Unlocking the Prospects of Wind-Diesel Hybrid Power Systems to meet Commercial Loads of Qaisumah of SaudiArabia-A Pathway for Sustainable Energy Development

Commercial/residential buildings of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (K.S.A.) consume appreciable portion (10-40 percent) of energy generated. The aim of the current investigation includes assessment (technical & economical) of wind-diesel-hybrid power system (WDHPS) to fulfill electrical load requirement (620 MWh-annually) of a typical commercial-building at Qaisumah (Eastern Region, K.S.A.) through data analysis of wind-speed (long-term). Data analysis shows that long-term-monthly-average (LTMA) is between 3.5 and 4.6 meter per sec at height of 10m. The WDHPS simulated encompass different combinations of 100kW wind turbines (wind energy systems- WES) and diesel systems. The viability (techno-economic) of WDHS has been performed by use of HOMER software of NREL (HOMER-Energy). The simulation-outcomes point out that the wind fraction (with no load-rejection) is 39% for a WDHPS setup comprising of two-100kW wind turbine generator (WTG) together and 175kW diesel-generator. The cost of energy generation (COE) for this WDHPS is $0.167 per-kWh. Notably, the 39% wind fraction leads to a decrease in emissions of carbon by 158 tons annually. Particular focus is given to the impact of wind fraction on various factors, including energy production, COE, excess-energy, savings in fuel, and the reduction in emissions of carbon in comparison to a diesel-only scenario.