Sizing of energy storage based on loss of load probability of standalone photovoltaic systems

Abstract

If the standalone PV system is optimally design, it can be cost effective and reliable. This process is called optimal sizing, which focused on finding the lowest cost for the PV system at the acceptable reliability. The project is focused on finding the optimum configuration for PV system at FKE Building, UTM, Johor. The configuration consists of two components; number of PV arrays and number of battery. By manipulating these two components, the reliability of the PV system can be controlled. For this project, the reliability is measured using Lost of Load Probability (LOLP) concept for one year duration. The LOLP of the system is calculated for every configuration starting from one PV array and one battery until 100 PV arrays and 100 batteries. The project used 0.1 LOLP as the reliability level, which means only 10% of the total energy demand could not be satisfied by the PV system. Out of the configurations that meet the 0.1 LOLP, the most cost effective configuration needs to be determined. For this project, two methods are used for the optimal sizing; Graphical Construction Method (GCM) and Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis. GCM is focus on finding the optimal size of the system depending on the initial cost of the PV arrays and batteries, while LCC analysis considered all the cost throughout the entire project.