Energy 202 (2020) 117727

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Energy
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Energy analysis and techno-economic assessment of a hybrid PV/HKT/

BAT system using biomass gasifier: Cuenca-Ecuador case study

valo a, b, Francisco Jurado a, *
Antonio Cano a, Paul Are
a
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Jaen, Spain
b
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Cuenca, Ecuador

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper analyzes the impact on an off-grid renewable hybrid system composed of photovoltaic energy,
Received 13 January 2020 hydrokinetic turbines, batteries and biomass gasifiers, using various types of biomass in order to
Received in revised form determine the optimal configuration of the system located in southern Ecuador. Three types of energy
21 March 2020
dispatch, charge cycle, load following and combined cycle have been proposed with the objective of
Accepted 26 April 2020
Available online 30 April 2020
determining new patterns on the behavior of sources with respect to electric demand.
The biomass used as an energy resource produces electricity through a biomass gasifier that feeds a
microturbine. Considering the types of biomass consumed by the gasifier, the items such as net present
Keywords:
Gasifier biomass
cost and cost of energy have been analyzed for the different types of control. Sensitivity studies indicate
Hybrid autonomous grid the increase in the cost of the system by increasing the minimum state of charge in the batteries.
Energy control However, this increase reduces biomass consumption and CO2 emissions. Finally, the variation of the cost
Sensitivity analysis in the components influences the total cost of the system, being the fuel and the photovoltaic system the
Modelling systems that have the highest sensitivity, the results have shown that the renewable system is able to
supply the demand without violating any norm.
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction generator model that integrates a gasifier and a 200 kW gas turbine
to analyze the feasibility of using solid biomass as fuel. In this re-
Hybrid systems complement each other to overcome the vari- gard, a study of the design and performance improvements of the
able nature of renewable energy sources, which together with the gasifiers was developed in Ref. [10].
energy storage system (ESS), can improve system reliability and Some authors have studied the different types of biomass that
energy sustainability. The integration of small distributed energy feed downdraft gasifiers, paper [11] analyzed the use of cobs in the
sources, such as biomass gasifiers (GB), hydrokinetic turbines gasification process. Corncobs have been tested in an 18-kW
(HKT), batteries (BT), and photovoltaic (PV) is a trend that is downdraft gasifier for power generation using different resistive
currently being developed. loads (4, 8, and 12 kW) and cold gas efficiency varied in the range of
There are different software for the optimization of hybrid 33.7%e37.0%. In Refs. [12] An experimental investigation of a
systems, such as HOMER [1,2] and iHOGA [3], they have been used downdraft biomass gasifier is carried out using furniture wood and
by different authors to optimize the design of hybrid systems, ar- wood chips under various operating conditions, and the cold gas
ticles [4,5] study mainly indicators such as the NPC, the COE, the efficiency of the biomass gasifier is found to be of the order of about
unmet load and the CO2 emissions. Developed different method- 80% whereas the overall efficiency of the biomass electrical power
ologies to optimize hybrid systems were presented in Ref. [6]. producing system is of the order of 10e11%. The authors [13,14]
Downdraft gasifiers have been studied in Ref. [7] to drive gas or performed a thermodynamic analysis of a gasifier with different
MT engines and produce electricity. The authors [8] carried out a types of biomass. There are software packages to model the
review, with the two main typologies of small-scale gasifiers (fixed behavior of gasifiers. A program was developed to predict the
and fluidized bed), and the document [9] presented an electricity performance in Ref. [15]. In this regard, a thermodynamic model
was described [16]. Based on Cycle-Tempo software, a combined
investigation of experimentation and modeling in an integrated
* Corresponding author. gasifier-motor-generator system was presented in Ref. [17], the
E-mail address: fjurado@ujaen.es (F. Jurado).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2020.117727
0360-5442/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 A. Cano et al. / Energy 202 (2020) 117727

Abbreviations t Time [s]

