HOMER Tutorial

TRAINING LABORATORY SESSION NO. 5

Modeling PV systems

Background:
PV system is becoming one of the most cost-effective renewable energy (RE) sources
both at the building level and at the large scale power plant level. The cost of PV power
is still high relative to other RE systems including wind turbines. In this lab session,
energy and cost performance analyses of PV systems with wind turbines are performed
using HOMER for remote applications (i.e., off-grid).

Specific Lab Tasks:

Step-1: Formulate the Problem

For this lab, we want to determine if it make sense to install PV Panels or wind turbines
to serve small loads in a remote area. In particular, we want to use HOMER to perform
a sensitivity analysis to assess when PV panels and/or wind turbines are cost effective
to install for non-grid connected applications.

Step-2: Create a new HOMER file

Start a new HOMER file and add the following items as shown in Figure 1:
(i) Primary Load 1 (the electrical load that we need to meet using either diesel
generators or wind turbines)
(ii) PV system
(iii) Wind Turbine 1 (small wind turbines)
(iv) Battery 1 (the batteries will be used when the generators and/or the turbines
have to maintained)
(v) For the Grid, use the option “do not model grid” (to ensure that the system is
not connected to the grid

Figure 1: Selection of the Components of the Off-Grid System

Step-3: Define the Electrical Load

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For this lab session, you can input the electrical load using the same hourly profile for all
the 12 months as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Electrical Load Profile

Step-4: Define the Characteristics of the System Components

In this step, the details of the components performance and cost data are provided as
input data to HOMER. Start with the cost data for the diesel generators using the
following data:

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• A 0.4-kW PV panel is considered with an initial cost of $8000/kW, a replacement

cost of $7000/kW, and operating and maintenance costs of $0/yr as shown in
Figure 3. Allow the PV system size to vary from 0 to 0.4-kW with an increment of
0.05-kW.

Figure 3: Cost Data for a PV System

• A 0.55-KW SWAIR X(2) wind turbine is used with an initial cost of $1200/kW, a
replacement cost of $1100/kW, and operating and maintenance costs of $20/yr
as shown in Figure 4. Note that type of power (DC) the wind turbine generate.
Allow the number of turbines to vary from 0 to 3.

Figure 4: Performance and Cost Data for a Wind turbine

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• 8 Trojan T-105 batteries are selected. Each battery has an initial cost of $130, a
replacement cost of $117, and operating and maintenance costs of $4/yr as
shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Performance and Cost Data for the Batteries

Step-5: Define the Resource Data

For the wind turbine, we need to define the wind resources for the site. For this session,
we input the wind speed using the monthly data as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Wind Data for the Site

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For the PV system, we need to define the solar resources for the site. For this session,
we input the solar radiation using database data available in HOMER corresponding to
Iceland, UK, Ireland, and West Africa Zone as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Solar Data for the Site

Step-6: Check the Input File and Adjust

When you entered all the data above, you should not warnings!

Step-7: Perform the Simulation and Check the Results

After checking that there is no warning in the input file, you should check that there are
180 design configurations to be considered in the optimization search domain. You can
check the number of the configurations using the search space option as shown in
Figure 8.

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Figure 8: Design Configurations in the Search Space

Then, perform the simulation and check the results. You should obtain the results
similar to those illustrated in Figure 9. Determine the best option in terms of COE and
NPC

Figure 9: Results of HOMER Optimization Calculations

Consider the most cost-effective option (in Figure 9, it is the option that has 0.05-kW PV
system with 1 SWAIR-X wind turbine and 2 Batteries) and determine the excess
electricity generated by the system as shown in Figure 10.

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Figure 10: Monthly Electrical Production by the Best System with Wind Turbine

Step-8: Perform Sensitivity Analyses

To explore conditions when a system with wind turbine can become cost-effective, a
series of sensitivity analyses can be carried out. In particular, the impact of wind speed
is considered by varying the annual wind speed from 4.0 to 7.0 m/s as shown in Figure
11.

Figure 11: Wind Speed Sensitivity Values

Similarly, the impact of the electrical load should be explored by varying the peak load
from 0.2-kW to 1.0-kW as illustrated in Figure 11. Considering both the wind speed
values and the peak loads, the number of the sensitivity configurations is 20 (for each,
42 simulations have to be performed). Perform the sensitivity analysis and check the
results (it may several minutes to complete the sensitivity analysis).

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Figure 11: Peak Electrical Load Sensitivity Values

The results of the sensitivity analysis are provided in a graphical format in Figure 12.

Figure 12: Sensitivity Analysis as Function of Wind Speed and Peak Load

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Step-9: Perform Parametric Analyses

Explore the impact of various parameters such as:
• The solar radiation profile
• The wind turbine height
• The cost of the PV system

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