IECON2015-Yokohama

November 9-12, 2015

Daily operation cost minimization of photovoltaic-

diesel-battery hybrid systems using different control
strategies
Kanzumba Kusakana
Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Central University of Technology, Free State
Bloemfontein, South Africa
Email: kkusakana@cut.ac.za

Abstract—In this work, an optimal scheduling model is
developed to minimize the operation cost of solar photovoltaic-
diesel-battery hybrid systems. Furthermore, two operation
modes of the diesel generator, namely the “ON-OFF” and the
“CONTINUOUS”, are modeled and integrated in the hybrid
system operation mode. The principal objective of these
developed models is to minimize the hybrid system’s daily fuel
expenses while optimizing the power flow from the different
power sources and from the storage system. The variable
character of the load demand, the efficient operation zone of the
diesel generator as well as the charging and discharging
constraints have been taken into account in the development of
the models. These models have been applied to two test examples
in South Africa; and the results are analyzed and compared to
the case where the diesel generator is the only alternative of
providing the load with electricity. Sensitivity analyses have
been conducted on the diesel generator’s size, and the battery
control setting as key parameters. The results show that using
the developed models, the daily operation cost can be
significantly reduced compared to the case where the diesel is
the only alternative of providing the load.
operation cost of PV-diesel-battery hybrid systems from an
energy efficiency point of view, as one of the main attributes
of energy efficiency is seeking for optimality [7-8].
Therefore, the present paper focuses on the development
of two models namely the “continuous” and “ON/OFF”
control strategies to minimize the operation cost of PV-
diesel-battery hybrid systems during a 24 hour period.
Considering a short time horizon, the battery and PV’s
operation costs are negligible, therefore only the fuel cost of
the DG is considered. The non-linearity in the fluctuation of
the solar resource and the load demand, the non-linearity of
the diesel generator fuel consumption curve as well as the
battery operation limits have been considered in the
development of the models. The simulations of two control
strategies have been performed under the summer and winter
load and weather conditions; the results have been compared
with the case where the DG is used alone to supply the load
demands.

Index Terms-- Photovoltaic-diesel-battery; Continuous II. OPTIMIZATION MODELS AND PROPOSED ALGORITHMS
operation; ON/OFF operation; Optimal operation control; Cost The power flow of the proposed PV-diesel-battery hybrid
minimization. system is shown in Figure.1.

I. INTRODUCTION
Hybrid solar PV-diesel-battery hybrid systems present a
resolution to the time correlation of intermittent solar source
as well as load demand fluctuations in isolated power
generation [1-2]. This combination enhances the efficiency
and the output capability of the entire hybrid system.
Several authors have discussed the optimal operation
control of hybrid PV-diesel- battery systems for standalone
power generation [3-6] but the impact of the diesel
generator’s different operation strategies is not considered in
most of the published works. Unlike the above-mentioned
papers, the present work looks at the optimization of the daily Figure 1. Proposed hybrid system layout and power flow

