Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 10

Energy 89 (2015) 226e235

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Hybrid system with micro gas turbine and PV (photovoltaic) plant:


Guidelines for sizing and management strategies
Gabriele Comodi a, Massimiliano Renzi b, *, Luca Cioccolanti a, Flavio Caresana a,
Leonardo Pelagalli a
a
b

 Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy


Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale e Scienze Matematiche, Universita
 di Scienze e Tecnologie, Libera Universita
 di Bolzano, Piazza Universita
 5, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
Facolta

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 16 April 2015
Received in revised form
15 July 2015
Accepted 19 July 2015
Available online 8 August 2015

This paper presents a hybrid system consisting of a 100 kWe micro gas turbine (MGT) that juxtaposes the
energy production of a photovoltaic (PV) plant whose yearly yield is available by on eld measurements.
The aim of the work is to model and investigate the behavior and the performance of a hybrid MGT-PV
system under the topical constraint of rming renewable power and hence of guaranteeing a reliable
power production to the grid. We propose a solution for the sizing of the PV plant and two strategies for
the management of the hybrid system in order to guarantee a reliable day-ahead hourly forecast of the
electric power that can be actually produced by the plant under whatever ambient condition. The results
ascertain the advantages of the upgraded system in terms of natural gas consumption (16%) and and
NOX (~ 33%) with a higher local emission of CO. In particular, the proposed hybrid system: i) solves the
problem due to the unpredictability of PV energy production; ii) grants a signicant reduction of the
primary fuel usage and specic energy cost; but iii) increases the level of local pollutants, since it internalizes the emissions previously generated in a centralized power plant to produce the amount of
electricity of the hybrid system.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Hybrid system
Smart grids
MGT
PV
Distributed generation
Renewable capacity rming

1. Introduction
In the transition from the existing grid to the future smart grids
the higher penetration of renewable energies [1] could arise concerns about the stability and operation of the electric grid which is
not designed to deal with the intermittent and variable nature of
renewable, particularly wind and solar, resources. According to
Wang et al. [2] capacity rming is fundamental to address the issues of load prole following and power balancing, capacity rming
to reduce renewables' variable output. California ISO (CAISO)
conducted a study [3] on issues related to the integration of
renewable energy and found that accurate forecasts (both dayahead and hour-ahead) of renewable energy production are
fundamental both for reliable operation of the grid and for scheduling the energy production of other power plants. The issue of
accurate forecasts of renewable energy generation was also
addressed by Silva et al. [4] who proposed a methodology for

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 39 0471 017816.


E-mail address: massimiliano.renzi@unibz.it (M. Renzi).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.07.072
0360-5442/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

distributed energy resource scheduling in smart grids, considering


day ahead, hour ahead and 5 min ahead scheduling.
In this context, according to Chowdhury et al. [5], microturbines
are widely popular as generating units in distributed generation
(DG) systems and as energy producers in CHP systems. At present
they hold maximum prospect to be used as microsources for
Microgrids. With an electrical power output ranging from 25 kW to
500 kW, Microturbines (MGTs) are a relatively new technology that
is currently attracting a lot of interest in DG market [6e9]. The DG
concept, recently in expansion as a result of deregulation of electric
market, consists in using generators sized from few kWs to MW
geographically distributed instead of using traditional centralized
generation units sized from 100 MW to GW [10]. In the future
probably the DG will be based strongly on renewable sources but,
the short-term solution in the path to the diffusion of this scenario
seems to be the use of hybrid generation sets consisting of a mix of
renewable and conventional sources, and an energy storage system.
As backup source for integrating renewable energy sources in hybrid
systems, apart from MGTs, reciprocating engines (ICE) and fuel cells
(FC) have been proposed [11e14]. FCs are probably the most promising technology but they are still too costly and less reliable with