SOCðtÞ State of charge batteries in time t
PPV Photovoltaic output power [kW] Pbat ðtÞ Battery power output [kW]
YPV Nominal capacity of the photovoltaic generator [kW] Vbus Voltage in bus [V]
fPV Reduction factor of the photovoltaic generator [%] hbat Battery efficiency [%]
IT Incident radiation in the photovoltaic module [kW/ SOCmin Minimum state of charge in batteries [%]
m2 ] Cn Nominal capacity of the battery bank [Ah]
Is Solar incident radiation under standard test Cb Nominal capacity of each battery [Ah]
conditions [kW/m2] Nbat Total number of batteries
aP Temperature coefficient of the photovoltaic module life
Tbat Period of time in batteries since the beginning of the
[%/
C] year [h]
TC PV cell temperature [
C] LifeHS Life expectancy of the hybrid system [year]
TS PV cell temperature under standard operating Lifepu;year Battery life in the last year [year]
conditions [
C] Ceil Maximum near limit of the expression as a whole
hg Gasifier efficiency [%] batteries
Qg Volumetric gas flow inside the gasifier [Nm3/h] P0 ðtÞ Inverter output power [kW]
LHVb Lower Heating Value of the Biomass [kJ/kg] Pi ðtÞ Inverter input power [kW]
LHVg Lower Heating Value of the gas [MJ/kg] hinv Inverter efficiency [%]
Mb Rate of biomass consumption [kg/h] Pinv Nominal power of the inverter [kW]
PMTg Estimated power generated by the gasifier - Cacap Capital and installation costs [$]
microturbine MT [kW] CR Replacement costs [$]
HHVg High Heating Value of the Biomass [MJ/kg] Cf Fuel costs [$]
hMT Efficiency of microturbine (MT) [%] CO&M Annual cost of operation and maintenance [$]
Pbg Nominal electrical power generated by the MT- NPC Net Present Cost [$]
gasifier system [kW] COE Cost of Energy [$/kWh]
hgen Efficiency of the electric generator connected to the TAC Total annual cost of the system [$]
microturbine (MT) [kW] CRF Cost of capital recovery [$]
hel Electrical performance of the gasifier-MT system [%] n Years of project life [year]
Paux Power required by the gasifier-MT equipment [kW] i Annual interest rate [%]
Pin Real output power of the gasifier system - MT [kW] Q ðlÞ Diesel consumption [l]
Ebg Annual gasifier production [kWh] Df Distance further from the origin of the biomass [km]
CUF Gasifier utilization factor [%] Qtc Diesel consumption in a standard truck [l/km]
PHKT Hydrokinetic turbine output power [kW] Ct ðUSDÞ Transportation cost of biomass [$]
EHKT Hydrokinetic turbine output energy [kW] CO&M Cost of operation and maintenance in transport
rw Water density [kg/m3] trucks [$]
Cp;H Performance coefficient of the hydrokinetic turbine Cm ðUSDÞ Truck maintenance cost according to your route [$]
[%] Ctb Cost of biomass transported to the plant [$/ton]
hHKT Combined efficiency of the electric generator and F0 Gasifier interception coefficient [units/h/kW]
hydrokinetic turbine [%] F1 Gasifier fuel slope [units/h/kW]
A Swept area of the hydrokinetic turbine [m2] Pload Load power [kW]
v Water speed [m/s]