978-1-4799-1762-4/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE 003609

 The load demand is primarily met by the sum of the PV
and the battery starts discharging within its operating limits as
soon as the PV do not meet the demand. If the PV output
power is above the load demand, the excess of power is used
to recharge the battery. The DG is used when the power from
PV and the battery cannot respond to the load energy
requirements. Depending on the operation strategy selected,
the DG can only supply the deficit of power needed by the
load or even at the same time recharge the battery.
A. Continuous operation modeling
In this case the DG is ON most of the time and its output
power continuously controlled (depending on the demand and
on the deficit of power from the PV and the battery), to
minimize the fuel usage resulting in operation cost.
The objective is to minimize the fuel consumption cost from
the DG during the operation time. This can be expressed as:
N operation and on/off control strategies are presented and
min C f × ¦ (aPDG
2
( j ) + bPDG ( j ) + c )
j =1
Where: N is the number of sampling intervals within the
operation range or period of the system; a, b, c are the fuel
cost coefficients; j is the jth sampling interval; PDG(j) is the
output power from the DG at jth sampling interval; Cf is the
price of 1litre of fuel.
Subject to the following constraints:
• Power balance:
At any sampling interval j, the sum of the supplied powers
from the PV, DG and from the battery must be equal to the
demand. This can be expressed as:
PDG ( j ) + PBat ( j ) + PPV ( j ) = PL ( j ) (2)
• Variable limits:
These constraints depend on the characteristics of each
power source and can be expressed as:
max
0 ≤ PDG ( j ) ≤ PDG (1 ≤ j ≤ N )
Where: S(j) is a discrete-switching function that takes the
value of either 0 or 1. S(j)=0 means that the DG is switched
off during the jth sampling interval, while S(j)=1 means that
the DG is switched on.
Subject to the following constraints:
• Power balance:
In this case, the power balance can be expressed as:
PDG−ratedS( j ) + PBat( j ) + PPV ( j ) = PL( j ) (1 ≤ j ≤ N ) (9)
• Control variable limits:
As explained above the switch can only take two values
[0, 1] which are its lower and upper limits. The PV and
battery models developed in section 2.1 are also used in the
present case.
III. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
In this section, the simulations results of the continuous
(1) compared to the case where the DG is used alone to supply
the a selected load during a day. The load and other
simulation data (Table I) used can be found in reference [9].
A detailed daily load profile is obtained from a typical
household situated in the KwaZulu Natal province at 30.6
degrees latitude south and 29.4 degrees longitude east. When
scrutinizing this load profile, one can notice a general pattern
arising from the daily activities of the users which can change
depending on different seasons of the year.
The optimisation problem is solved, using “fmincon” for
the continuous case and “intlinprog” for the ON/OFF case, in
MATLAB [10-11].
PL
5
(3) 4

rated rated
− PBat ≤ PBat ( j ) ≤ PBat (1 ≤ j ≤ N ) (4)
P [kW]

3
L

max
0 ≤ PPV ( j ) ≤ PPV ( j ) (1 ≤ j ≤ N ) (5) 2

• Battery state of charge (dynamics):

This can be expressed as: 1

SOC min ≤ SOC( j ) ≤ SOC max (6) 0

0 5 10 15 20 25
This can be further developed as: Time [h]

ηBat j Figure 2. Load profile in the selected day

SOC min≤ SOC (0) − t s
Enom
¦P
i =1
Bat ( j ) ≤ SOCmax (7)
TABLE I. SIMULATION DATA
Item Household
B. DG ON/OFF operation model Sampling time (ǻt) 15 min
Battery nominal capacity 5.6kWh
In this case, the philosophy is to obtain an optimal ON/OFF Battery maximum SOC 100%
schedule of the DG that minimizes the hybrid system’s Battery minimum SOC 40%
operation cost. The objective function can be formulated as: Battery charging efficiency 85%
N DG rated power 5.6kW
min C f × ¦ (aPDG
2
− rated + bPDG − rated + c ) × S ( j ) (8) Diesel fuel price
a
1.4$/L
0.246
j =1
b 0.0815
c 0.4333

003610
A. Standalone DG as sole power supply option The load demand decreases between 08h00 and 09h00;
Figure 3 shows the output power from the DG when it is because of the availability of the solar resources, the PV is
used as sole option to supply the load demand. It can be seen used by itself to supply the load and to recharge the battery at
that the DG adjusts it output to match the demand using the the same time.
load following method. The amount of fuel consumed in this After the morning peak, the SOC of the battery is at its
case will be used as a baseline to compare the performance of minimum operation limit (40%); therefore, between 11h00
the hybrid system running under the “continuous” or the and 17h00, the PV produces more power than the load
“ON/OFF” operation strategies. requirement. This surplus is used to charge the battery bank
to a SOC of 100% which is reached at the end of the
afternoon as shown in Figure 2, where the negative part of the
5
PDG
battery power flow (PB) represents the charging process.
maximum of P DG
In the evening the demand gradually increases from 17h00
4 and reaches the peak between 19h00 and 20h00 then finally
decreases at 21h00. Therefore from 17h00 to 18h00, the PV
[kW]

3
is used at its maximum output in conjunction with a
DG

contribution of the battery. After 18h00 the PV system can no

P

2
more provide energy and the load demand is increasing;
1
therefore the contribution of the battery is increased and the
DG is switched to balance the energy needed by the load. The
0
DG operating time and output power depends on the load
demand, battery SOC and the amount of power from the PV.
0 5 10 15 20 25
Time [h]

