Modeling and Control Strategy of a Hybrid PV/Wind/Engine/Battery System to Provide Electricity and Drinkable Water for Remote Applications

In this paper a small-scale energy system called emergency container is presented. This container has lots of applications and can be designed as stationary solution in remote areas such as rural electrification and a mobile solution for disaster situation, military purposes and exploration teams. In this study the container is a hybrid PV/wind/engine energy system that is designed to provide electricity and drinkable water for 1000 person in disaster situations. A transient model implemented in Transient Simulation System (TRNSYS) program is developed and performance of the system during one-year operation for two locations (Nairobi in Kenya and Nyala in Sudan) with relatively high solar insolation is analyzed. The result of the model is significantly important in order to choose the right size of the different components. Due to the fluctuations of solar and wind energy as well as the importance of the battery life cycle, there is a need to have a smart power management and an appropriate fast response control system. In order to achieve it and to fulfill the energy demand as much as possible through renewable energies, a dispatch strategy is introduced and a control algorithm is applied to the model. This control algorithm has increased system reliability and power availability. The transient simulation shows that the share of power generation by solar energy is 63% and 80% and the share of wind power is 27% and 12% in Nairobi and Nyala respectively. It means that most of the energy demand (around 90%) can be covered by renewable energy. This results in significant mitigation of environmental issues compared to using only diesel engine that is a common solution in disaster situations.