638 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 4, NO.

1, MARCH 2013
Economic Analysis and Power Management of a
Small Autonomous Hybrid Power System (SAHPS)
Using Biogeography Based Optimization (BBO)
Algorithm
Ajay Kumar Bansal, Member, IEEE, Rajesh Kumar, Senior Member, IEEE, and R. A. Gupta, Member, IEEE
AbstractIn this study, Biogeography Based Optimization
(BBO) algorithm is developed for the prediction of the optimal
sizing coefcient of Small Autonomous Hybrid Power System
(SAHPS) in remote areas. BBO algorithm is used to evaluate
optimal component sizing and operational strategy by minimizing
the total cost of SAHPS, while guaranteeing the availability of
energy. Due to the complexity of the SAHPS design with nonlinear
integral planning, BBO algorithm is used to solve the problem.
The developed BBO Algorithm has been applied to design the
wind/PV/hydro hybrid energy systems to supply a colony located
in the area of Jaipur, Rajasthan (India) during the period of
January, 2010 to January 2011. It is clear from the results that
the proposed BBO method has excellent convergence property,
requires less computational time and can avoid the shortcoming of
premature convergence of other optimization techniques to obtain
a better solution.
Index TermsBBO, optimization, pico hydro power plant, small
autonomous hybrid power system, solar PV system, wind energy
conversion system.
I. INTRODUCTION
D
UE to the continuously increasing diminution of fossil
fuels and the associated environmental problems, all
countries in the world are giving all the efforts to the devel-
opment of renewable-energy power generation technology
in recent years [1], [2]. A Small Autonomous Hybrid Power
System (SAHPS) is a system that generates electricity in order
to serve low energy demand. Renewable energy sources (RES)
are used as a primary source of energy in SAHPS and they are
usually located in geographically remote and demographically
sparse areas. However, renewable technologies such as wind
turbine generators (WTGs), Pico-hydro plants (MHs) and
photovoltaic (PVs) are dependent on a resource, which are not
dispatchable, but have low reliability of the electric energy
[3]. The problem of optimal sizing of a SAHPS belongs to the
Manuscript received August 29, 2011; revised January 14, 2012; accepted
December 11, 2012. Date of publication January 14, 2013; date of current ver-
sion February 27, 2013. Paper no. TSG-00416-2011.
A. K. Bansal is with the Electrical Engineering Department, Poornima Group
of Colleges, Sitapura, Jaipur 302022, India (e-mail: ajaykb007@gmail.com).
R. Kumar and R. A. Gupta are with the Department of Electrical Engi-
neering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur 302017, India
(e-mail: rkumar.ee@gmail.com, ragmnit@gmail.com).
Color versions of one or more of the gures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TSG.2012.2236112
group of combinatorial optimization problems since the sizes
of systems components, which constitute input variables, can
only take specic values [4].
Kellogg et al. [5] and Borowy et al. [6] demonstrated
a straight forward numerical algorithm for unit sizing and
economic analysis of a stand-alone wind, PV hybrid system.
Seeling-Hochmuth [7] suggested that many optimal cong-
urations for hybrid energy systems should be determined by
minimizing the kWh cost. Yamille et al. [8] suggested many
areas in power systems require solving one or more nonlinear
optimization problems. While analytical methods might suffer
from slow convergence and the curse of dimensionality, heuris-
tics-based swarm intelligence can be an efcient alternative.
Barley et al. [9] suggested guidelines regarding main opera-
tion strategies, namely frugal discharge, the full-power strategy,
load-following and the state of charge (SOC) set point. Belfkira
et al. [10] explained that diesel operating point is adjusted to
match the net load and SOC set point strategy is used to charge
batteries at the user dened point from the diesel generator.
Bernal-Agustin et al. [11] suggested the running time for gen-
erators and suggested that the generators are operated at full-
power generation and excess power generated is used to charge
the batteries. Koutroulis et al. [12], Daming et al. [13], Gupta
et al. [14] and Sopian et al. [15] investigated the application of
genetic algorithm to solve the optimization problem with var-
ious constraints. Dufo-Lopez et al. [16] developed a program
based on genetic algorithm, known as HOGA, for optimizing
the PV-diesel hybrid system control strategy with AC loads and
further HOGA is modied by Dufo-Lopez et al. Hakimi et al.
[17] applied PSO, Wang et al. [18] applied modied PSO for
multi-criterion design of the hybrid power generation system.
Bansal et al. [19] applied Meta PSO for nding the optimal size
of the Wind/ PV energy system. Ashok [20] developed a re-
liable system operation model based on Hybrid Optimization
Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) [21], to nd an op-
timal hybrid system among different renewable-energy combi-
nations while minimizing the total life-cycle cost.