Figure 3. DG output power (used as only power source)

It can be seen that the DG is not used to charge the battery
but only to supply the load. For this specific case, the total
operating time of the DG running under this condition is 6.5
B. Continuous operation strategy hours.
Figure 4 shows the optimal power flow from the PV, DG,
battery as well as the battery SOC during the selected 24h C. ON/OFF operation
period the hybrid system is supplying the load in summer.
It can be noticed that from midnight and early morning the Figure 5 shows the state of the switch controlling the DG
load demand is low, therefore it is successfully met mainly by (ON or OFF), the PV power, the battery power flow as well
the battery storage system; the PV system is not able to as the battery SOC during a 24h period in the selected
generate during this period because in solar resource. The summer day. As for the continuous case, the load is met by
first morning peak load demand occurs between 07h00 and the PV, when available, and the battery bank. When the load
08h00; therefore the PV is used at its maximum output to demand increases during the day, and if the PV operating in
supply the load in conjunction with the battery while the DG conjunction with the battery power cannot meet the demand,
is kept off. the DG is switched on, giving its rated power.

4
4 4 P PV
PB 4 P PV
3 P PV max
P Bmax P PV max 2
3
2 3
P PV [kW]
P B [kW]
PPV [kW]
P B [kW]

1 0
2
2
0
-2 PB
1
-1 1
P Bmax
-2 -4
0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25
Time [h] Time [h] Time [h] Time [h]

1 1
P DG 1
5
0.9 0.9
P DGmax 0.8
4 0.8
0.8
on/off state
P DG [kW]

0.6
SOC
SOC

0.7 3 0.7

2 0.6 0.4
0.6 SOC
SOC SOCmax
0.5 SOCmax 1 0.5 0.2

0.4 0 0.4 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25
Time [h] Time [h] Time [h] Time [h]

Figure 4: Continuous operation: Daily load, PV, DG, battery power flow and Figure 5: ON/OFF: Daily load, PV, DG, battery power flow and battery SOC
battery SOC