G. Comodi et al. / Energy 89 (2015) 226e235

respect to the others. MGTs are generally preferred to ICEs [15,16],


even if they are less efcient in generating electricity, thanks to their
high power density, low environmental impact in terms of pollutants, low operation and maintenance (O&M) costs and multi fuel
capability [17]. Depending on parameters such as grid availability,
cost of grid supplied electricity, and meteorological conditions in the
application site, DG hybrid systems can be either in stand-alone or in
grid-parallel conguration. In particular, DG using MGTs is a typical
solution for standalone, on site applications remote from power
grids. Other applications are devoted to combined heat and power
generation (CHP), peak shaving, standby power generation, reliability increase, power boost capacity, cost of energy decrease, and
pollutant emission reduction [9]. As renewable energy systems have
an unpredictable nature and dependence on weather and climatic
conditions, their design must be optimal in terms of operation and
component selection in order to obtain electricity reliably [18e20]
and at a competitive price [21] from a hybrid system. For a given
location, the optimum sizing of each component requires a detailed
analysis of various site-dependent variables such as solar radiation,
wind speed, ambient temperature and their inuence on the performance of the components of the system. When optimum sizing
has been achieved attention has to be paid to the dynamic behavior
of the system in order to assure power quality, without voltage unbalance and voltage uctuations [16,22,23]. To this respect, a
concern in using MGTs in hybrid systems is their sensitivity to
ambient conditions. Thus the knowledge of the effects of ambient
conditions on the MGT performance is a key subject both for the
sizing of the energy system and for its optimal dynamic control.
Actually, when weather rapidly changes, assuring good power
quality from a local grid consisting of photovoltaic panels or/and
wind turbines aided by MGTs is a non-trivial problem. In general, the
photovoltaic system is characterized by a production curve that is
proportional to the availability of the solar radiation; the power
production has a bell trend in a sunny day, with a maximum that is
positioned in the central hours of the day. On the other hand, an MGT
has a power production curve that depends on three variables
(temperature, pressure, relative humidity) and shows an antithetical
trend to that of the photovoltaic systems; this occurs because the
parameter that has relatively more inuence on the performance of
the machine is the ambient temperature (the higher the temperature, the lower the maximum power production). Temperature, as
well as solar radiation, usually has a maximum in the central hours of
the day and, accordingly, the performance of the MGT have a deterioration. For this reason, coupling an MGT with a PV system seems
to be an interesting solution for their integrating production proles.
Also in a paper by Ismail et al. [24] the MGT-PV coupling was proposed for a case study in Palestine. The authors provide an interesting evaluation of the advantages of this coupling and also supply
an optimization procedure for the PV system design in order to
minimize the energy production cost and the CO2 emissions for a
typical Palestinian rural community. Nevertheless, the effect of the
ambient parameters on the MGT performance is not considered and
a battery storage system is embedded to shave the energy production/demand surplus. The sensitivity to ambient conditions of the
MGT, mainly ambient temperature, was deeply investigated by some
of the authors of the present paper [25e28] and also techniques to
reduce this detrimental impact have been studied [29,30].
In this work we took the advantage of the knowledge of a
Turbec-T100 micro gas turbine in order to model and investigate
the behavior and performance of a hybrid MGT-PV system with the
constrain of an accurate day-ahead production forecasts which is
essential for reliable operation of the power grid. In particular, we
assess the implicit and topical constraint of rming solar power
generation and hence of guaranteeing a reliable power production
to the grid. Because of the uncertainty of the prediction of the PV

227

plant production [31,32], the MGT must be able to offset rapid


output changes of PV plant due to clouds to guarantee a reliable
day-ahead hourly forecast of the electric power that can be actually
produced by the plant under whatever ambient condition. The
system was thought as an electric energy production device integrated in local low voltage distribution grid and not as an off-grid
device that continuously follows a specic energy demand; therefore, no electric energy storage is required.
The rst part of the paper presents the components of the
hybrid system, its sizing and its management strategies in order to
guarantee, for every hour of the following day, a reliable amount of
power supply to the grid. The second part of the paper presents the
results of the yearly output of the hybrid-system in terms of natural
gas consumption, CO and NOX emissions and mean specic consumption of the MGT depending on the size of the PV plant. In our
work, experimental PV plant performance data as well as all the
ambient variables inuencing the PV and the MGT operation were
collected for a whole year of operation and taken into account to
supply a more realistic scenario of the behavior of the hybrid plant.
2. Hybrid system: PV capacity rming and operational limits
The hybrid system proposed in this work results from the
upgrading of an MGT with a solar PV system. In this section, a
procedure is proposed for sizing the PV plant to juxtapose to the
MGT and then some plant management criteria are discussed to
guarantee a dened power output with one day advance.
The hybrid-plant sizing procedure starts with the choice of the
MGT and then goes through the evaluation of the adequate size of
the PV plant which can be easily adapted with steps of few hundreds of Watt by varying the number of panels.
The criteria to be taken into account for the plant sizing and
management can be summarized in three points: i) guaranteeing a
day-ahead-dened power to the grid in any ambient condition, ii)
minimizing the fossil fuel consumption, and iii) dispatching to the
grid all the available renewable energy output (no energy storage);
conditions ii) and iii) imply the minimization of the fossil to
renewable power ratio.
2.1. Plant sizing
Given a generic MGT, its actual power working range (PMGT_a)
lays between a minimum, (PMGT_min, that guaranties stable operation of the machine), and a maximum (PMGT_max) which depends on
ambient temperature:

PMGT

min

 PMGT

 PMGT

max Tamb

(1)

Now consider the criteria from i) to iii):


- according to condition i) the actual power output of the hybrid
plant (Pa ), which is the sum of the actual power of PV (PPV_a) and
MGT (PMGT_a), must be equal to that dened the day-ahead for
the hybrid system (Pd ) given by the sum of the productions of
MGT (PMGT_d) and the PV (PPV_d) regardless the actual ambient
conditions:

Pa Pd

PMGT

PPV

PMGT

PPV

(2)

- according to condition ii) the MGT has to be used only when


strictly necessary. Thus the MGT start-up has to be scheduled
only when solar power is available, and, when operating, its
power contribute to the hybrid plant has to be minimized:

228

G. Comodi et al. / Energy 89 (2015) 226e235

PMGT_d 0 when PPV

(3a)