Venayagamoorthy et al. [22] suggests two energy dispatch
controllers for use in a grid-independent photovoltaic (PV)
system. The rst, an optimal energy dispatch controller, is based
on a class of Adaptive Critic Designs (ACDs) called Action
Dependent Heuristic Dynamic Programming (ADHDP). The
second energy dispatch controller is a smart energy dispatch
controller and is built using knowledge from an expert, codied
1949-3053/$31.00 2013 IEEE
BANSAL et al.: ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND POWER MANAGEMENT OF A SMALL AUTONOMOUS HYBRID POWER SYSTEM (SAHPS) 639
into a series of static rules. Welch et al. [23] has proposed a
fuzzy logic controller (FLC) is developed to assign priority to
the installed system loads such that all critical loads receive a
higher priority than the non-critical loads, and so when there
exists a shortage of available energy the critical loads are rst
met before attempting to power the non-critical loads.
Computational Intelligence (CI) and advanced CI techniques
have been applied to solve the challenging problems today in
electric power systems [24], [25]. Advanced computational
methods [26] are required for planning and optimization, fast
control of power system elements, processing of eld data and
coordination across the power system [27]. Very recently, a
new optimization concept, based on biogeography has been
proposed by Simon [28]. Biogeography Based Optimization
(BBO) is a population-based evolutionary algorithm (EA) [29]
and it adopts the migration operator to share information among
solutions. This feature makes BBO applicable to the majority
of problems, where GA and PSO are applicable [30].
SAHPS sizing is a nonlinear integral planning, which is a
complex problem. The objective of this paper is to explore the
application of the BBO algorithm to the SAHPS problems. The
combination of components represents the sequence of the suit-
ability index variables (SIVs), determines the total cost of the
system. In BBO, after the migration operation, a SIV in the im-
migrated island (a bad solution) accepts the sharing information
from the emigrated island (a better solution) [31]. The BBO al-
gorithm has certain unique features, which overcome several
demerits of the conventional methods as explained by [32].
This paper is organized as follows. In Section II, the SAHPS
and its components are explained. Section III describes the opti-
mization problem of SAHPS, Section IV explains the simplied
BBO algorithm and Section V describes the BBO algorithm for
SAHPS. In Section VI, detail of case study data is presented
and Section VII shows the comparison of Hybrid Optimization
Model for Electric Renewable software (HOMER) [21], Bio-
geography Based Optimization (BBO) [26], Genetic Algorithm
(GA) [12], particle swarm optimization (PSO) [17], [33], com-
prehensive learning particle swarm optimization (CLPSO) [34]
and ensemble of mutation and crossover strategies and parame-
ters in DE (EPSDE) algorithm [35] algorithms. In Section VIII,
the results of proposed BBO algorithm have been explained and
discussed.
II. SMALL AUTONOMOUS HYBRID POWER SYSTEM (SAHPS)
A typical SAHPS comprises of wind turbine generators
(WTG), PV panels (PV), Pico hydro plant (MH), storage
batteries (SB) and Diesel Generator (DG), as shown in Fig. 1.
In the SAHPS, components are integrated and complement
each other, in order to meet performance targets of generation
systems and to access the most economic power generation.
A. Wind Turbine Generators (WTG)
The energy and current output of the WTG for each time in-
stant are calculated on the basis of local weather conditions and
actual installation height of the turbines. Wind turbines are usu-
ally connected in parallel, not in a series. Several wind turbines
Fig. 1. Small autonomous hybrid power system (SAHPS).
can be connected in parallel to match the systemcurrent require-
ments. Using the wind speed at a reference height from the
database, the velocity at a hub height for the location is esti-
mated on an hourly basis and calculated as
(1)
where is the wind speed at the projected height , is the wind
speed at reference height and is the power-law exponent
( 1/7 for open land). The power generated by the wind system
at any time can be expressed as
(2)
where is the wind turbine power output, is efciency
of wind turbine, is efciency of generator, is the density
of air, is the power coefcient of wind turbine, and is the
wind turbine swept area.
B. Photovoltaic Generation (PV)
The PV sizing variable comprises of size of a PV panel and
the number of strings in a PV array. The necessary number of
PV panels to be connected in series is derived by the number
of panels needed to match the bus operating voltage. When
matching the current requirements of the system, several PV
strings which are connected in series, need to be installed in par-
allel. The number of parallel PV strings is a design variable that
needs optimization. The output of PV panels must include the
impact of geographic location, such as solar radiation and tem-
perature, etc. The output power of photovoltaic panels
at any time can be calculated as:
(3)
where is conversion efciency of PV panel, is the
number of PV panels in parallel, is number of PV panels
in series, is the operating Voltage of PV panels, and
is operating current of PV panels.
C. Pico Hydro Unit (MH)
Pico hydro is a term used for hydroelectric power genera-
tion of under 5 kW. The Pico Hydro unit plays a crucial role
to cater for the power uncertainty and helps to secure, the reli-
able and protable operation of power system. The Pico hydro
turbine is a device which converts the power of falling water
into AC or DC electricity at a constant efciency, but it does not
640 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 4, NO. 1, MARCH 2013
have the ability to store the water or modulate the power output.