integrated model has standard deviations lower than 10% when algorithm) using solar and biomass energy. The results have shown
predicting syngas composition and cold gas efficiency. The largest that the genetic algorithm has less cost of energy and unmet load
standard deviation when predicting waste heat is 12.81%, for red- with respect to Homer pro with greater penetration of the photo-
wood pellets and woodchips, the highest cold gas efficiency/power voltaic generator and less CO2 emissions [29]. Another experi-
generation efficiency is 75.0%/16.4% and 80.8%/19.0%, respectively. mental study, it refers to the gasification process of non-woody
The article [18] presents an experimental and analytical study on a biomass, such as straw or corn. The effects of the operating con-
rural house heating system using solar energy and biomass, ditions on the gasification performance in terms of the gasifier
experimental tests have indicated that the energy efficiency and temperature profiles were investigated. According to the experi-
primary exergy are 67.66% and 16.17% respectively, demonstrating mental results, the operating conditions have a great influence on
their viability with experimental data [19]. The PV system alone the gasifier temperature profiles and the distribution of the Product
cannot supply the load, it needs another support system [20]. gas composition and gasification efficiency resulted in 73.61% [30].
The optimal sizing of hybrid systems with biogas and biomass This paper presents a novel study related to the optimization of
was developed to supply the electricity demand [21,22]. As well as, an autonomous hybrid system composed of PV/HKT/BT/GB, to
biomass gasifiers and photovoltaic panels in hybrid systems have determine behavior patterns under several configurations. This
been analyzed by some authors to satisfy the load profiles [23e27]. study analyzes some types of biomass existing in the southern of
Likewise, a hybrid system composed of photovoltaic energy and Ecuador (Cuenca) to produce electricity through a GB that feeds a
biomass is capable of providing electricity at a cheaper cost than its MT microturbine. Three energy control strategies have been dis-
independent parts, the system was simulated in Homer software cussed using the Homer pro computational tool to improve the
[28]. In Ref. [29] the authors modeled and optimized the off-grid reliability of the system. The GB feeds the load in the absence of a
hybrid energy system using Homer pro and Matlab (genetic renewable source (solar and hydrokinetic). The photovoltaic
 A. Cano et al. / Energy 202 (2020) 117727 3

component in laboratory shown in Photography 1. The nominal Photography 3. Downdraft gasifier 70 kWe.
capacity of 35 kWp consisting of 140 photovoltaic solar panels of This document has been organized as follows: in section 2, the
250 Wp each, brand Atersa (Spain), distributed as follows: 60 fixed load demand curve is indicated and mathematical models are
panels oriented at an angle of 5
north of monocrystalline type with raised. Section 3 describes the cost analysis of the system compo-
15 kW capacity; 60 fixed panels oriented at an angle of 5
north nents. In section 4, the proposed energy dispatch control schemes
polycrystalline type 15 kW capacity [31]. are presented and sensitivity analysis, making a comparison and
discussion of the results obtained in section 5. Section 6 presents a
comparison with similar studies. Finally, section 7 presents the
conclusions.

2. Hybrid system model

The hybrid system used in this paper consists of a PV, HKT, GB

connected to a MT and an energy storage system using BAT (lead
acid). Fig. 1 shows the hybrid system used.

2.1. Case study

Photography 1. Photovoltaic system in the laboratory.
The smart hydro hydrokinetic turbine in the laboratory has The case study is a University located in southern Ecuador
5 kW of power, shown in Photography 2 [31]. (2
480 13.000 S 78
520 00.500 W), the demand curve is presented in
Fig. 2. The daily demand data has been taken from the energy
meters of the University, so they are real data.
It is clear that peak demand occurs at night with 30 kW and the
minimum demand occurs at dawn with 10 kW on average. The
average hourly radiation for one year is shown in Fig. 3. The real
solar radiation data has been taken from the meteorological station
installed at the University (study load).
The radiation is relatively constant during the year, due to the
location of the study site. In addition to the solar resource, there is a
water resource close to the demand, the average hourly speed for a
year of the river is shown in Fig. 4. The river speed data has been
calculated from real flow data for a year, these data have been taken
from a hydrological station located on the Burgay river, which is
located near the load under study.
Photography 2. Hydrokinetic turbine in the laboratory. Four types of biomass have been proposed, depending on their
The biomass gasifier system is shown in Photography.3. The availability and distance from the source, the average monthly
project RESOLIVE, used a 70 kWe and 110 kWth downdraft gasifier consumption for one year is shown in Fig. 5.
and gas-powered engine. The resource of each type of biomass has been obtained from
real data taken in each production sector, through surveys in fac-
tories and distributors.
4 A. Cano et al. / Energy 202 (2020) 117727

Fig. 1. Proposed hybrid system.

