Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Wind turbine
Solar panel
Street light
Figure 16: Wind-solar hybrid system for street lights .
Wind and solar energy are complementary to each other in time sequence and
regions. In the summer, sunlight is intensive and the sunshine duration is long but
there is less wind. In the winter, when less sunlight is available, wind becomes
strong. During a day, the sunshine is strong while wind is weak. After sunset, the
wind is strengthened due to large temperature changes near the earth's surface. It
has been reported that the effects of complementarity are more dramatic in certain
periods and locations at Serbia [112]. The analyses and test data of wind-solar
hybrid power systems have shown that the optimum combination of the wind-
solar hybrid system lies between 0.70 and 0.75 of solar energy to load ratio with
the minimized life cycle cost. For all load demands, the leveled energy cost for the
wind-solar hybrid system is always lower than that of standalone solar or wind
system [ 113 ].
Because the major operating time for wind and solar systems occurs at different
periods of time, wind-solar hybrid power systems can ensure the reliability of
electricity supply. The applications of wind-solar hybrid systems ranges exten-
sively from residential houses to municipal and industrial facilities, either grid-
connected or standalone. For instance, as an independent power supply source,
wind-solar hybrid systems have been widely used in China for street lighting (see
Fig. 16). The world's largest wind-solar power test base, integrating wind power,
photovoltaic power and energy storage, is being constructed at Zhangbei, China.
The project will have an installed capacity to generate 300 MW of wind power,
100 MW of solar power and 75 MW of chemical energy storage [114].
7.8.2 Wind-hydro hybrid system
Hydropower generation is to convert potential energy in water into electrical
energy by means of hydropower generators. As a renewable and clean energy
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