The power in falling water is proportional to the product of the
stream ow and head, which is the vertical distance through
which the water falls. The head loss occurs in the intake pipe
due to friction. The net head or effective head is calculated as
(4)
where is available head and is pipe head loss.
The ow through the turbine is expressed as
(5)
where is stream ow, is residual ow, is tur-
bine design ow rate, and and are turbines min-
imum and maximum ow ratios. The turbine does not operate,
if the stream ow is below the minimum level. The ow rate
through turbine cannot exceed the maximum level.
In each time step, the electric power output of the Pico hydro
turbine at any time t can be calculated as:
(6)
where is efciency of Pico hydro turbine, is the
density of water, is acceleration due to gravity, is effective
head and is Pico hydro turbine ow rate.
D. Storage Batteries (SB)
The batteries are used to store the excess energy generated
by hybrid system and supply energy during the low generation
period. The power input to the battery bank is calculated as
(7)
where is the total power produced by the renewable
resources (PV panels and wind turbines) at hour ,
, where is the power demanded by the load at
hour , is inverter efciency, and is the total power
produced by the Diesel generator at hour . For the charging
process and discharging process of
the battery bank, the state of charge (SOC) can be calculated as
(8)
where is equal to the round-trip efciency in the charging
process and is equal to the 100% in the discharging process,
is the DC bus voltage, and is the time step which is
generally one hour.
The power generated fromWTGs, MHs and PVs at the time
t i.e., total renewable power is expressed as:
(9)
where , , are the total number of wind generators,
photovoltaic panels and Pico hydro turbines.
III. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM
For SHAPS system design, the objective of optimum design
is to minimize cost function ,
subject to constraints explained in (18) to (20). The design
parameters that should be derived must include WTG capacity
, PV panel capacity , hydro power system capacity
, total battery capacity , and Diesel generator
capacity .
(10)
where is total cost of the system,
are the total cost of wind turbine systems, photovoltaic panels,
Pico-hydro plants, batteries, diesel generators and the total cost
of considering the power-supply reliability, respectively.
A. The Total Cost of Wind Turbines
(11)
B. Total Cost of Photovoltaic Panels
(12)
C. Total Cost of Pico Hydro Plants
(13)
D. Total Cost of Batteries
(14)
E. Total Cost of Diesel Generator
(15)
where are the number of wind
generators, photovoltaic panels, Pico hydro plant, bat-
teries, diesel generators; are the unit cost
(Rs /kW); is the power capacity;
are the main-
tenance and operating costs;
BANSAL et al.: ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND POWER MANAGEMENT OF A SMALL AUTONOMOUS HYBRID POWER SYSTEM (SAHPS) 641
are the replacement costs corresponding to
th wind turbine, th photovoltaic panels, th Pico hydro plant,
th battery, th diesel generator; is cost of fuel used
in th Diesel Generator; m is life span of the project and is
interest rate.
F. The Total Cost of Other Parameters
The total cost of considering power supply reliability is:
(16)
where is the Compensation Coefcient and EENS is the Ex-
pected Energy Not Served. In the calculation of , time series
and the Monte Carlo methods are used. The time series is di-
vided into many terms i.e., wind speed, light, load etc. and then
Monte Carlo method is used, to calculate the reliability of the
randomly selected sample. Within the run-time T (8760 hours),
the EENS (kWh/year) is calculated as
(17)
where is a step function, which is zero when the supply ex-
ceeds or equals to demand and one if there is insufcient power
during hour , is the state of charge (SOC) of storage
batteries during hour , is the minimum permissible
storage level of the battery and
is surplus power during hour .
G. Design Constraints
Due to the physical or operational limits of the target system,
there is a set of constraints that should be satised throughout
system operations for any feasible solution.
1) For any period t, the total power supplied from the hybrid
energy system must supply the total demand with a
certain reliability criterion. This relation can be represented
as:
(18)
where are the wind
power, solar power, Pico hydro plant power, charged/dis-
charged battery power, diesel generator power, dumped
power and total load demand respectively, R is the ratio of
the maximum permissible unmet power with respect to the
total load demand at each time instant. The transmission
losses are not considered because the system is considered
as the remotely located isolated system and do not have
substantial transmission lines. The dump power is the ex-
cess power generated by the system which is not utilized
for either supply the load or supplied to charge the battery.
2) The state of charge (SOC) of storage batteries
should not exceed the capacity of storage batteries
and must be larger than minimum permissible storage
level . The total storage battery capacity should
not exceed the allowed storage capacity . The
hourly charge or discharge power should not exceed
the hourly inverter capacity . These constraints are
expressed as
(19)
3) The number of wind power generation, photovoltaic
panels, batteries and Pico hydro plants are subjected to
following constraints:
(20)
where is maximum capacity of Photovoltaic
panel, is the maximum capacity of Wind turbine,
is the maximum capacity of the battery panel
and is the maximum capacity of the Pico hydro
plants.
