Novel forecast-based dispatch strategy optimization for PV hybrid systems in real time

Abstract

This paper proposes a new method to optimize the scheduling of off-grid systems composed of solar panels, batteries, and diesel generators in real time. The approach takes into account the load and irradiance forecasted values for the near future to determine the optimal power generation and the operation of the different energy sources which achieve the lowest cost while fulfilling the provided constraints. A real-time simulator is employed to run the simulations with a high degree of accuracy to further validate the obtained results as well as to analyze the grid quality parameters (frequency, voltage, and harmonics). To validate the effectiveness of the proposed forecast-based approach, the performance from two benchmark algorithms commonly applied in these systems are also estimated. The final results reveal that the proposed algorithm is able to achieve 5% cost savings with respect to the benchmark approaches while still fulfilling the grid quality constraints. The proposed method can then be applied for real off-grid systems to further enhance their performance.