PMGT_d PMGT_min when PPV

>0

(3b)

The combination of equations (2) and (3b) yields equation (4):

PMGT

 PMGT_min PPV

 PPV

(4)

which indicates that if during the day the actual PV plant power
yield (PPV_a) is different from the one dened the day ahead, the
difference has to be compensated by varying the actual MGT power
output.
- Eventually, condition iii) implies that the PV power output
cannot be stored nor dissipated in any condition and thus the
maximum size of the PV plant that can be backed up by the
given MGT comes out by verifying equation (4) in the worst
possible conditions, i.e. when PMGT_max is at the minimum
possible (this occurs in the hottest day for the installation site),
PMGT a PMGT max Tamb max , and the PV plant, due to a bad
turn in the weather conditions, is unable to produce the expected power, PPV d > 0 but PPV a 0.
The size of the PV plant, PPV, in accord with the imposed criteria
is:

PPV PPV_d PMGT

max

Tamb


max

 PMGT_min

(5)

If the PV plant power was greater than that expressed in (5) the
MGT wouldn't be able to compensate its variations in the worst
ambient condition; otherwise, if it was lower the fossil to renewable power ratio wouldn't be minimized. Fig. 1 graphically summarizes the constraints in plant sizing.

2.2. Plant management


The management of the plant, besides the plant owner's choices,
depends on grid requirements. A daily power input schedule into

the grid has to be drawn on the basis of an accord with the grid
management authority.
In here two management strategies are considered for dispatch
scheduling:
 the day-ahead declaration of a daily constant power;
 the day-ahead declaration of an hourly constant power.
The power scheduling in both cases may be based on the
availability of a day-ahead forecast of the solar radiation or of the
ambient temperature.
According to condition iii) the day-after PV power production,
PPV_d, should be set equal to the maximum power which can be
produced by the PV plant, PPV_max_f, under the hypothesis of a
perfect forecast of all the boundary condition (solar radiation,
ambient temperature, ) inuencing its output.

PPV

PPV_max_f

When PPV

(6)

> 0, the power dened for all the hybrid plant is:

Pd PMGT_min PPV_max_f

(7)

It is worth to be noted that according to (6), equation (4) can be


only positive. Indeed, according to (6), the actual PV production is
always lower than PPV_d (or equal in case of perfect forecast), and
consequently in (4) the actual MGT power cannot fall below
PMGT_min.
The sizing procedure obtained in accord to relationship (5)
guarantees that it would always be:

Pd < PMGT_max Tamb

(8)

i.e. during the year the MGT guarantees the whole amount of the
declared power in any ambient condition.
As a matter of fact, a perfect forecast of the PV production is
impossible to be realized; on the contrary, ambient temperature
forecast is much more reliable and less affected by sudden unpredictable variations than solar radiation one [32,33]. Consequently, a
day-ahead declaration of the plant power has to be made taking
into account ambient temperature forecast. In this case the choice
may be that of declaring the maximum power that the MGT can
dispatch at the maximum forecasted temperature (Tamb_max_f) in
the day or in the hour considered:



Pd PMGT_max Tamb_max_f

(9)

During the day the MGT power output will be diminished of the
amount produced by the PV plant.
Again, with a size of the PV in accord with equation (5), the
declared power of the hybrid plant will be granted in any ambient
condition. This scenario allows to perform a realistic forecast of the
plant output and a study of its outcome is performed in section 4. In
addition, it must be remarked that the error in the maximum power output estimation of an MGT is relatively low; in fact, a forecasting error of 1  C causes a variation of the maximum power
output of around 1.22% [28]; therefore, this can be easily taken into
account by including a declaration tolerance in the dispatchment
accord with the electric grid manager. As an example, a tolerance of
5% in the power output allows to concede an error on the forecast
of the ambient temperature of over 4  C.
3. Hybrid system's components

Fig. 1. Choice of the adequate size of the PV plant to couple with a microturbine.

Based on the available data of PV and MGT plants, an analysis is


performed to assess the behavior and the performance of the

G. Comodi et al. / Energy 89 (2015) 226e235

229

hybrid system. The photovoltaic plant is completely characterized


by on-eld acquired data; the MGT behavior is evaluated through a
mix of both experimental results [26] and articial neural network
(ANN) forecasts [25] for different loads and environmental conditions. The main ambient parameters that inuence the performance of the MGT, namely ambient temperature, ambient pressure
and ambient humidity, were acquired during the on-eld measurements together with the PV plant output. By means of this data
it is possible to fully characterize the output power of the MGT as
well as its fuel mass ow rate and its electrical efciency.