IV. BIOGEOGRAPHY-BASED OPTIMIZATION (BBO)
In the science of biogeography, a habitat is an ecological
area that is inhabited by particular plant or animal species and
geographically isolated from other habitats. Each habitat is clas-
sied by Habitat Suitability Index (HSI). Geographical areas,
which are well suited as residences for biological species are
said to have a high HSI. Features that correlate with HIS in-
clude rainfall, diversity of vegetation, diversity of topographic
features, land area, temperature, etc. If each of the features is as-
signed a value, HSI is a function of these values. Each of these
features that characterize habitability is known as Suitability
Index Variables (SIV). SIVs are the independent variables while
HSI are the dependent variables.
Habitats with high HSI has the large population and have high
emigration rate , simply by virtue of a large number of species
that migrate to other habitats. The immigration rate is low
for those habitats which are already saturated with species. On
the other hand, habitats with low HSI has high immigration rate
, low emigration rate due to sparse population. The value of
HSI, for lowHSI habitat, may increase with the inux of species
from other habitats as suitability of a habitat is the function of
its biological diversity. However, if HSI does not increase and
remains low, species in that habitat go extinct and this leads to
additional immigration. For the sake of simplicity, it is safe to
assume a linear relationship between habitats HSI, its immigra-
tion and emigration rate. These rates are same for all the habitats
and depend upon the number of species in the habitats.
Fig. 2 shows the relationships between tness of habitats
(number of species), emigration rate and immigration rate .
E is the possible maximum value of emigration rate and I is the
possible maximum value for immigration rate. S is the number
of species in the habitat, which corresponds to tness. is
the maximum number of species the habitat can support.
is the equilibrium value. When , the emigration rate
is equal to the immigration rate . From Fig. 2, it is clear
that island which has outstanding performance like has a
high emigration rate and a low immigration rate. On the other
hand, island which has poor performance like has a high
immigration rate and a low emigration rate.
After calculating HSI for each solution , the immigration
rate and the emigration rate can be evaluated as (21) and
642 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 4, NO. 1, MARCH 2013
Fig. 2. The model of immigration rate and emigration rate of biology.
(22), respectively. These two rates are the functions of tness
or HSI of the solution. Since, according to the biogeography,
the SIVs of a high-HSI solution tend to emigrate to low-HSI
solutions, a high- HSI solution has a relatively high and low
, while in a poor solution, a relatively low and a high
are expected. The values of emigration and immigration rates
are given as
(21)
(22)
where is the maximum possible immigration rate; is the
maximum possible emigration rate; is the number of species
of the th individual; and is the maximum number of species.
In (21) and (22), represents the rank of the th habitat after
sorting all habitats according to their HSIs and represents the
size of the population. It is clear that since more HSI represents
a better solution, more represents the better solution.
Mathematically, the concept of emigration and immigration
can be represented by a probabilistic model. The probability ,
in which habitat contains exactly species at . For each SIV in
one solution, it is decided probabilistically, whether or not to im-
migrate. If immigration is selected for a given solution feature,
emigrating habitat is selected for a given solution probabilisti-
cally, using the roulette wheel normalized by . The mutation
operator is probabilistically applied to the habitat, which tends
to increase the biological diversity of the population. The muta-
tion rate is inversely proportional to the solution probability,
which is expressed as
(23)
where is a user-dened parameter.
The BBO algorithm has certain unique features, which over-
come several demerits of the Computational Intelligence (CI)
methods as mentioned below [33]:
1) In BBOand other CI methods, the solutions survive forever
although their characteristics change as the optimization
process progresses. However, solutions of evolutionary-
based algorithms like GA, DE etc. die at the end of each
generation. Due to the presence of crossover operation in
evolutionary based algorithms, many solutions, whose t-
ness is initially favorable, sometimes lose their quality in
later stage of the process. In BBO, there is no crossover
like operation as the solution gets ne-tuned gradually as
the process goes on through migration operation. Elitism
operation has made the algorithm more efcient in this as-
pect and gives an edge to BBO over other techniques.
2) In conventional CI methods, solutions are more likely to
clump together in similar groups. While in the case of
BBO, solutions do not have the tendency to cluster due to
its new mutation operation.
3) BBO involves fewer computational steps per iteration as
compared to other algorithms like GA, PSO, DE etc. Due
to this, BBO results are faster in convergence.
4) In BBO, poor solutions accept a lot of new features from
good ones, which may improve the quality of solutions.
This is a unique feature of BBO algorithm compared to
other CI techniques. At the same time, this makes con-
straint satisfaction to be much easier, compared to other
algorithms.
V. BBO ALGORITHM FOR SAHPS PROBLEMS
In this section, a new approach to implement the BBO algo-
rithmis described for solving the SAHPS problems. The process
of BBO algorithm can be summarized as follows:
1) Representation of the SIV: Since the decision variables for
the SAHPS problems are sizing vector of different com-
ponents, they are used to represent individual habitat. The
sizes of different components are represented as the SIV
in a habitat. For initialization, choose the number of SIV
of BBO algorithm (m), number of habitat (N). The com-
plete habitat set is represented in the form of the following
matrix:
(24)
where is the position vector of the habitat as
where is number of PV panels in parallel, is type of
PV panel, is number of wind turbines, is type of wind
turbine, is number of batteries in parallel, is type of bat-
tery, is number of DC generator and is size of inverter.