Fig. 2. Daily load demand [kW].

2.2. Photovoltaic model used as an input fuel to the MT. Studies have shown that the effi-
ciency of the primary energy of biomass is 16.67% [18].
The performance of a solar module changes according to the The purpose of the biomass gasification system is to generate
climatic conditions of the installation site. The photovoltaic power energy by the combustible gases obtained from the total process.
varies regarding to the solar radiation incident in the module and The performance of the gasifier hg is given by Eq. (3) [14e17,30]:
the environmental factors (ambient temperature, humidity, etc.).
The power of the PPV system is calculated using Eq. (1) [32]. Qg  LHVg

 hg ¼ :  100 (3)
I mb  LHVb
PPV ¼ YPV  fPV T ½1 þ aP  ðTC  TS Þ (1)
IS The estimated power generated is calculated with the following
Eq. (4) [33].

Total gas  HHVg  hMT

2.3. Model of gasifier biomass PMTg ¼ (4)
365
In biomass gasification technology, solid bio-wastes are trans- MT efficiency around 30%. The gas produced includes the gases
formed, forming a gaseous fuel that is finally used for electricity produced in pyrolysis, tar reforming and coal gasification processes.
generation. In the case of the biomass gasifier, the gas produced is The efficiency of microturbine is given by:
 A. Cano et al. / Energy 202 (2020) 117727 5

Fig. 3. Global solar radiation [kW/m2].

Fig. 4. River speed [m/s].

Fig. 5. Average biomass consumption [t/day].

6 A. Cano et al. / Energy 202 (2020) 117727

3. Economic analysis
Pbg
hMT ¼  :   100 (5)
mb  LHVg  hgen In this study, the Net Present Cost (NPC) of the proposed hybrid
system is minimized, while maintaining the optimal energy flow.
Generator efficiency is close to 95%. The electrical efficiency is For an optimal configuration, four main factors are determined: the
given by Eq. (6) [34]: number of PV, BT, HKT and nominal capacity of GB.
For the economic analysis, the concept of the annual cost of the
hel ¼ hg  hMT  hgen (6)
system (TAC) is used [36].
The electrical performance of the gasifier-MT system is given by
Ref. [8]: X
n X
n
TAC ¼ Cacap þ CO&M;i þ Cf þ CR;i (14)
Pin  Paux Pbg i¼1 i¼1
hel ¼ ¼ (7)
ðInput biomassÞLHV ðInput biomassÞLHV The cost of energy (COE) (V/kWh), defined as the average cost of
The annual production of electricity Ebg from a biomass gasifier one kWh of energy, is calculated as follows:
can be calculated as,
NPCðVÞ
COEðV=kWhÞ ¼  CRF (15)
Ebg ¼ Pbg  ð8760  CUFÞ (8) P
h¼8760
Pload ðhÞðkWhÞ
h¼1

The NPC represents the cost of the system life cycle, the present
2.4. Model of hydrokinetic turbines value of all installation and operation costs throughout the life of
the project.
The characteristics of the HKT depend on the river speed. In this
study, a hydrokinetic turbine of 5 kW is used. The feasibility of TAC
using hydrokinetic turbines (HKT) in off-grid systems has been NPC ¼ (16)
CFRði; nÞ
proposed in Ref. [4]. The electrical output power of HKT is given by
Eq. (9) [35]. where CRF can be calculated by:
1
PHKT ¼ ,rw,A,v3 ,Cp;H ,hHKT (9) ið1 þ iÞn
2 CRFði; nÞ ¼ (17)
ð1 þ iÞn  1
where the energy is given by:
The cost details of each component of the renewable hybrid
EHKT ¼ PHKT  t (10) system (HRES) are presented in Table 1.
To perform the simulation in Homer, it is essential to identify
several parameters such as those shown in Table 2. The simulation
will determine the optimal value.
2.5. Model of energy storage system Diesel consumption Qd in (l) is calculated with the following Eq.
(18):
The batteries are used as a system to store excess energy or to
discharge when the energy that comes from renewable sources is Qd ¼ Df  Qtd (18)
insufficient. Energy measurement can be achieved with the proper
estimation of the state of charge (SOC). The SOC of the battery is a Therefore, the average cost of transporting biomass Ct ($) is:
function of time and can be calculated as,
Ct ¼ Qd  Cd (19)
ðt
Pb ðtÞ  hbat Additionally, according to Table 2, the cost of transport includes
SOCðtÞ ¼ SOCðt  1Þ dt (11)
Vbus a cost per operation and maintenance Co&m and Df is the farthest
t1
transport distance of biomass in (km) of 0.5 ($/km), so the main-
To calculate the number of Nbat batteries during the operation of tenance cost Cm ($) is:
the hybrid system life, the following Eq. (12) is used:

pu:year
! Cm ¼ Df  Co&m (20)
LifeHS  Lifebat
Nbat ¼ ceil life
(12) The cost per ton of transported biomass Ctb ($) is given by Eq.
Tbat
(25) and is shown in Table 3.

Ctb ¼ Ct þ Cm (21)
2.6. Inverter model Since the place of study is located in southern Ecuador, the
maximum transport distance of each biomass in the surrounding
The inverter is used to connect the DC bus to the AC current, area has been detailed.
using Eq. (13). Determine the power of the load side. It is necessary to determine the parameters of the gasifier since
for each biomass proposed, the interception coefficients (F0) and
P0 ðtÞ ¼ Pi ðtÞhinv (13)
the fuel slope (F1) will be different in each case, Table 4 shows the
The efficiency of the inverter is 96%. The input power of the Pinv characteristics of each type of biomass and the calculated
inverter will be given by the PV power and battery power. parameters.
 A. Cano et al. / Energy 202 (2020) 117727 7

Table 1
Characteristic of the system components.

System Capital Cost ($/kW) Replacement ($/kW) O&M ($/year)

Gasifier [37] 781.25 325 0.065 $/op.h

PV [38] 1300 500 10
HKT [4,35,39] 1900 1060 50
BAT/acid lead [32,39,40] 300 150 10
Converter [39] 300 300 0

Table 2 ii. In the case that the energy generated by PV and HKT is insuf-
Average cost of heavy load transportation. ficient and the batteries SOC(t) < SOCmin(t), then the energy to
Parameters Values meet the load demand is supplied by GB at maximum power.
Average fuel consumption (l/km) [41,42] 0.1746
Diesel cost (USD/l) [43] 0.27 Pload ðtÞ ¼ PGBmax ðtÞ (24)
Vehicles O&M cost (USD/km) [43] 0.5
The excess energy will serve to recharge the batteries

4. Control strategies Pbat ðtÞ ¼ PGBmax ðtÞ  Pload ðtÞ (25)

In this system, the GB remains at the lowest priority, that is, it

works only when PV, HKT and BAT are unable to meet the load
demand. The steps of the operational strategy are as follows: iv. In the case that the energy generated by PV and HKT is
insufficient and the batteries SOC(t)  SOCmin(t), then the
energy to meet the load demand is supplied by renewable
sources and batteries.
4.1. Cycle charging control

In the control of the charging cycle, the priority of the system is

to recharge the batteries with the gasifier at maximum power
when conditions arise. The operation of the algorithm is explained
below in Fig. 6:
4.2. Load following control

i. If the total energy produced by PV and HKT is sufficient and

Unlike the CC control, the LF control has as a priority to supply
SOC(t) < SOCmin(t). The demand is supplied by renewable and
the load with the GB according to the power that the demand
the battery is charged with the GB at maximum power.
requires.