The present study was based on an MGT whose performance


was already investigated by the authors [25e28]. The MGT power
production is strongly inuenced by the ambient parameters: its
power production can be reduced signicantly in hot climates with
respect to the nominal value. The MGT considered in the study is a
Turbec T100 which is a single-shaft-type machine being the
compressor, turbine and electrical generator mounted on the same
shaft. Ambient-air is compressed up to 4.5 bar by the centrifugal
compressor and, after being preheated in the recuperator, it is sent
in the combustion chamber. Combustion products expand in the
radial turbine dropping their pressure to atmospheric value and
their temperature to 270  C in standard condition. The fuel, which
is natural gas, is compressed by a booster to reach the required
pressure of 6 bar. The combustor is a lean-premixed-low-emission
type and, at full load, yields volumetric concentrations of NOx and
CO lower than 15 ppm with a dilution of 15% O2. Electrical power is
generated by a high-speed permanent-magnet, which also acts as
grid-powered electric-starter when the microturbine is switched
on. The high frequency AC current generated is rectied and converted to the grid frequency and voltage in the power converter. In
standard ISO conditions (pressure: 1013 mbar, temperature: 15  C,
relative humidity: 60%), the microturbine nominal efciency is 30%
[26]. If also thermal energy is required, the microturbine unit is
available in a CHP conguration able to meet a maximum thermal
power of about 155 kW: in cogenerative operation the total efciency of the system is around 77%. Further details on MGT performances working in CHP mode are reported in Refs. [26] and [27].
One of the characteristics of this type of machine is the marked
sensitivity of electrical performance under varying environmental
parameters, such as temperature, pressure and humidity of the
intake air. In a previous work of some of the authors [24], the ANN
tool was used for mapping the performance of the micro gas turbine and to study both performance and emissions of the machine
under variable environmental conditions. The graphs in Fig. 2 show
the behavior of the MGT over the whole range of inlet air temperatures in terms of electrical power (Fig. 2a), electrical efciency
(Fig. 2b) and CO emissions (Fig. 2c); this trend refers to a xed
relative humidity of the air equal to 60%. Each line represents the
value of the electrical power produced for different levels of
ambient pressure (Fig. 2a). The ANN demonstrated a good prediction capability over the whole range of temperature. The trend of
the curves is in line with the experimental measurements; with
increasing inlet temperatures, the maximum electric power produced by the machine decreases from about 110 kWe at 0  C down
to 78 kWe at 35  C. In particular, the electrical power produced in
ISO conditions amounted to 100 kWe. The reduction of power
production as a function of the inlet air temperature has a nearlylinear trend and the loss of performance is evaluated in the order
of 1.2 kW/ C above 15  C. The trend shows a general increase in
efciency as the temperature decreases; for each xed value of
ambient temperature, a maximum of the efciency occurs at a
value of the machine load equal to about 90% of the maximum

Fig. 2. Inuence of ambient conditions on microturbine performance [22].

3.1. Microturbine Turbec T100 PH

230

G. Comodi et al. / Energy 89 (2015) 226e235

nominal power (Fig. 2b). Fig. 2c shows the increase of CO emission


when the MGT works at partial load.
Finally, it can be noted that the minimum level of power production that ensures a stable machine operation is set at 37.5 kW. In
conclusion, for the T100 MGT the minimum MGT stable operation
(PMGT_min) is equal to a power production of 37.5 kWe and its
maximum power production, strongly depending on the ambient
temperature, varies from 110 kWe (for temperatures <0  C) down
to 77.5 kWe (PMGT_max@35  C).
3.2. PV plant
In the study we considered a real PV plant with a nominal
installed power of 49 kWp which actually presents a maximum
output to the grid of 40 kWe. According to eq. (5), this size is the
maximum that can be juxtaposed to the MGT, guaranteeing a
dened and reliable power production. The PV system occupies an
area of about 500 m2 and it is made up of 325 multicrystalline
photovoltaic modules, each with a peak power of 150 W. The
system is composed of 25 strings, formed by 13 modules connected in series, wired to a single inverter. The photovoltaic
modules are mounted on galvanized steel support structures and
they are anchored to the roof of a building. Direct current is
converted into alternating current at 400 V and 50 Hz and fed into
the grid. The location of the installation of the plant is a seaside
city in Central Italy (Ancona which is located at 43 370 0000 N
13 3100000 E). The electric output to the grid of the PV plant was
monitored for a period of three years in order to have a correct
denition of the performance of the plant and to describe a wide
range of possible working conditions, both in terms of solar radiation and ambient temperature. The maximum power generated
by the PV plant is lower than the peak one (40 kW vs. 49 kWp)
because of the BOS losses and the real working ambient conditions; the energy production is maximized in the summer months
when the solar radiation is more intense and there are more
daylight hours; nevertheless, also in very clear spring and autumn
days the electric production shows very high production peaks
since the ambient temperature is lower and the PV modules
perform better. In general, during winter days, the production of
solar energy is reduced since the height and the width of the
electric production bell is lower due to the scarce and strongly
tilted solar radiation on the panels. The overall production of the
PV plant during the monitored year sums up to 53,751 kWh equal
to an average yield of 1196 kWh/kWp. This value is typical for a
power plant installed in Central Italy.
Fig. 3 shows the working range of the proposed hybrid system.
In particular, on the basis of the gathered data, the PV electrical
output of the system is presented for twelve clear sky days, one
representative day for each month.
4. Hybrid system operation
In this work we have considered two strategies that can be
adopted for the management of the hybrid system and that allow to
supply a condent and reliable prole of the power production to
the electrical grid authority, with one day advance. The rst management strategy (from now on referred to as Strategy 1) consists
in setting the hourly production of the hybrid system at a constant
value equal to the maximum power production that can be produced by the MGT at the maximum day-after forecasted temperature (MGTmax@max day-after forecasted temperature). The second
strategy (from now on referred to as Strategy 2) consists in
providing a hour-by-hour power production prole of the hybrid
system equal to the maximum power that can be produced by the

Fig. 3. Working range of the proposed hybrid system.

