2011 International Conference on Alternative Energy in Developing Countries and Emerging Economies
- 242 -
million baht over the lifetime of the project, compared to
a diesel-only option providing the same level of electri-
city service. The diesel-only option produces 426 tons of
CO
2
per year, whereas the optimized hybrid system
produces only 232 tons of CO
2
IV. C
ONCLUSIONS
per year.
This study recommends using the TRNSYS
simulation program for the minimization of the objective
function that is evaluated by the GenOpt optimization
program to find the optimum combination of the stand-
alone hybrid power system. The linking of these existing
programs provides an advantage in solving the problem.
The result shows that The PSO on the mesh algorithm
achieved the best solution, but required just a few
seconds to come up with the above results (where the
number of generations in the algorithm algorithm is 46).
The optimal system for Koh Mak Noi village is a
PV/diesel generator/battery hybrid system (no wind
turbine). This system consists of 56 kWp of a PV array,
100 kW of diesel generator, 302 kWh of batteries and 20
kW of bi-directional inverters with a life cycle cost of
60.7 million baht. It is thus believed that the present
method will decrease the time required by the design
engineers to find the optimum solution and in many cases
to obtain a solution which can not be easily obtained by
traditional trial-and-error methods which in most cases
depend on the intuition of the engineers or on modeling
programs. Additionally, this optimizations method uses
heuristic algorithms that do not require any vector
gradient calculations. Therefore, the hybrid power system
can be modeled with a high degree of accuracy, while
still keeping computation time at an acceptable level.
A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The researchers are grateful to the Energy Policy and
Planning Office (EPPO) of the Ministry of Energy and
the Royal Thai Government for their financial suppo rt in
conducting this study. We would also like to extend our
sincere thanks to Dr. Jompob Weawsak, Thaksin
University, Thailand, for his support on TRNSYS.
R
EFERENCES
[1] T. Suwannakum, “Mini-Grid System for Rural
Electrification in the Greater Mekong Sub-Regional
Countries”,
Dr.Ing. Dissertation
, Faculty of Electrical
Engineering/Computer Science, University of Kassel,
2007.
[2] Chris Greacen , S.P., Tawatchai Suwannakum, 2007,
Renewable Energy Options on Islands in the Andaman
Sea
, Suthep Printing, Chiang Mai, Thailand, pp. 32-36.
[3] Diaf, S., et al., 2008, "Design and techno-economical
optimization for hybrid PV/wind system under various
meteorological conditions",
Applied Energy
, Vol. 85, No.
10, pp. 968-987.
[4] S.A. Klein, 2007, W.A.B., J.W. Mitchell, et al., “TRNSYS
16 a transient system simulation program” [Online],
Available:
edu/trnsys
[2011, January].
[5] Wetter, M., 2004, GenOpt: Generic Optimization Program
User Manual Version 2.0.0 [Online], Available:
[2011, January].
[6] Usa Boonbumroong, Naris Pratinthong, Sirichai Thepa,
Tawatchai Suwannakum, Dokrak Pong-chawee, Chaya
Jivacate, Wimolsiri Pridasawas, Suvit tia, 2009, “Use
TRNSYS for modeling and simulation of 3-phase AC-
couple island grid systems”,
Proceedings on The World
Renewable Energy Congress 2009-Asia (WREC 2009-
Asia)
, Bangkok, Thailand, May 19-22, 2009.
