Performative analysis of an eccentric solar–wind combined system for steady power yield

The solar and wind power generation is stochastic in nature. Consequently, it is difficult to obtain steady power output from these renewable sources. Storage element (mainly battery) used in typical solar/wind hybrid system has also its inherent shortcomings. However, power generation from renewable energy sources like solar and wind is having paramount significance in the context of impending fossil fuel shortage, environmental degradation, remote electricity supply, etc. Hence, an alternate mechanism for hybridization of solar and wind resources to obtain a steady power output could undoubtedly be a great accomplishment in prevailing energy scenario across the world. The present paper analyses the performance of such an eccentric solar–wind hybridized model with spring storage system which is capable of delivering steady power yield despite intermittency of the sources. The likely annual performance of this unusual solar–wind hybridized model is evaluated under a sub-tropical climatic condition in north-east India in terms of various characteristics and effective performance indicators such as energy generation characteristics, effect of storage capacity, efficiency of the generating system, capacity factor of the plant, energy to load ratio, normalized power yield, and plant utilization factor. The considered system in the paper has been designed and simulated in LabVIEW graphical programming environment. It has been found for the given climatic condition that maximum wind energy and solar energy fraction of the plant reaches up to 84% and 16% respectively with annual average efficiency of 24.21% for wind turbine unit and 65.52% for solar thermal unit. To make evident the success of the system, a performative comparison has been drawn with obtained results in the proposed scheme and the testified results in existent solar–wind renewable energy system. The analysis in the study substantiates that performance of the proposed hybridized model is considerably superior to that of conventional and established solar–wind based hybrid technologies. 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.