Optimal Design of a PV/Diesel Hybrid System for Decentralized Areas through Economic Criteria

An innovative concept called “Flexy developing at 2iE. This concept aims to produce electricity cost by smartly mix different available energy to the load profile of the region. With a higher solar irradiation and due to the fact that Diesel generator are massively used in sub Saharan rural areas, PV/Diesel hybrid syste application of this concept and a good solution to electrify this region, provided they are reliable, cost effective and economically attractive to investors. Presentation of the developed approach is the aims of this paper. The PV/Diesel hybrid system produce electricity and/or heat from a coupling between Diesel Diesel generators and PV panels without batteries storage, while ensuring the substitution of gasoil by bio-fuels available in the area where the system will be installed. The optimal design of this system is based on his technical performances; the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) and Levelized Cost of Energy are developed criteria. The Net Present Value (NPV), the (IRR) and the discounted payback (DPB) according to dual electricity pricing (in sunny and unsunny hours) The PV/Diesel hybrid system obtained is compared to the standalone Diesel Diesel generators. The approach carried out in this paper ha been applied to Siby village in Mali (Latitude 12 ° 23'N 8 ° 20'W) with 295 kWh as daily demand. This approach provides optimal physical characteristics (size of the components, number of component) and dynamical characteristics in real time (number of Diesel generator on, their load rate, fuel specific consumptions, and PV penetration rate) of the system. The system obtained is slightly cost effective; but could be improved with strategies. Keywords—Investments criteria, Optimization, PV Sizing, Rural electrification.