The intermittent nature of renewable energy threatens power system reliability and forces utilities to maintain a sizeable power-balancing reserve. Adding solar PV and battery storage systems can smooth fluctuations from wind power but raises the cost of energy. In a recent paper, Al-Shereiqi et al. (2021) suggest a method to determine the optimal mix for hybrid wind-solar power systems that reduce energy intermittency while maximizing the power output to the grid.

Other studies use batteries to smooth the fluctuations of wind-solar plants of fixed sizes; however, Al-Shereiqi et al. (2021) start by finding the optimum wind farm size and layout for the particular site. Secondly, they determine the PV and battery sizes that minimize energy costs while providing a smooth reference power within operational ramping rates. The proposed strategy does not involve a load demand profile; instead, it uses the smoothed wind power signal to determine the PV and battery sizes and assumes that the grid absorbs the resulting load variations.

The approach is demonstrated on a wind power project in the Sultanate of Oman. It results in a hybrid system consisting of a 39 MW wind farm with a 5.3 MW PV system and a battery-energy storage system of 0.52 MWh.

Al-Shereiqi, Abdullah, Amer Al-Hinai, Mohammed Albadi, and Rashid Al-Abri. 2021. “Optimal Sizing of Hybrid Wind-Solar Power Systems to Suppress Output Fluctuation.” Energies 14(17) (5377): 16. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/en14175377.