MGT according to the highest forecasted temperature in the


considered hour.
Fig. 4 reports the behavior of the hybrid system (and subsystems), according to Strategy 1, for a cloudy summer day. In
particular, Fig. 4a shows the trend of the electrical power produced
by the hybrid system (blue dotted line) which is the sum of the PV
power production (green line) plus the MGT power production
(black line); the red line in Fig. 4a is the maximum power,
PMGT_max Tamb , which could be produced by the MGT according to
the actual ambient temperature. Fig. 4b shows the trend of the
specic fuel consumption of the MGT at the maximum possible
output power (red line) and in the operation of the hybrid system,
according to Strategy 1 (black line).
Fig. 5a and b shows the trend of electrical power and specic
fuel consumption of the MGT, according to Strategy 2. The general
trend remains unchanged, but the thermal machine potential is
better exploited and also the specic fuel consumption is slightly
reduced.
With a maximum ambient temperature of 26.6  C in the day
under analysis, the MGT is able to guarantee a power production of
about 84.3 kW.
Figs. 6 and 7 show the electrical power and the specic consumptions of the MGT for the two management strategies in a
selected sunny summer day. The meaning of the colors being unchanged with respect to Figs. 4 and 5, the maximum ambient
temperature of the day is 34.3  C and the maximum load guaranteed by the MGT is 77.5 kWe. The sunny summer day is a challenging operating condition. In fact, even if the sum of the power
production of the two sub-systems (MGT and PV) is high, the priority of the hybrid system is to provide a guaranteed power production under whatever operating condition. A sudden and
unpredictable reduction of the solar radiation (e.g.: due to an isolated cloud) would not be offset by the MGT if the guaranteed
power production level is set too high. Both the proposed approaches provide a reliable amount of electricity even if they are
slightly penalizing for the performance of the MGT. In fact, since the
MGT operates in order to bridge the gap between the hybrid system
electrical power target and the one produced by the PV system, it
must operate at partial load for most of the day and, consequently,
with a low electrical efciency. This behavior is particularly clear in
Figs. 6 and 7 that refer to a sunny (and hot) summer day: it's worth
noticing how the specic consumption is sensibly higher in the
central hours of the day mirroring the poor electrical efciency of
the machine that works at partial load.

G. Comodi et al. / Energy 89 (2015) 226e235

231

Fig. 4. Power and specic consumption of MTG, PV and hybrid system (Strategy 1) in a cloudy summer day.

5. Methodology to assess the inuence of the PV-size on the


hybrid system performance
The results presented in the previous section show that the two
proposed management strategies allow the hybrid system to
guarantee a dened and reliable electrical production, given the
management limits of the system itself. The PV plant is correctly
sized for this aim and it allows to minimize the yearly amount of
fuel required by the MGT to meet the power production target.
Anyhow, in several working conditions, in particular in hot days,

the MGT works at partial load: this entails both higher specic fuel
consumption and CO emissions (Fig. 2c). Also a smaller sized PV
plant could meet the constraints of guaranteed electric power
output but, obviously, with a larger share of the energy produced by
the MGT and a reduced concentration of CO at the exhaust.
For this reason it is useful to investigate the trend of natural gas
consumption and pollutants' concentration of the hybrid system as
a function of the size of the PV plant coupled with the MGT.
Furthermore, since the MGT has the maximum electrical efciency
at about 90% of the actual maximum output, we also investigated

Fig. 5. Power and specic consumption of MTG, PV and hybrid system (Strategy 2) in a cloudy summer day.

232

G. Comodi et al. / Energy 89 (2015) 226e235

Fig. 6. Power and specic consumption of MTG, PV and hybrid system (Strategy 1) in a sunny summer day.

the trend of the yearly mean specic consumption in order to


dene what is the size of the PV plant that allows to achieve the
maximum efciency of the MGT in the hybrid system on a yearly
basis.
In order to provide the performance of the hybrid system as a
function of the solar plant size, the nominal size of the PV system
was varied between 0 and 50 kWp; in fact, for bigger sizes of the PV
plant, the hybrid system would not be able to guarantee a xed
amount of power under whatever weather conditions (Eq. (5)). The
performance of the PV plant is assumed to be independent on the

size of the plant and its power output is directly proportional to the
installed power.
Subsequently, the yearly performance of the hybrid plant was
estimated according to the following procedure: for each size of the
PV plant (in steps of 0.5 kWp), the required output of the MGT to
meet the guaranteed electric power output constraint, described in
Chapter 2, is calculated. On the basis of the MGT load and the
ambient conditions, the fuel consumption and the pollutants concentration is evaluated on an hourly basis using the aforementioned ANN methodology. In particular, the hybrid system

Fig. 7. Power and specic consumption of MTG, PV and hybrid system (Strategy 2) in a sunny summer day.

