A solar energy system is an excellent solution for electrification of remote rural areas where the grid extension is difficult and not economical. This article presents a simple optimization method for calculating the optimum configurations of photovoltaic—battery (PV—bat) systems with high reliability and minimum cost. The proposed method has been applied to design a PV—bat system to supply a typical load requirement in a remote region in Kerman, Iran. To design an optimum stand-alone PV—bat system with high reliability and low costs, the optimization procedure, which is based on the annual electrical demand and solar radiation data, consists of two parts: the model of loss of power supply probability (LPSP) and the model of the levelized cost of energy. For the different desired LPSP requirements at given demand, the optimal numbers of solar array and battery hours of storage are obtained at the minimum system cost.
SUMMARY
In this article, the application of a hybrid phosphoric acid fuel cell and organic Rankine cycle (PAFC/ORC) system was thermo‐economically investigated for sulfuric acid production in Sarcheshmeh copper complex (SCC); the second largest copper deposit worldwide. The electricity that is produced by the system is consumed by electrolyzer to produce the hydrogen and sulfuric acid. Two scenarios were considered for applying the PAFC thermal energy as thermal source of the ORC to produce further power. The performance of the system was investigated considering various important parameters such as organic fluid type, PAFC current density (IPAFC), fuel & air consumption factors as well as the ORC turbine inlet pressure (Pi, ORC). The unit cost of sulfuric acid and the hybrid system simple payback period were obtained as 0.0215$/kg and 3.65 years, respectively.
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