PPV ðtÞ
Pload ðtÞ ¼ PHKT ðtÞ þ (22) i. First, the LF strategy. If the total energy produced by PV and HKT
hinv is sufficient and SOC(t) < SOCmin(t). The demand is supplied by
renewable sources.
Pbat ðtÞ ¼ PGBmax ðtÞ (23)
PPV ðtÞ
Pload ðtÞ ¼ PHKT ðtÞ þ (26)
hinv
ii. If the total energy produced by PV and HKT is sufficient and
SOC(t)  SOCmin(t). There is excess energy that must be The excess renewable sources energy will serve to recharge the
deferred. batteries

Table 3
Calculation of the cost of transport of biomass at the study site.

Fuel Scaled annual average (t/day) Furthest distance (km) Diesel consumption (l) Transport cost (USD) Additional costs (USD) Total ($/t)

Banana residue 1.75 120 20,952 5,65704 60 65,65704

Cocoa residue 1.85 110 19,206 5,18562 55 60,18562
Cane Bagasse residue 2.83 60 10,476 2,82852 30 32,82852
Wood Residue 3.61 40 6984 1,88568 20 21,88568

Table 4
Characteristic of the type of biomass used.

Parameter Wood residue Banana residue Cane Bagasse residue Cocoa residue

LHV biomass (MJ/kg) [44] 19 12,63 19,85 6464

Carbon content (%) [38,45,46] 4,96 41,6 29 5,24
Scaled annual average (t/d) [45] 3,61 1,75 2,83 1,85
Average price ($/t) 21,88 65,65 32,82 60,18
F0 0,0001 0,00013 0,0002 0,0043
F1 1,5788 2375 1513 4,64
8 A. Cano et al. / Energy 202 (2020) 117727

Fig. 6. Flow chart CC control.

HKT components for all cases are kept at a constant power (18 kW
PPV ðtÞ and 4 units respectively). Therefore, the variables are: photovoltaic
Pbat ¼ PHKT ðtÞ þ  Pload ðtÞ (27)
hinv energy, battery capacity and biomass consumption.
The objective variable in this case is greenhouse gas emissions,
which depend on the amount of biomass burned per year, fuel (t/
year), when using the LF control it is evident that the amount of fuel
ii. If the total energy produced by PV and HKT is sufficient and used is less with respect to a CC and CD, therefore CO and NOx
SOC(t)  SOCmin(t). There is excess energy that must be emissions are lower with the cocoa residue with minimum values
deferred. followed by the wood residue. To use a smaller quantity of biomass,
ii. In the case that the energy generated by PV and HKT is insuf- the photovoltaic power must be greater as well as the capacity of
ficient and the batteries SOC(t) < SOCmin(t), then the energy to the batteries. However, they do not represent higher levels of
meet the load demand is supplied by GB according to the power emissions.
that the demand requires. Fig. 8 shows the energy control strategies taken from a random
sample of 100 h per year; In Fig. 8 the batteries accumulate more
PGB ðtÞ ¼ Pload ðtÞ (28)
energy, causing the GB to shut down during future periods of low
charge by demonstrating the DC control presented in Fig. 6. In
iv. In the case that the energy generated by PV and HKT is Fig. 9, the LF control has been brought to out, generating electrical
insufficient and the batteries SOC(t)  SOCmin(t), then the energy according to the load required and not recharging the bat-
energy to meet the load demand is supplied by renewable teries as in DC, demonstrating the algorithm presented in Fig. 7.
sources and batteries. The CD uses the net present load to avoid future problems, with
the purpose of deciding whether the batteries should be recharged
PPV ðtÞ using the GB or excess power, so it uses the CC dispatch when the
Pload ðtÞ ¼ Pbat ðtÞ þ PHKT ðtÞ þ (29)
hinv net load is low and LF when it is high. This strategy ensures the
continuous operation of the GB, the CD is shown in Fig. 10, the state
In the third strategy CD. The decision of the controller depends of charge of the batteries has a different performance from the
on the cost of energy production. Depending on the system con- previous ones since the gasifier has the priority of supplying
ditions, you must choose between CC and LF. Because the load and energy.
conditions are random, the dispatch strategy uses the current net On the other hand, Fig. 11 shown the optimal NPC ($) using
charge (renewable charge-energy) to make a decision. The different types of biomass, the wood residue under CC control is the
controller must use the CC strategy (Fig. 6) if the current net charge most economical with an NPC of $ 247,686 and a COE of 0.182
is low (approximately less than 50%). On the other hand, if the $/kWh shown in Fig. 12. In addition, CO2 emissions are lower
current net load is high, the controller must select the LF strategy (Fig. 13) and excess energy (Fig. 14), since under CC control the
(Fig. 7). Homer optimizes each of the options to meet the demand system charging the batteries and not supplying the load directly,
by comparing the cost of charging the battery with the DG with the also depends on the availability and characteristics of the biomass
cost of charging the battery using excess renewable energy. type.
In Fig. 15 the electrical production of each energy source is
5. Results shown, the penetration of the GB is lower under the LF control
because it supplies the demand only with the required power.
Table 5 shows the result of the optimization. Firstly, the GB and
 A. Cano et al. / Energy 202 (2020) 117727 9