G. Comodi et al. / Energy 89 (2015) 226e235

operation was evaluated for a whole year starting from the actual
PV production coming from an experimental campaign. The results
coming from this analysis are reported hereinafter.
Fig. 8 reports the trend of the natural gas consumption of the
MGT and the specic energy cost (according to Strategy 2) as a
function of the nominal size of the coupled PV plant. As expected,
the bigger the size of the PV plant, the lower the natural gas consumption and consequently the CO2 emission. As regards the economic issues, in order to assess the specic energy cost of the
hybrid system, typical values of the capital costs of the devices and
fuel costs in the Italian energy scenario have been considered. In
particular, for the MGT a capital cost of 120,000 V was considered
while for the PV system 1500 V/kWp was assumed, as suggested in
Ref. [34]. For what concerns the natural gas cost, the Italian tariff of
0.31 V/m3 for industrial applications have been used [35].
Considering a plant lifespan of 20 years, the specic energy cost
have been calculated as the sum of the capital costs and the fuel
cost divided by the amount of energy produced in the whole
period. The cost of the energy produced by the plant is 0.135 V/kWh
for the simple MGT system and it decreases if a PV system is
juxtaposed. For a PV size of 50 kW, the minimum specic energy
cost of 0.128 V/kWh is achieved, which underlines the advantages
of adopting a hybrid system.
Fig. 9 focuses on the trend of the pollutants produced by the
hybrid-system. It shows the trend of CO and NOx emissions as a
function of the nominal size of the PV plant coupled with the MGT.
The pollutants' concentration as a function of the MGT load were
obtained with the ANN methodology already presented by the
authors in Ref. [24].
The equations of the interpolated curves in Fig. 2c are reported
hereinafter:
CO [ppm] (4191.43 * PMGT^3)  (5523.65 * PMGT^2)  (1509.55 *
PMGT) 2868.44;
(10)
NOx [ppm] 14.18 * PMGT^2  15.97 * PMGT 6.84;

(11)

Emissions are then converted in produced mass of pollutant for


each year of MGT operation, calculated on the basis of the ow rate
of exhaust. As anticipated, in some critical ambient conditions, the
MGT works in strong partial load. With respect to local emissions,
this has a repercussion on the twofold results shown in Fig. 9 which
reports, for sake of conciseness, only the results for the Strategy 2:
on one hand, the bigger the PV size, the higher the CO; on the other
hand, the bigger the PV size, the lower the CO2 and the NOX. The
latter result can be explained by the fact that, at low electrical
power load, the Turbine Inlet Temperature (TIT) is lower;

Fig. 8. Yearly fuel consumption and specic energy cost of the hybrid MGT-PV system
vs. PV plant nominal size according to Strategy 2.

233

Fig. 9. Yearly emissions of the hybrid MGT-PV system vs. PV plant nominal size according to Strategy 2.

nevertheless, the order of magnitude of the NOX concentration is


much smaller than CO in any case.
Finally in Fig. 10, the trend of the mean specic consumption of
the MGT is presented (on a yearly basis) as a function of the size of
the juxtaposed PV plant. This particular case seems worth of
investigation since the MGT efciency does not have a monotone
decreasing trend but it has a peak at around 90% of the maximum
load and it decreases rapidly at lower loads (Fig. 2b). Fig. 10 shows
the mean specic consumption of the MGT embedded in the hybrid
system as a function of the size of the PV subsystem according to
the management Strategy 2. The minimum point of the curve
represents the size of the PV plant that effectively minimizes the
yearly specic fuel consumption of the MGT and allows to run the
machine at the most effective load in terms of energy conversion
efciency. For the case under analysis and for the acquired meteorological data in the place where the PV system was installed, the
optimal dimension of the PV plant that minimizes the mean specic consumption is found to be 19 kWe.
6. Results and comments
In section 4 we presented two management strategies to guarantee to the electrical grid, with one day advance, a condent and
reliable gure of the hybrid system power production. In section 5
we presented the trend of the natural gas consumption, CO and
NOX emissions and average specic consumption of the MGT, as a
function of the nominal size of the PV plant. In this nal section, we

Fig. 10. Yearly average specic consumption of the MGT vs. PV plant nominal size
according to Strategy 2.

