Optimal design of hybrid grid-connected photovoltaic/wind/battery sustainable energy system improving reliability, cost and emission

In this paper, the optimal designing framework for a grid-connected photovoltaic-wind energy system with battery storage (PV/Wind/Battery) is performed to supply an annual load considering vanadium redox battery (VRB) storage and lead-acid battery (LAB) to minimise the cost of system lifespan (CSLS) including the cost of components, cost of purchasing power from the grid and cost of CO₂ emissions and the reliability constraint is defined as energy not supplied probability (ENSP). The optimal configuration of the system is found via an artificial electric field algorithm (AEFA). The capability of the design framework with the VRB is evaluated on sizing, CSLS, ENSP and cost of energy (COE) and in achieving a reliable and economical energy system in comparison with design based on the LAB. The results demonstrated that the CSLS (0.7–1%) and COE (0.87–1.2%) are reduced and reliability (7–10%) is improved more in the grid-connected designing framework for 1% of maximum ENSP (ENSPᵐᵃˣ = 1%) in comparison with the stand-alone framework due to power purchasing capability from the grid and minimising the CO₂ emission. The results cleared that the CSLS (32.7%), and COE (32.8%) are decreased and reliability (2–4.3%) is improved more for ENSPᵐᵃˣ = 1% in system design with VRB than the system design using LAB storage due to higher depth of discharge and further efficiency. The results proved that increasing the ENSP constraint causes decreases in the CSLS and COE and enhances the reliability. The better performance of the proposed multi-criteria design framework via the AEFA is confirmed in comparison with the particle swarm optimisation (PSO) and grey wolf optimiser (GWO) to obtain the best configuration of the hybrid system with the lowest CSLS and COE and more reliability.