Fig. 7. Flow chart LF control.

Table 5
HRES system optimization.

Parameters Wood residue Banana residue Cane bagasse residue Cocoa residue

CC LF CD CC LF CD CC LF CD CC LF CD

Loss of power supply probability (%) 0.06 0.06 0 0.04 0.04 0 0.06 0.07 0 0.04 0.07 0
CO emissions (kg/yr) 0.2 0.12 0.29 0.29 0.09 0.43 0.19 0.11 0.27 0.54 0.04 0.84
NOx emissions (kg/yr) 0.13 0.07 0.18 0.18 0.06 0.27 0.12 0.07 0.17 0.34 0.03 0.52
Gasifier
Capacity (kW) 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18
Fuel (t/year) 102 28.2 142 145 46 214 97.4 52.5 136 271 20.1 419
PV
Capacity (kW) 20.6 79 124 28.2 242 125 20.6 84.9 124 35 452 124
BAT
Capacity (kWh) 120 320 236 112 328 228 120 340 236 124 292 240
Autonomy (h) 5.92 15.8 11.6 5.53 16.2 11.3 5.92 16.8 11.6 6.14 14.4 11.8
Converter
Capacity (kW) 27.7 45.2 42.3 19.7 18 49.6 27.7 68.3 42.3 21 30 45.5
HKT
Quantity 4 4 0 4 4 0 4 4 0 4 4 0

Fig. 8. Result of the energy control strategies under CC control.

10 A. Cano et al. / Energy 202 (2020) 117727

Fig. 9. Result of the energy control strategies under LF control.

Fig. 10. Result of the energy control strategies under CD control.

Fig. 11. Economic optimization result of the hybrid system (NPC).

 A. Cano et al. / Energy 202 (2020) 117727 11

Fig. 12. Economic optimization result of the hybrid system (COE).

Fig. 13. Environmental optimization result of the hybrid system.

Fig. 14. Energy optimization result of the hybrid system.

12 A. Cano et al. / Energy 202 (2020) 117727

Fig. 15. Electricity production with different types of biomass.

However, the PV power is greater than CC and DC. The CC control recharge the batteries. The LF control, if it has less capacity in the
chooses more HKT power due to its low price, increasing the batteries (higher SOCmin), would have to use more GB, which would
penetration of the GB to recharge the batteries, the CD control further increase the cost of the system. CD control is a combination
chooses higher PV by increasing the price of energy, these results of CC and LF. The results are shown in Fig. 16 (a) and Fig. 16 (b).
coincide with the data obtained in Table 5. Regarding the consumption of biomass (kg/year), and CO2
A sensitivity analysis of the SOCmin with respect to cost and fuel emissions (kg/year), it is evident that, for a larger SOCmin, there will
consumption was performed. Fig. 16 (a) shows an increase in cost be a lower performance of the GB, so biomass consumption and CO2
while SOCmin is higher The DC control, which takes priority to emissions it will be relatively lower, as shown in Fig. 16 (b).
recharge the batteries, presents a low-cost increase when the Fig. 17 (a) shows the variation of the Time step with respect to
SOCmin is higher. Therefore, the system would use less energy to the NPC ($) and COE ($/kWh). While, if the resolution is increased

Fig. 16. SOCmin sensitivity analysis (wood).

