Performance Analysis Using Multi-Year Parameters for a Grid-Connected Wind Power System

Abstract

One of the most crucial solutions to the issues of climate change and global warming is clean energy. However, creating intelligent, resilient, and sustainable systems is a worldwide problem, particularly for grid-connected Renewable Energy Systems (RES). Therefore, it is important to investigate how prospective changes in electricity pricing, renewable energy sources, and load demand could affect system performance during the projects. This paper presents a techno-economic analysis of a grid-connected wind energy system located in the Al-Jouf region in Saudi Arabia. To this end, the potential of renewable energy sources was assessed using Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Electric Renewables (HOMER) software, that also carried out the technical and economic study utilizing multi-year parameters. The novelty of this study is that it is the first-ever investigation of a grid-connected wind farm system in Saudi Arabia that considers the impact of multi-year parameters such as the grid price, system fixed operation, maintenance cost, and the AC electric load. The results showed that the proposed system in the chosen area recorded a very low Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of around 0.06 USD/kWh compared to other systems. Also, running a multi-year model showed that the considered parameters have an impact on the system’s performance, and this reflects the importance of considering these parameters in any such system that will increase the study’s accuracy.