Techno-economics of off-grid hybrid wind-diesel power systems for electrification of residential buildings of Yanbu - A potential industrial location of Saudi Arabia

The study analyses wind-speed data of Yanbu (West-Coast, Kingdom of Saudia, KSA) to assess the feasibility of hybrid wind-diesel power systems to meet the electrical load of hundred typical residential buildings (with annual demand of 3512 MWh). The wind speeds range from 3.9-4.8 m/s. The systems simulated consist of 600 kW wind machines supplemented with diesel generators. NREL's HOMER software is employed for techno-economic analysis. The results indicate that for a hybrid system comprising of 600 kW wind capacity with 1.0 MW diesel system (two 500 kW units), the wind penetration (at 50 m hub-height, with 0% annual capacity shortage) is 27%. The cost of generating energy (COE, $/kWh) from this system is 0.070 $/kWh (assuming diesel fuel price of 0.1$/liter) and the reduction in carbon emissions is 147 tons/year. The study exhibits that the operational hours of diesel gensets decrease with increase in wind farm capacity.