Each habitat is one of the possible solutions for the problem
and size of the habitat is equivalent to the population size.
The element of is the th position component of
habitat or in other words is the th SIV of the th
habitat. represents the size of component of the
th habitat set.
2) Initialization of the SIV: Each element of the Habitat ma-
trix, i.e., each SIV of a given habitat set H, is initialized
randomly within the effective sizing limits. The initializa-
tion is based upon (20) for component size. The steps of
the algorithm to solve SAHPS problem are as follows.
Step 1: For initialization, choose the number of compo-
nent units, i.e., number of SIV is m, number of
habitat N. Specify maximum and minimum ca-
pacity of each generator, power demand, power
BANSAL et al.: ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND POWER MANAGEMENT OF A SMALL AUTONOMOUS HYBRID POWER SYSTEM (SAHPS) 643
generation by each unit. Also, initialize the BBO
parameters.
Step 2: Each SIVof a given habitat matrix is initialized.
Each habitat set of matrix must satisfy quality
constraint (18) to (20). Each habitat represents a
potential solution to the given problem.
Step 3: Calculate the HSI for each habitat set of the total
habitat set for given emigration rate , immigra-
tion rate . HSI represent the capital and oper-
ating cost of the units in the power system for a
power demand. Here, indicates the capital
and operating cost due to the th set of generation
value (i.e., th set of habitat matrix) in cost/KWh.
Step 4: Based on the HSI (cost/ KWh), identify the value
of elite habitats. Here, elite term is used to indi-
cate those habitat sets of renewable power output,
which gives best cost of energy. Top p habitat
sets are kept as it is, after individual iteration
without making any modication on it. Those
habitats, whose tness values, i.e., HSI values are
nite, considered as valid species in problem.
Step 5: Probabilistically perform migration operation on
those SIVs of each non-elite habitats, selected for
migration. How to select any SIV for migration
operation is described as:
1) First select lower and upper value of immi-
gration rate and , respectively.
2) Then calculate value of and for each
habitat set.
3) Next calculate from which habitat and which
SIVto be selected for newly generated habitat
after migration.
After migration operation, new habitat set is gen-
erated. In SAHPS problems, these represent new
modied unit values of various components.
Step 6: Species count probability of each habitat is up-
dated. Mutation operation is performed on the
non-elite habitat. If the mutation rate, as calcu-
lated using (23) of any habitat is greater than a
randomly generated number, habitat is selected
for mutation. In mutation operation, habitat set,
which is selected for mutation, is simply replaced
by another randomly generated new habitat set
that satises constraints of problems. HSI value
of each new habitat set is recomputed, i.e., cost/
KWh of each unit.
Step 7: Go to step 3) for the next iteration. This loop can
be terminated after a predened number of itera-
tions. After each habitat is modied (steps 5 and
6), its feasibility as a problem solution should
be veried, i.e., each SIV should satisfy different
constraints of SAHPS problem.
VI. CASE STUDY
The developed methodology for BBO Algorithm has been
applied to design the Small Autonomous Hybrid Power System
having wind/PV/hydro systems to supply a varying load located
Fig. 3. Typical hourly load prole of a day.
Fig. 4. Average solar radiation monthly data for One year (kWh/m2/d).
TABLE I
SAHPS COMPONENTS COST AND LIFE TIME
in the area of Jaipur in Rajasthan (India) with geographical coor-
dinates dened as: latitude: , longitude: and al-
titude: 431 m above sea level. The wind speed, solar irradiance,
sunshine duration and ambient temperature recorded for every
hour, during the period of 1 January, 2010 to 30 December,
2010. The wind speed was measured at a 30 meters height. In
this application, PV panels, wind turbines, hydro power system,
battery, diesel generator and inverter have been used.
The cluster of colonies is assumed to be located in a remote
area with adequate sunshine, moderate to high wind speeds.
The average daily load prole of the study area is shown in
Fig. 3. The daily energy consumption of load is 16 kWh/day
with 1.4 kW peak demand. Day to day variation of 30% is in-
troduced in the load prole. The total power requirement of
the load is 5766 kWh/year. The optimal solution is veried by
showing the energy prole during the period from 1 January,
2011 to 7 January, 2011.
The monthly solar radiation in Jaipur, Rajasthan is between
4-7 kWh/m /d, with the monthly sunshine duration ranging
from 5 hr/day to 8 hr/day as shown in Table II. The sunshine
hour has been taken for the same duration as for the global solar
radiation. These values are essential for sizing of solar-energy
systems. The monthly solar radiation patterns are shown in
Fig. 4. The technical, economical data and study assumptions
are given in Table III.
