PhD Thesis - Energy Systems Research Unit - University of Strathclyde

3.2.2 Generic Programs
A more generic approach to energy system design is described by Castro et al.
[3]. This easy-to-use program allows the scenario-based assessment of
electricity supply systems that contain both renewable and conventional power
plants, for any area, provided climate data is available. The renewable
technologies considered are PV and wind, with storage being provided in the
form of pumped hydro. After the demand and supply have been matched, and
the use of storage considered, the output of this program is a series of graphs
showing the electrical generation outputs, demand and supply excesses, and the
profile of use of the pumped hydro scheme. The suitability and optimum sizing
of the required plants may be ascertained by trying different supply scenarios.
This is also the case with the system described by Bonanno et al. [4], which can
analyse systems containing wind turbines, PV arrays, batteries and diesel
generators. Again, different simulations need to be run in order to compare the
outputs of different system configurations, and the output of this program is in
the form of a graph of supply deficit and an amount of fuel used.
Chedid et al. [5,6] describe a system that analyses the reliability and costs of a
renewable energy supply system that may contain wind turbines, PV arrays,
batteries, diesel generators and a grid connection. This allows different
simulations to be carried out in order to evaluate different control policies and
supply mixes. Although complex in terms of its economic analysis, the
technical analysis provided by this program is fairly basic.
ARES-II [7] is another economic based model, designed to evaluate autonomous
renewable energy systems incorporating PV arrays, wind turbines and batteries.
Here, a factor indicating the level of autonomy of a chosen system is calculated
using weather data and descriptive component parameters, and the level of
autonomy attainable within a given budget may be arrived at through iteration.
This economic based model is particularly suited to smaller scale projects, and
provides a more in-depth technical analysis.
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