A Feasibility Study of Residential Solar/Wind

Hybrids in the Western Region of Cyprus

Ahmet Yasli, nonmember and Ebrahim Soujeri, Senior Member, IEEE

renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind energy are

Abstract – This paper presents the results of simulation- clean, environment- friendly and are freely available on the
based investigations on the application of a grid connected nature with no depletion or scarcity problems. Due to
photovoltaic power generating system. HOMER simulation seasonal and periodical variations on renewable energies, it is
software package has been used to implement a solar/wind
energy system, where it compares and determines the best
better and wiser to choose hybrid systems to guarantee a
suitable system for an experimental site of western region of continuous supply [3]. This will enable the hybrid power
Cyprus with a 30 kW daily load of a residential estate over a station to sustain the delivery of 30kW daily power to a
span of ten years. To meet the daily power consumption, residential estate, as assumed in this work.
generation and storage units for each system are properly sized
in order to minimize the total annual cost to the customer. The III. ABOUT CYPRUS
feasibility of the stand-alone hybrid system in comparison to the
grid system has been proved by the economical analysis that we Cyprus is an island in the Mediterranean Sea that is
carried out for all scenarios individually and a justification in located between Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Cyprus
this direction is reached. Our results show that both is rich with sunny and windy days throughout the year with
environmental and economical factors encourage us to go for the high average solar radiation and it is, therefore, an attractive
hybrid system we discussed here.
place for implementing alternative energy plant projects. The
Index Terms - Renewable energy systems, solar energy, wind part of Cyprus we are considering for this study is located in
energy, HOMER software, the region bounded by the points 32.40° – 33.10°E and
35.06° – 35.21°N. Figure 1 shows Cyprus as seen from the
I. NOMENCLATURE satellite map.
Average solar radiation. Synthetic data patterns. Levelized
cost of energy.

II. INTRODUCTION

E very day the energy demand is increasing together with

population in the world while the technological life also
increases its standards to serve more comfortable life to
humanity. So, rapidly increasing population and growing
energy needs of the industry cannot be solely supplied with
current energy resources. The difference between amount of
energy produced and consumed is continuously increasing.
Moreover the role fossil-fuel based grid systems play in
Fig. 1. A satellite view of Cyprus; an island located in the Mediterranean Sea.
causing depletion of the natural resources and environmental
pollution is very clear. IV. RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES IN CYPRUS
It’s estimated that in 2035 global energy consumption
The potential of renewable energy resources is the most
will be twice the amount of energy consumed in 1998, while
important part of developing hybrid energy system. When we
it is estimated to be three times of 1998 in 2055 [1,4]. On the
consider the case of Cyprus, solar radiation average is much
other hand, traditional energy sources such that oil, natural
higher in comparison to wind energy. Therefore, the basic
gas, coal and nuclear energy have become more and more
generation unit would be supported by photovoltaic units.
threatening on human health and environment [2,5]. So,
A. Solar Potential
A..Yasli with is the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, Solar radiation values were obtained with HOMER from
European University of Lefke, North Cyprus (e-mail: [email protected]).
E..Soujeri is currently with the faculty of Engineering and Computer
NASA. For coordinates in HOMER, 350 N latitude and 330E
Science, Concordia University, Canada. longitude were used [6]. These coordinates give the centrum
(e-mail: [email protected]).
of West Region in Cyprus. Knowing that we have 8760 hours In this work, we choose the standard Weibull k value as 2.
of time per year, HOMER synthesizes solar radiation values The Weibull k value, or Weibull shape factor, is a parameter
for each 8760 hours of the year by using Graham algorithm. that indicates the breadth of a distribution of wind speeds.
This algorithm produces realistic hourly data, and it is easy to HOMER fits a Weibull distribution to the wind speed data,
use because it requires only the latitude and the monthly and the k value refers to the shape of that distribution. The
averages. The synthetic data displays realistic day-to-day and graph shown in Figure 3 shows five Weibull distributions, all
hour-to-hour patterns. If one hour is cloudy, there is a with the same average wind speed of 6 m/s, but each with a
relatively high likelihood that the next hour will also be different Weibull k value. As the graph shows, lower k values
correspond to broader distributions of wind speeds, meaning
cloudy. Similarly, one cloudy day is likely to be followed by
that winds tend to vary over a large range of speeds. Higher k
another cloudy day. The synthetic data is created with certain
values, however, correspond to narrower wind speed
statistical properties that reflect global averages [1]. Figure 2 distributions, meaning that wind speeds tend to stay within a
shows the average solar radiation in Cyprus throughout the narrow range.
year. The average solar radiation for Cyprus is 5.06
kWh/m2/d.

