazilian applications

This paper presents a summary of a study centered on the design and evaluation of hybrid wind/PV/diesel systems for remote locations in Brazil. The objective of this work was to evaluate high reliability hybrid power systems that have been designed for the lowest life cycle costs. The technical and economic analysis of the hybrid wind/PV/diesel systems was carried out using HYBRID2, a computational code developed at the University of Massachusetts in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). After a summary of a generalized design procedure for such systems based on the use of this code, a systematic parametric evaluation of a representative design case for a village power system in Brazil is presented. As summarized in the paper, the performance and economic effects of key design parameters are illustrated. 8 refs., 10 figs.