644 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 4, NO. 1, MARCH 2013
TABLE II
AVERAGE DAILY SOLAR RADIATION , SUNSHINE HOURS (HRS.)
AND WIND SPEED (M/S) AT JAIPUR (RAJ.)
TABLE III
OPTIMIZATION RESULTS FROM VARIOUS OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHMS
Fig. 5. Average of daily wind speed for one year (m/s).
The average wind speed for Jaipur, Rajasthan is between 4
to 11 m/s as shown in Table II. To understand the benets of
wind power generation over the period of a year, the hourly wind
speeds of each month were collected. Fig. 5 describes the daily
average wind speed, indicating that the wind energy resource
during the summer season is markedly larger than that during
the winter season. With the monthly average wind speed of less
than 6.0 m/s from October to April, the benet from monthly
wind power generation was less. From May to September of
the following year, the monthly average wind speed exceeded
8.4 m/s. Monthly average streamline owat study area is shown
in Fig. 6.
VII. COMPARISON OF BBO WITH OTHER ALGORITHMS
The Small Autonomous Hybrid Power System optimization
is performed on an Intel Core 2 Duo PC with 2.1 GHz processor
speed, 2 GB RAM and Windows 7 operating systems. The ex-
periments are performed using the MATLAB R2010b program.
The BBO results are compared with the HOMER, GA, PSO,
CLPSO and EPSDE.
Fig. 6. Average of daily water availability (L/s) for one year.
TABLE IV
COMPARISON OF OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHMS.
Net present cost (NPC) of an integrated system takes into ac-
count the initial capital investment, the present value of oper-
ation and maintenance cost, the wind system replacement cost
and the battery replacement cost. The concept of Net Present
Cost is the present value of the cost of installing and operating
the system over the lifetime of the project.
(25)
where is total annualized cost (Rs/yr), CRF is Cap-
ital Recovery Factor, ir is the interest rate (%) and is
the project life-time (yr). The total annualized cost is
the sum of annualized costs of each system component
and annualized replacement cost . The annualized cost of
each component is the sum of its annualized capital cost, annu-
alized replacement cost, annualized O&M cost and annualized
fuel cost (if applicable) [65]. It allows a fair cost comparison
between components with low capital and high operating costs
(such as diesel generators) and those with high capital and low
operating costs (such as PV arrays or wind turbines).
The Cost of Energy is the average cost per kWh of
useful electrical energy produced by the system. is the
ratio of the annualized cost of producing electricity to the total
useful electric energy production.
(26)
where is AC primary load served [kWh/yr] and
is DC primary load served [kWh/yr].
For the sake of comparison of performance between the var-
ious algorithms, the stopping criterion is set at 100 iterations.
Mutation and Cross over are used to
get the best results for GA. For PSO, , , W
starts at 1 and decreases until reaching 0 at the end of the run. In
CLPSO, is selected and in EPSDE, ,
gives the best results. The mating is performed using single
BANSAL et al.: ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND POWER MANAGEMENT OF A SMALL AUTONOMOUS HYBRID POWER SYSTEM (SAHPS) 645
TABLE V
OPTIMUM COMPONENT SIZE RESULTS AND COMPARISON OF OPTIMIZATION RESULTS RECEIVED THROUGH HOMER AND PROPOSED BBO ALGORITHM
Fig. 7. Convergence characteristics of various optimization algorithms.
point crossover. Fig. 7 depicts convergence of ve optimization
algorithms for the combination of the Small Autonomous Hy-
brid Power System in which PV, WTG, Hydro-power system,
Diesel generator, battery and inverter are present. For compar-
ison of different algorithms, the initial solution points are taken
as constant. It can be seen that the tness value decreases rapidly
in the rst 10 generations. During this stage GA, PSO, CLPSO,
EPSDE and BBO concentrate mainly on nding feasible so-
lutions to the problem. Then the value decreases slowly, and
they have been converged approximately at around 20 itera-
tions. Consequently, the total system cost, components size has
been almost same in BBO, PSO, CLPSO, EPSDEand GA. More
details about convergence and optimal solutions are given in
Tables III and IV.
It can be easily seen from Tables III and IV that HOMER,
PSO, GA, CLPSO, EPSDE and BBO algorithms are able to nd
optimum design parameters of stochastic simulation model. It
can be easily seen from Tables IV and V that Net Present Cost
(NPC) and Cost of Energy (COE) of BBO algorithm is lowest
due to less excess energy generated by the system as the energy
required by the system is 5766 kWh/yr. From Fig. 7, it can be
easily seen that BBOalgorithmis more rapid and give minimum
cost as compared to GA, PSO, CLPSO and EPSDE. Therefore,
the proposed BBO-based optimization procedure can comfort-
ably, rapidly approach the optimum state for a large-scale com-
plex simulation of a hybrid energy system. The total cost of the
optimized hybrid energy system showed that the system can de-
liver energy in a stand-alone installation with an acceptable cost.