Fig. 3. Weibull Distribution and the k value.

Fig. 2. Average solar radiation in Cyprus throughout the year (kWh per square Autocorrelation factors tend to be lower (0.70–0.80) in areas
meter per day).
of complex topography and higher (0.90–0.97) in areas of
B. Wind Potential more uniform topography. So, it has been selected as 0.9. The
The wind potential is acceptable; however, it is quite lower diurnal pattern strength (‘d’ is a measure of how strongly the
than the solar potential. In HOMER software, wind speed wind speed depends on the time of day. Higher values show
data are extrapolated by using the following power–law that there is a relatively strong dependence on the time of day.
formula: Lower values show that the wind speed is not strongly related
to the time of day), so it has been selected as 0.25. At 13:00
α Hours the peek wind speed for Cyprus occurs [4], this is also
h 
Vb = Va  b  (1) shown on Figure 4. This is also conforms to the empirical
 ha  statistical average done in [3,6].

where, Vb is the wind speed at height hb , Va is the wind speed

at height ha and α ∈ ℜ is dependent on the roughness
elements of the ground. We are using a value of α = 0.14
which is also often stated for open sites.
We must know the wind speeds for calculating the power
of Wind Turbine. When hourly wind speed measurements are
not available, it can be generated synthetically from monthly
averages. HOMER’s synthetic wind data generator needs four
different parameters to generate a correct outcome; these are: Fig. 4. Average of daily peak wind speed hours (m/sec)
the Weibull value k, an autocorrelation factor r which is a
measurement of the randomness of the wind, the Diurnal The table here provides some more information about wind
pattern strength d which is a measure of how strongly the energy in Cyprus:
wind speed depends on the time of day and the Hour of peak Property Value/Description
wind speed which is defined to simply be the time of day that Start up wind speed: 7 mph (3.1 m/s)
tends to be windiest on average throughout the year. Rotor diameter: 9 feet (2.7 m)
Weight: 65 lb (30 kg)
Voltage: 24, 36, 48 VDC B. Annual Real Interest Rate
Rated power: 1kW at 26 mph (11.6 m/s) The interest rate that one enters for HOMER's input is
Body: Cast aluminum / marine option the annual real interest rate (also called the real interest rate
Blades: 3-Carbon reinforced fiberglass or just interest rate). It is the discount rate used to convert
Survival wind speed: 120 mph (55 m/s) between one-time costs and annualized costs. It is found in
the Economic Inputs window. The annual real interest rate is
Finally, Figure 5 below shows the amount of power generated related to the nominal interest rate by the equation given
in association with different wind speeds in Cyprus. This below [1].
might give an idea about the range of wind speeds needed for i '− f
i= (2)
a decent generation of wind energy and the value of wind 1+ f
speeds in Cyprus.
where
I : Real interest rate
I’ : Nominal interest rate (for getting loan)
F : Annual inflation rate
C. Levelized Cost of Energy
HOMER defines the levelized cost of energy (COE) as
the average cost per kWh of useful electrical energy
production by the system. To calculate the COE, software
divides the annualized cost of producing electricity (the total
annualized cost minus the cost of serving the thermal load) by
the total useful electric energy production. The equation for
Fig. 5 Generated power (kW) versus wind speed (m/s).
the COE is as follows [1]:
Cann,tot − Cboiler Ethermal
V. LOAD PATTERNS COE = (3)
E prim, AC + E prim, DC + Edef + Egrid ,sales
Every day energy demand is increasing to meet high
standard living conditions for residential estates. On the other where
hand while energy consumption increases, the cost for energy Cann,tot : total annualized cost of the system [$/yr]
also increases depending on the usage and percentage of grid Cboiler : boiler marginal cost [$/kWh]
purchases [7]. Table I shows different tariffs for Northern Ethermal : total thermal load served [kWh/yr]
