Design and performance analysis of a stand-alone PV system with hybrid energy storage for rural India

The operations of domestic stand-alone Photovoltaic (PV) systems are mostly dependent on storage systems due to changing weather conditions. For electrical energy storage, batteries are widely used in stand-alone PV systems. The performance and life span of batteries depend on charging/discharging cycles. Fluctuation in weather conditions causes batteries to charge/discharge quite often, which decreases the operational life and increases the maintenance cost. This paper proposes a domestic stand-alone PV system with Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS) that is a combination of battery and supercapacitor. A new Fuzzy Logic Control Strategy (FHCS) is implemented to control the power flow of the battery and supercapacitor. Simulation studies are performed with real data collected in Sultanpur, India to investigate the proposed system’s performance (Latitude [N] 26.29 and Longitude [E] 82.08). The results show that FHCS successfully controls the power flow of HESS components to increase the system efficiency. The developed system is validated to provide an effective alternative that would enhance the battery life span and reduce the system maintenance cost. While considering the prohibitive upfront costs for rural systems, such an improvement helps to electrify more underserved communities.