The Homer software with a combination of various compo-
nents and strategies variables of 38 million, would require the
calculation time of approximately 15 hours to evaluate each
combination. The proposed BBOalgorithmnot only reduces the
demerits of HOMERbut uses only a certain number of combina-
tions. The proposed BBOalgorithmhas reduced 15 hours of cal-
culation time (in HOMER) in around 0.73 hours on Intel Core 2
Duo PC for complete hybrid energy system optimization.
It is observed from the above mentioned tables that HOMER,
PSO, GA, CLPSO, EPSDE and BBO, all are able to nd the op-
timum design parameters of the stochastic simulation model. It
can be easily seen that BBO algorithm is more rapid as com-
pared to GA, CLPSO and PSO but require slightly more time as
compared to EPSDE but it can be neglected as time required is
almost same. Therefore, the proposed BBO-based optimization
procedure can comfortably, rapidly approach the optimum state
for a large-scale complex simulation of a hybrid energy system.
The total cost of the optimized hybrid system shows the system
can deliver energy in a stand-alone installation with an accept-
able cost
The Homer software with a combination of various compo-
nents and strategies variables of 38 million, requires the calcu-
lation time of approximately 15 hours to evaluate each combi-
nation. The proposed BBO algorithm not only reduces the de-
merits of HOMER but uses only a certain number of combina-
tions. The proposed BBO has reduced 15 hours, of calculation
646 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 4, NO. 1, MARCH 2013
TABLE VI
OPTIMIZATION RESULTS WITH SENSITIVITY OF DIESEL GENERATOR
IN CASE 22
time in around 0.73 hours on Intel Core 2 Duo PC for complete
hybrid system optimization.
VIII. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The mathematical modeling is driven by HOMER, the results
of HOMER software can be used for comparison and point of
reference. The optimization results using HOMER software and
Biogeography-based optimization algorithm results are shown
in Table V. The total power generated by renewable sources
seemed enough, except for its failure to provide the necessary
power at peak time, which requires the support of battery and
inverter. Optimization calculations obtained by HOMER are
slightly different as compared with BBO. There are three sig-
nicant disadvantages of HOMER:
1) HOMER requires calculation of every single combination
of sizing and operation strategy.
2) The data for each variation of component needs to be en-
tered manually and execute separately.
3) HOMER uses diesel generator more, so hybrid system cost
increases due to increase in fuel intake.
The parameters selected in BBO algorithm are No. of habi-
tats or population as 50, Generation as 50, Number of SIVs per
habitat as 20, Habitat modication probability as 1, Island Mu-
tation probability as 0.05, Elitism parameter as 2, Maximum
emigration Rate as 1 and Maximum immigration Rate as 1. In
Table V, optimal sizing results consisting of device numbers
are presented. The comparison of HOMER and BBO results are
given in Table V. The reliability of SAHPS is much higher as
compared to other systems & output is not very much affected
by changes in weather conditions.
Without much operation reserve, diesel generator can also
supply the load demand independently but at much higher cost,
COE of Rs. 18.644/kWh. The generator uses 2,158 liters of
diesel and operating for 8,760 hours annually. That is almost
half of generators lifetime operating hours.
The global price of the oil is increasing and the Government
of India has indicated that it can no longer provide the oil sub-
sidy. It is necessary to note that if the true diesel price is used
in the calculation, the COE is going up by Rs. 0.1 per kWh
for 1 Rs/liter increase in diesel price. The sensitivity results for
diesel price are shown in Table VI. If diesel price is raised to Rs
50 per liter, the COE is increased by 3.6%.
In order to study the hourly behavior of the power exchange
in the SAHPS, the simulation results were conducted on a pe-
riod from 1 to 7 January, 2011 for the case of the optimal con-
guration obtained from BBO algorithm, as given in case 6 of
the Table V, is shown in Fig. 8. It shows the power supplies
from the renewable resources, such as the power demand, the
input/output battery bank power, etc. The diesel generator is
Fig. 8. Power management indicating load power, wind power output, hydro
turbine power output, input/output power of the battery bank of the SAHPS
system in case 5 of Table V.
Fig. 9. Percentage share of components cost in total net present cost for hybrid
energy system as given in case 14 of Table V.
used only when the renewable resources and the batteries are
not able to satisfy the load demand.
Fig. 9 shows the annualized cost of the case 14, which have
PV, wind turbine, Pico hydro turbine, diesel generator, battery
and Inverter i.e., all are connected in the system. Wind turbine
contributes 15%, battery &inverter costs about 20%, Pico hydro
turbine costs about 39%, PV system contributes 14%, Diesel
generator costs 3% and fuel costs around 1% of the total annual
cost of Rs. 216,403. PV panels, hydro turbine and Wind system
are assumed to last the lifetime of the project i.e., for 25 years,
while the Diesel generator, battery and inverter needs to be re-
placed after certain hours of operation.