Cyprus grid purchases nowadays. Eprim,AC : AC primary load served [kWh/yr]
TABLE I Eprim,DC : DC primary load served [kWh/yr]
NORTH CYPRUS ELECTRICITY TARIFFS Edef : deferrable load served [kWh/yr]
Energy consumption (kWh/month) Price/kWh ($) Egrid,sale : total grid sales [kWh/yr]
0-250 0,21 s
251-500 0,24
501-750 0,28 D. Net present cost (NPC)
751-more 0,36 The net present cost of a system is the present value of all
the costs of installing and operating the system over its
lifetime, minus the present value of all the revenue that it
A. System Analysis earns over its lifetime from selling power to the grid. The net
The HOMER simulation program first determines whether present cost is the negative of the net present value. It is the
the system is feasible. It considers the system to be feasible if same as the lifecycle cost. HOMER calculates the total net
it can adequately serve the electric load and satisfy any other present cost using the following equation [1]:
constraints imposed by the user. Second, it estimates the life-
cycle cost of the system, which is the total cost of installing Cann ,tot
and operating the system over its lifetime. To be equitable,
C NPC = (4)
CRF (i, R proj )
such comparisons must account for both capital and operating
where
costs. Life-cycle cost analysis includes all costs that occur
Cann,tot : total annualized cost ($/yr)
within the life span of the system. HOMER uses the total net
CRF(⋅) : capital recovery factor
present cost (NPC) to represent the life-cycle cost of a system.
I : interest rate (%)
The total NPC condenses all the costs and revenues that occur Rproj : project lifetime (yr)
within the project lifetime into one lump sum in today’s
dollars, with future cash flows discounted back to the present VI. HYBRID SYSTEM COMPONENTS
using the discount rate. In the optimizing process, HOMER
The hybrid system discussed in this paper consists of
simulates every system configuration [1].
Photovoltaic (PV) panels to generate electricity from solar
radiation; wind turbine to generate electricity from wind;
inverters for conversion of DC to AC; batteries for storage of
generated energy. Figure 6 shows the details of the proposed
system.
A. Economic Analysis of System Components
A.1 Photovoltaic System
Photovoltaic part of the system consists of 52 solar
photovoltaic panels each with a capacity of 240W which are
connected parallel. The cost of photovoltaic panels is coming Fig. 8. Cost curve for Wind turbine
$1.7/W where the lifetime of PV is taken as approximately 25
years [8]. The system discussed here is not using sun tracker.
Figure 7 below shows the details of cost curve. A.3 Batteries
Batteries are used to store energy. Batteries are very
essential when there are no enough renewable energy sources
to meet energy demands such as night times especially at the
absence of wind. The configuration of energy backup into the
batteries consists of twelve 258 Ah batteries connected in
serial and parallel. Cost of each battery is approximately $686
[8] and may vary from a country to another. Figure 9 below
shows the details of cost curve.

Fig. 6. Hybrid System components

Fig. 9. Cost curve for Battaries

A.4 Converters
A converter is an essential unit for converting the stored
DC energy in order to serve AC loads and vice-versa. In our
systems, 5kW converters have been used. The cost of such a
converter is around $578 [8].
Fig. 7. Cost curve for PV B. Operating Costs
The operating cost associated with capital and replacement
A.2 Wind Turbine
costs shown above is sitting at an average of $2460 / year as
One of the 1kW Whisper 200 wind turbine has been
shown in Figure 10.
chosen for hybrid system since it has low speed starting
facilities. Also it uses micro-processor controller that offers a
higher reliability and increased control for battery charging
while it lets users to choose desired output voltage depending
on the requirements such as 12, 24, 36 or 48 VDC. The unit
cost is considered as $3600 while replacement and
maintenance costs are considered to be $3000 and $200 per
year [8]. Figure 8 below shows the details of cost curve.

