Development of an Hourly Optimization Tool for Renewable Energy Systems

An hourly optimization tool is developed to select and size renewable energy (RE) systems to meet the energy needs for various federal facilities. The optimization is based on life cost analysis of various RE technologies including wind and PV systems. The developed hourly optimization tool is used to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of RE technologies using complex energy and demand charges such time-of-use (TOU) rates. The paper compares results obtained using hourly analysis instead of annual based calculations to optimize the sizing of RE systems for residential, commercial, and industrial facilities in three representative US climates.Copyright © 2010 by ASME