To check the sensitivity of the results to variations in average
wind speed from year to year, the SAHPS system in case 14
of Table V is run with the wind speeds adjusted upward and
downward by 17.5%, which is the inter-annual variability (one
standard deviation) found in the historical wind measurements.
With the wind speed 17.5% lower than the present measurement
year, COE rose by 11.6%. With the wind speed 17.5% higher,
COE dropped by 8.06%.
For checking the accuracy of the proposed BBO algorithm
for large SHAPS systema higher load prole with same weather
BANSAL et al.: ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND POWER MANAGEMENT OF A SMALL AUTONOMOUS HYBRID POWER SYSTEM (SAHPS) 647
TABLE VII
OPTIMIZATION RESULTS FROM VARIOUS OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHMS
and economical parameters has been also evaluated. In this ap-
plication, PVpanels, wind turbines, battery, diesel generator and
inverter have been used. The daily energy consumption of load
is 2263 kWh/day with a 261 kW peak demand and day to day
variation of 30%is introduced in the load prole. Due to various
limitations, only the comparison of the best result with HOMER
and GA has been presented in Table VII.
IX. CONCLUSION
Small Autonomous Hybrid Power Systems (SAHPS) are
more suitable than stand-alone systems which only have one
energy source for the supply of electricity to off-grid appli-
cations, especially in remote areas and that also with difcult
access. However, the design, control, and optimization of the
hybrid energy systems are usually very complex tasks.
In order to utilize renewable-energy resources efciently and
economically, one optimum sizing method is developed in this
paper based on a Biogeography Based Optimization (BBO),
which has the ability to attain the global optimum with rela-
tive computational simplicity compared to the conventional op-
timization methods. Apart from this the system conguration,
characteristics of the main components, overall sizing, control
and power management strategy for the hybrid energy system
has also been presented. The wind and PV generation systems
are the main power generation devices, and the battery acts as
a storage device for excess power. The developed methodology
is based on the use of long-term data of wind speed, solar ir-
radiance and water availability. The BBO algorithm optimizes
the size and the operation strategy for a simple daily load. Fur-
thermore, a numerical example (Case study) is used to demon-
strate the applicability, power management and usefulness of
the proposed method. Results clearly show that the total cost
of the SAHPS is lower than the stand alone systems. The pro-
posed BBO algorithm not only reduces the shortcomings of
HOMER but also use only a certain number of combinations.
The BBO algorithm is able to optimize small as well as large
power system. The proposed BBO has reduced 15 hours of cal-
culation time taken by HOMER in around 0.73 hours on a P4
computer system.
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Ajay Kumar Bansal (M09) received the B.Tech.
degree from M.B.M. Engineering College, Jodhpur,
India, in 2000, the M.Tech. degree from Malaviya
National Institute of Technology (MNIT), Jaipur,
India, in 2007. He is currently working towards the
Ph.D. degree at the Department of Electrical Engi-
neering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology,
Jaipur, India.
Since 2000, he has been a Faculty Member in
the Department of Electrical Engineering, Poornima
College of Engineering, Jaipur, where he is serving
as an Associate Professor. His research interests lie in the elds of non-con-
ventional energy sources, power system and articial intelligence.
Mr. Bansal is a Member of IEEE, Associate Member of UACEE, Associate
Member of IE (INDIA), Life Member of IETE, and Life Member of ISTE.
Rajesh Kumar (M08SM10) received the B.Tech.
(Hons.) degree from National Institute of Tech-
nology (NIT), Kurukshetra, India, in 1994, the M.E.
(Hons.) degree from Malaviya National Institute
of Technology (MNIT), Jaipur, India, in 1997, and
the Ph.D. degree from the University of Rajasthan,
India, in 2005.
Since 1995, he has been a Faculty Member in the
Department of Electrical Engineering, MNIT, Jaipur,
where he is serving as an Associate Professor. He was
Post Doctorate Research Fellow in the Department
of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National University of Singa-
pore (NUS), Singapore, from 2009 to 2011. His eld of interest includes theory
and practice of intelligent systems, bio and nature inspired algorithms, compu-
tational intelligence and applications to power system, electrical machines and
drives.
Dr. Kumar has received the Career Award for Young Teachers in 2002 from
Government of India. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, Member of IE (INDIA),
Fellow Member of IETE, and Life Member of ISTE.
R. A. Gupta (M08) received the B.Tech. and M.E.
degrees from M.B.M. Engineering College, Jodhpur,
India, in 1980 and 1984, respectively, and the Ph.D.
degree from IIT Roorkee, India (formerly University
of Roorkee), in 1996.
He has 28 years of teaching and research experi-
ence. Presently, he is a Professor in the Department
of Electrical Engineering, MNIT, Jaipur. His eld of
interest includes power electronics, electrical drives
and control and applications to power system and
non-conventional energy sources.
Dr. Gupta is a Member of IEEE, Fellow Member of IE (INDIA), Fellow
Member of IETE, and Life Member of ISTE.