234

G. Comodi et al. / Energy 89 (2015) 226e235

Table 1
Comparison of the yearly performance of the studied management strategies.
Strategy 1

Hybrid system energy production [kWh/year]


MGT electric energy production [kWh/year]
PV electric energy production [kWh/year]
MGT fuel consumption [kg/year]
MGT mean specic consumption [g/kWh]
CO emissions [kg/year]
NOx emissions [kg/year]

Strategy 2

MGT only

Hybrid PV
50 kWp

MGT only

Hybrid PV
50 kWp

303,640
303,640
0
79,311
261.2
361
52

303,640
249,890
53,750
66,557
266.4
2078
34

319,591
319,591
0
84,121
263.2
191
60

319,591
265,841
53,750
70,475
265.1
1667
40

report a summary of the yearly performance of the hybrid system


composed of the 50 kWp PV plant and the 100 kW-MGT. Table 1
reports a summary of the main output of the plant as well as its
emissions for both the described management strategies.
As explained in the previous sections, Strategy 1 is the most
conservative and easy to apply since it only requires the forecast of
the maximum ambient temperature expected for the day after;
Strategy 2 is most challenging since it requires a day-ahead forecast
of the hourly ambient temperature. The choice between the two
approaches is a function both of the degree of condence of temperature forecasts and of the time in advance at which the power
production level must be provided. The different features of the
two approaches reect on the results presented in Table 1. Strategy
2 allows to achieve a higher energy production by the hybrid system than Strategy 1 (about 16 MWh/year) because of the higher
exploitation of the MGT; obviously, the PV production being equal,
the higher electricity production implies a higher natural gas
consumption than Strategy 1. As anticipated in section 4, the higher
the PV plant size, the lower the overall fuel consumption of the
hybrid system which translates in an overall reduction of CO2
emissions. Nevertheless, this good outcome is slightly counterbalanced by the highest local emission of CO.
7. Conclusions
This paper presents a system that consists of a 100 kWe micro
gas turbine (MGT) that juxtaposes the energy production of a
photovoltaic (PV) plant whose yearly yield is available by on eld
experimental measurements. The aims of the work were to: i)
dene a sizing of the PV plant and a management strategy of the
hybrid system for a reliable day-ahead forecast of the electrical
power output; ii) dene the performance of the hybrid plant as a
function of the PV plant sub-system. The maximum PV plant size
which can be coupled with the 100 kWe MGT and which is able to
guarantee a day-ahead-xed power production by the hybrid system, under whatever ambient condition, was found to be 49 kWp.
We proposed two strategies for the management of the hybrid
plant that both meet the target power production constraints. The
choice between the two management strategies depends on both
the degree of condence of temperature forecasts and the time in
advance at which the power production prole forecasts must be
provided. Nevertheless, both strategies, based on the day-ahead
temperature forecast, are much simpler to be carried out than
those based on the solar radiation prediction. Strategy 2 allows to
achieve a higher yearly energy production by the hybrid system
than Strategy 1 (about 16 MWh/year) because of the greater
exploitation of the MGT.
Finally, we reported the performance of the hybrid system as a
function of the juxtaposed PV plant size: actually, the larger the PV
plant size, the lower the yearly fuel consumption of the hybrid
system and the specic energy cost which translates in a yearly

reduction of CO2 and NOX emissions. Nevertheless, this favorable


outcome is slightly counterbalanced by the highest local emission
of CO. This result, in the authors' opinion, is very important because
it highlights the role of decentralized generation in sharing the
environmental burden with respect to a centralized power plant. In
fact, the hybrid system proposed: i) solves the problem due to the
unpredictability of PV energy production; ii) grants a constant and
reliable production of power output; but iii) increases the level of
local pollutants, since it internalizes the emissions previously
generated in a centralized power plant.

References
[1] International Energy Agency. Clean energy progress report. 2011. Available at:
http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/CEM_Progress_
Report.pdf.
[2] Wang WM, Wang J, Ton D. Prospects for renewable energy e meeting the
challenges of integration with storage. In: Sioshansi Fereidoon P, editor. Smart
grid e integrating renewable, distributed & efcient energy. Academic Press;
2012.
[3] California ISO. Integration of renewable resources. November 2007. Available
at: http://www.caiso.com/1ca5/1ca5a7a026270.pdf.
[4] Silva M, Morais H, Vale Z. An integrated approach for distributed energy
resource short-term scheduling in smart grids considering realistic power
system simulation. Energy Convers Manag 2012;64:273e88.
[5] Chowdhury S, Chowdhury SP, Crossley P. Microgrids and active distribution
networks. The Institution of Engineering and Technology; 2009.
[6] Hwang Y. Potential energy benets of integrated refrigeration system with
microturbine and absorption chiller. Int J Refrig 2004;27:816e29.
[7] Kaikko J, Backman J. Technical and economic performance analysis for a
microturbine in combined heat and power generation. Energy 2007;32:
378e87.
[8] Bin Basrawi MF, Yamada T, Nakanishia K, Katsumata H. Analysis of the performances of biogas-fuelled micro gas turbine cogeneration systems (MGTCGSs) in middle- and small-scale sewage treatment plants: comparison of
performances and optimization of MGTs with various electrical power outputs. Energy 2012;38:291e304.
[9] Ismail MS, Moghavvemi M, Mahlia TMI. Current utilization of microturbines as
a part of a hybrid system in distributed generation technology. Renew Sustain
Energy Rev 2013;21:142e52.
[10] El-Khattam W, Salama MMA. Distributed generation technologies, denitions
and benets. Electr Power Syst Res 2004;71:119e28.
[11] Deshmukh MK, Deshmukh SS. Modeling of hybrid renewable energy systems.
Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2008;12:235e49.
[12] Pearce JM. Expanding photovoltaic penetration with residential distributed
generation from hybrid solar photovoltaic and combined heat and power
systems. Energy 2009;34:1947e54.
[13] Rohani G, Nour M. Techno-economical analysis of stand-alone hybrid
renewable power system for Ras Musherib in United Arab Emirates. Energy
2014;64:828e41.
[14] Wu W, Christiana VI, Chen SA, Hwang JJ. Design and techno-economic optimization of a stand-alone PV (photovoltaic)/FC (fuel cell)/battery hybrid power system connected to a wastewater-to-hydrogen processor. Energy
2015;84:462e72.
[15] Mousavi SMG. An autonomous hybrid energy system of wind/tidal/microturbine/battery storage. Electr Power Energy Syst 2012;43:1144e54.
[16] Kalantar M, Mousavi SMG. Dynamic behavior of a stand-alone hybrid power
generation system of wind turbine, microturbine, solar array and battery
storage. Appl Energy 2010;87:3051e64.
[17] Pepermans G, Driesen J, Haeseldonckx D, Belmans R, Dhaeseleer W. Distributed generation: denition, benets and issues. Energy Policy 2005;33:
787e98.