 A. Cano et al. / Energy 202 (2020) 117727 13

Fig. 17. Sensitivity analysis. Time step (wood).

the cost of the system is slightly lower, so it is recommended to emissions (kg/year) in Fig. 17 (b).
perform the analysis with samples in an interval of 5 min. The same Because the cost of the components is variable with respect to
behavior has shown the consumption of biomass (kg/year) and CO2 time, a sensitivity analysis of the variation in the cost of capital has

Fig. 18. Sensitivity analysis, variation of the cost of capital with respect to NPC. (a) CC (b) LF (c) CD.
14 A. Cano et al. / Energy 202 (2020) 117727

Fig. 19. Sensitivity analysis variation of the cost of capital with respect to COE. (a) CC (b) LF (c) CD.

been performed in some indices with respect to NPC and COE. 6. Comparison with similar research
In Fig. 18, increasing the cost of capital also increases the NPC
under the three energy controls, the price of biomass and PV are the There are few studies that make the comparison of an isolated
ones that differ in CC and LF due to the control algorithm used, renewable system made up of PV/HKT/BAT/GB; but in some similar
while the nominal discount rate decreases in all cases. From the studies new results have been found. The comparison is not accu-
economic viewpoint, CC control is recommended. rate due to the difference in the size of the systems.
The component which has presented the highest sensitivity is The results of the studies mentioned in Table 6 show different
HKT and the lowest is the GB. In this case, there is an increase in the COEs due to the different potencies of each source. However, when
nominal discount rate, under the control LF, Fig. 19 (b), the price of comparing with the current study, the values are similar and
GB does not imply a considerable change in the COE. However, the depending on the subsidies of each country, the cost will change.
price of biomass and PV changes its value considerably. Finally, in
Fig. 19 (c) it shows a pattern similar to the CC control, with the 7. Conclusions
difference that in this case the HKT component presents a smaller
variation and the slightly larger PV component. The results are The results obtained in the analysis of technical-economic
similar to the study [28] when using the CC control. The variation of optimization of a renewable hybrid system composed of PV/HKT/
the discount rate reflects intervals where the price of electricity is GB/BAT in an area south of Ecuador, show that for the different
affordable under different scenarios, as in Ref. [47]. In addition, the types of biomass in the gasifier, there is slight variation of the
installation of distributed solar panels avoids losses in the system. interception parameters and fuel slope.

Table 6
Comparison with other studies.

Ref. Country Hybrid Renewable System COE ($/kWh) Dispatch Method

Source 1 (kW) Source 2 (kW) Source 3 (kW) Source 4 (kW)

[28] India PV (13.7) Biomass (14.2) Diesel (26.5) e 0.27 CC

e 0.2 GA
[29] India PV (100) FC (57) Wind (50) Biomass (50) 0.214 CC
Biomass (50) 0.163 GA
[47] Iran PV (15) Biogas (10) DG (10) Grid () 0.193 CC
[20] Thailand PV (12.285) Syngas (13.8) BAT (60.9) e 0.2 CC
[25] Bangladesh PV (106) Biomass (55) DG (40) e 0.21 CC
[48] Pakistan Wind (15,000) Biogas (20,000) PV (15,000) Grid () 0.0525 CC
[49] India PV (60) Biogas (6) DG (10) BAT (70) 0.197 CC
[24] India PV (55) Biomass (35) e BAT (20) 0.12 LF
[23] India PV (5) Biomass (5) FC (5) BAT 0.13 CC
Present Study Ecuador PV (20.06) HKT (20) Biomass (Wood) (18) BAT (120) 0.118 CC
0.305 LF
0.374 CD
 A. Cano et al. / Energy 202 (2020) 117727 15

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