Optimal Load Shedding Based On Hybrid Energy Generation

Abstract

The demand for electricity is growing at an exponential rate with no corresponding increase in the electricity production, which has led to voltage collapse in many practical power systems all over the world. This has, therefore, been a serious concern to power system engineers, investors and utilities as its effect is highly detrimental to power system operation and its reliability. Consequently, in the quest for providing solutions to this problem, integration of various renewable energy sources are deployed in recent years. This paper, therefore, presents an effective approach to solving voltage collapse problems through load shedding optimization. HOMER software was deployed due to its great features of quality design and evaluation, coupled with its technicality and economical options for both standalone and grid-connected power system. The results show that the utilization of the hybrid Hydro/PV produces 91kWh annually, whereas 88.5% of the electricity is produced by hydroelectric system while the remaining 11.5% of the electricity comes from the integrated photovoltaic system with excess electricity of 84kwh per year. The results obtained, therefore, show that there is an assurance of stable electricity with the introduction of backup battery banks even with the intermittent nature of the renewable energy systems.