Fig. 10. Net Present Cost including capital, replacement and operation costs.
 VII. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS in North Cyprus”, Proceedings of the National Conference on Emerging
Trends in Engineering Technology and Applications (NCETETA-2009),
The proposed hybrid system has been designed to supply Bangalore, Apr 2009, pp 391-396.
daily 30kWh energy demand for residential estate in North [3] Mustafa Đlkan and Akile Yuvka, “Energy Production and Environmental
Pollution in North Cyprus”, The 3rd FAE International Symposium, 25 –
Cyprus for western weather conditions. Taking into 26 November 2004, Gemikonagi, North Cyprus.
consideration the fact that purchasing energy from the grid [4] Why Solar Energy. Neden Yenilenebilir enerji
for same load over a period of 10 years costs approximately [5] Simla Yasemin Özkaya, “Where the world is going: Dünya nereye
$42862 including all VAT’s and inflation rates [2], our gidiyor”.
system turns out to be much more economic and [6] NASA Surface Meteorology and Solar Energy Data Set. Available online
environmental-friendly. Table 2 below shows the details of (Last checked on Oct 12, 2010).
[7] North Cyprus Electricity Authority documents. Available online
energy purchase from a grid for 10 years.
[8] Available online
A closer look at the hybrid system scenario reveals that
renewability fraction is %100 which means that a grid
connection is only needed to sell back the energy excess to the
government.
X. BIOGRAPHIES
TABLE II
COST OF ENERGY PURCHASE FROM GRID OVER A PERIOD OF 10 YEARS
Ahmet Yasli was born on Feb. 21, 1984 at Lefkoşa
Energy Consumption Monthly Energy Usage (Nicosia – Turkish Republic of Northern Cyrpus). He
Total cost for 10 has done his B.Sc and M.Sc. (EE Engg.) at the
Tariff (kWh)
Years Energy European University of Lefke and emerged out as a
kWh Price $ 900 purchase from gold medal student in both UG and PG studies. He has
0-250 0.21 Grid($) worked as Research Assistant in the department of
EEE of European University of Lefke for the past few
251-500 0.24 Monthly Meter Rent years and in 2011-12 he was promoted to Lab
501-750 0.28 Price ($) Engineer. His fields of interest and research are in
42862 power systems and renewable energy systems.
751+ 0.36
9,41
Average 0.27
Ebrahim Soujeri (IEEE SM’2011) was born in
In our system, the total energy production for one year Ashkanan across the Persian Gulf in Iran, on Sep. 11,
1972. He graduated (B.Sc. honors, M.Sc. and Ph.D.)
consists of 81% PV array and 19% wind generation. On the from the Eastern Mediterranean University, Cyprus.
other hand 76% of generated energy has been used for AC His employment experience includes Eastern
primary loads and other 24% for grid sales. i.e. 24% of the Mediterranean University, Cyprus International
University, the European University of Lefke (Cyprus)
product is sold out to the government. where he worked as the Chair of Electrical and
So, from the simulation results we see that total net present Electronics Engineering, and Sultan Qaboos
University (Oman). Dr. Soujeri is currently with the Faculty of Engineering and
cost comes to $15140, the capital cost comes to $12322 and Computer Science at Concordia University, Canada.
cost of energy comes only $ 0,122 /kWh.

VIII. CONCLUSIONS
The feasibility study discussed in this paper presents the
effects of renewable energy resources on energy generation.
The results obtained here could be generalized to other
countries or regions with similar average solar radiation
profile. The system provided here is very feasible for Cyprus
since energy is generally expensive in Cyprus. However,
generalizations to other countries or regions of the world will
depend on the price of electricity tariff in that country.
Nonetheless, solar and / or wind energy sources are clean and
environment-friendly and any deal or project done in this
direction is in our belief, a never-losing deal that must be
sought by power managers for a better future on our planet.

IX. REFERENCES
[1] A. Yasli & E. Soujeri, “The Pre-Feasibility Study of Wind/Solar Hybrids
for Households in Cyprus, Applied to Guzelyurt Region”, The 6th Archeng
International Symposium (EEECS’10), European University of Lefke,
Gemikonagi − North Cyprus, 25-26 Nov. 2010.
[2] K.Balasubramanian, A.Yasli and A.Cellatoglu “Dual Energy System
Design for Wind and Solar Resources Meeting Residential Energy Needs