G. Comodi et al. / Energy 89 (2015) 226e235


[18] Erdinc O, Uzunoglu M. Optimum design of hybrid renewable energy systems:
overview of different Approaches. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2012;16:
1412e25.
[19] Perera ATD, Attalage RA, Perera KKCK, Dassanayake VPC. Designing standalone hybrid energy systems minimizing initial investment, life cycle cost and
pollutant emission. Energy 2013;54:220e30.
[20] Brandoni C, Renzi M. Optimal sizing of hybrid solar micro-CHP systems for the
household sector. Appl Therm Eng 2015;75:896e907.
[21] Brandoni C, Renzi M, Caresana F, Polonara F. Simulation of hybrid renewable
microgeneration systems for variable electricity prices. Appl Therm Eng
2014;71:667e76.
[22] Garcia HE, Mohanty A, Lin WC, Cherry RS. Dynamic analysis of hybrid energy
systems under exible operation and variable renewable generation e Part I:
dynamic performance analysis. Energy 2013;52:1e16.
[23] Abedi S, Alimardani A, Gharehpetian GB, Riahy GH, Hosseinian SH.
A comprehensive method for optimal power management and design of
hybrid RES-based autonomous energy systems. Renew Sustain Energy Rev
2012;16:1577e87.
[24] Ismail MS, Moghavvemia M, Mahliad TMI. Design of an optimized photovoltaic and microturbine hybrid power system for a remote small community:
case study of Palestine. Energy Convers Manag 2013;75:271e81.
[25] Bartolini CM, Caresana F, Comodi G, Pelagalli L, Renzi M, Vagni S. Application
of articial neural networks to micro gas turbines. Energy Convers Manag
2011;52:781e8.
[26] Caresana F, Comodi G, Pelagalli L, Renzi M, Vagni S. Use of a test-bed to study
the performance of micro gas turbines for cogeneration applications. Appl
Therm Eng 2011;31:3552e5.

235

[27] Caresana F, Comodi G, Pelagalli L, Vagni S. Micro gas turbines. In: Gas turbines.
InTech; 2010. p. 145e68. Available at: http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs/12089/
InTech-Micro_gas_turbines.pdf.
[28] Caresana F, Pelagalli L, Comodi G, Renzi M. Microturbogas cogeneration systems for distributed generation: effects of ambient temperature on global
performance and components' behavior. Appl Energy 2014;124:17e27.
[29] Renzi M, Caresana F, Pelagalli L, Comodi G. Enhancing micro gas turbine
performance through fogging technique: experimental analysis. Appl Energy
2014;135:165e73.
[30] Comodi G, Renzi M, Caresana F, Pelagalli L. Enhancing micro gas turbine
performance in hot climates through inlet air cooling vapour compression
technique. Appl Energy 2015;147:40e8.
[31] International Energy Agency. Photovoltaic Power System Program. Photovoltaic and Solar Forecasting: State of the Art. Report IEA PVPS T14 e 01:2013.
[32] California Renewable Energy Collaborative (CREC) California Renewable Energy Forecasting, Resource Data and Mapping, Appendix A: current state of
the art in solar forecasting. Available at: http://uc-ciee.org/downloads/
appendixA.pdf.
[33] Bird RE, Hulstrom RL. Simplied clear sky model for direct and diffuse insolation horizontal surfaces. 1981. SERI/TR-642-76.
[34] Institute for Solar Energy Systems, ISE, Photovoltaics Report. http://www.ise.
fraunhofer.de. (24th of October 2014), last access: June 2015.
 per l'energia elettrica il gas e il sistema idrico, AEEGSI, http://www.
[35] Autorita
autorita.energia.it/it/index.htm, last access: June 2015.

Вам также может понравиться