003611
The load demand is therefore satisfied primarily by the DG “continuous” and “ON/OFF” operation strategies. Table III
and the surplus, which is not used by the load, is used to below considers three depths of discharges (100%, 80% and
recharge the battery, allowing high load factor and high 60%) related to different types of batteries currently available
efficiency operation for the DG. on the market such as Lithium-ion, Nickel-cadmium and
Depending on the variation of the demand when the DG is lead-acid; for all the considered cases, the battery has been
ON, the battery can be recharged up to its maximum SOC. considered to be fully charged at the beginning of the day.
While analyzing Figure 3, it can be noticed that for the DG After analysis of the results, it can be concluded that the
operating time is sensibly reduced; giving a total of 1.5 hour continuous operation mode of the DG in the hybrid system
in the selected summer day; and is OFF for the rest of the achieves better operation cost than the ON/OFF (at different
day. This can help the DG to have a long calendar life; DoD).
however the impact of excessive ON and OFF cycles on the It can also be seen from table III that the larger battery
DG lifespan should be studied. DoD reduces the DG’s daily fuel consumed resulting in
reduction in the daily operation cost. However it has to be
D. Comparison of the two operation strategies noted that battery with large DoD are expensive, therefore
they cost will have a negative impact on the hybrid system’s
The actual resulting operation cost for the continuous or
initial cost.
ON/OFF operation control strategy can be found by
multiplying the diesel price ($/L) by the amount of fuel used TABLE III. IMPACT OF THE BATTERY’S DEPTH OF DISCHARGE
in selected summer or winter day (L/day). It has to be
Operation strategy DoD = 100% DoD = 80% DoD = 60%
highlighted that this daily fuel expense is highly dependent on Continuous 5.64 L 6.87 L 8.11 L
the size, type and control settings of the battery storage ON/OFF 6.56 L 8.21 L 9.85 L
system as well as the DG (fuel cost curve and fitting
parameters from the manufacturer) used in the simulation.
2) Battery initial state of charge
Table II shows how much fuel can be saved and DG
Here, the impact of the initial state of charge (SOC0) on the
operating time can be reduced by using the hybrid system
hybrid system’s daily operation cost is studied for both
instead of the selected DG using the different control “continuous” and “ON/OFF” operation strategies. The SOC0
strategies. is a key factor because the battery can only be recharged by
the PV system. Therefore if the SOC0 is low, the load will be
TABLE II. DAILY OPERATION COST SAVING
relying more on the DG until there is enough power from the
Continuous ON/OFF PV to both supply the load and recharge the battery. This
Option Fuel Cost Operation Fuel Cost Operation
(L) ($) time (h) (L) ($) time (h)
situation would increase the DG running time and operation
DG only 38.26L 53.56$ 24h 38.26L 53.56$ 24h cost in both “continuous” and “ON/OFF” operation strategies.
Hybrid 8.11L 11.35$ 6.5h 9.84L 13.77$ 1.5h The table IV below summarizes the simulation results
system obtained when varying SOC0. In the three cases, the DoD has
Savings 30.15L 42.21$ 17.5h 28.42L 39.79$ 22.5h
been considered as 100%.
From table II it can be seen that the photovoltaic-diesel-
battery model achieves 78.8% and 74.3% fuel savings for the TABLE IV. IMPACT OF THE BATTERY INITIAL’S STATE OF CHARGE
selected summer day using the continuous and the ON/OFF Operation strategy SOC0 = 0% SOC0 = 50% SOC0 = 100%
operation strategy respectively. It can also be seen that the Continuous 8.99 L 6.07 L 5.64 L
ON/OFF 9.85 L 8.02 L 6.56 L
DG operating time is significantly reduced; it runs for 6.5
hours when continuously control, and for only 1.5 hour when
the ON/OFF control is used. 3) DG size minimization
These results also demonstrate the importance of to take One of the main attribute of the considered hybrid system
into account the variations of the load demand, the variation is the minimization of the DG’s size, which is used as back-
of the solar energy resources as well as the DG operation up, because the main source of power is the PV system [12].
strategy when calculating the system’s daily operation cost. As shown on Figure 2, the DG is not used up to its maximum
capacity; therefore, in this section a sensitivity analysis on the
DG’s size reduction is done considering a 1 kW unit and
E. Sensivity analyses
battery at and a fully charge at the beginning of the day. Table
In this section, sensitivity analyses have been conducted V shows the amount of fuel used when reducing the size of the
on the diesel generator’s size, and the battery control setting DG from 5.6 kW to 1 kW, it can be noticed that by
as key parameters. The main aim of these analyses is to find minimizing the size of the DG, the amount of fuel consumed
how do changes in these parameter impact the daily operation using the two different operating strategies are almost equal.
cost of the hybrid system.
TABLE V. IMPACT OF THE DG SIZE’S MINIMIZATION
1) Battery depth of discharge
Operation strategy 5.6 kW 1 kW
Here, the impact of the battery’s depth of discharge (DoD) Continuous 5.64 L 5.64 L
on the hybrid system’s daily operation cost is studied for both ON/OFF 6.56 L 5.67 L

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 IV. CONCLUSION AND SCOPE OF FUTURE WORK
Two control strategies to minimize the daily operation cost
of photovoltaic-diesel-battery hybrid systems have been
modelled and simulated. The fluctuation of the load demand,
the intermittent solar resource as well as the non linear diesel
fuel consumption curve have been considered in the model
development. The simulation results show that by using the
photovoltaic-diesel-battery hybrid system under the
continuous or the ON/OFF operation control strategy,
significant operation cost can be saved compared to the case
where the DG is used alone.
When comparing the two control strategies through
sensitivity analyses, it has been demonstrated that more fuel
saving is achieved using the continuous control than using the
ON/OFF control strategy. However the ON/OFF control
achieves more DG daily operating time reduction compared
to the case where the continuous control is implemented.
For further research, the impact of the seasonal load and
resource variations, the impacts of long running time as well
as the impact of several starts and stops of the DG should be
investigated to find out which of the two control strategies
will achieve the lower hybrid system’s lifecycle cost.
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