Standalone hybrid systems based on renewable energy sources may represent a convenient and cost effective option for powering isolated consumers located far from the existing grid. In this study the focus is on particular photovoltaic-wind-diesel-battery systems which supply mobile telephony base stations. In the study, both the consumption of telecommunication electronic equipment and the consumption of cooling devices are taken into account. Nine characteristic locations across Europe with different climatic conditions were selected for comparative techno-economic assessment. For each location, a comprehensive simulation and optimization routine was performed, in order to find the optimal system configuration and the minimum amount of total annualized costs. The obtained results are discussed and some conclusions regarding system sizing at different locations are drawn.

In contemporary electrical power systems real-time power line monitoring and supervision are commonly performed using simple non-invasive devices with contactless magnetic field measurement. Measured magnetic fields are commonly employed for fault detection in fault passage indicators, but they can also be used to determine electrical and non-electrical power line variables. In this paper a novel adaptive method for conductor sag estimation is proposed, using magnetic field measurement. The method is based on the properly calibrated approximate power line magnetic field model, in which catenary-shaped conductors are modeled by tilted straight-line conductors of infinite length. By this approximation, the overhead power line model can be used in simple devices for power line monitoring in real-time. Applicability and accuracy of the proposed method for power line conductor sag estimation is verified by computer simulations and measurements on a three-phase overhead line model, scaled to laboratory conditions.

In recent years, the number of requests for connection of PV systems to the medium voltage distribution network has been significantly increasing. In order to approve a connection, it is necessary to comprehensively consider the integration impacts on the grid. In this paper, a two-step quasi-dynamic network simulation in DIgSILENT PowerFactory automated by Python scripting is proposed. In the first step, based on statistics of meteorological parameters and consumer load profiles, long-term hourly sequences of PV system power production and load of all consumers were artificially generated. In the second step, a Monte Carlo simulation applied to IEEE 33-bus system with an integrated PV system was performed. As illustrative results, the voltage profile and active power losses are shown and discussed.

Harnessing renewable energy sources (RES) using hybrid systems for buildings is almost a deontological obligation for engineers and researchers in the energy field, and increasing the percentage of renewables within the energy mix represents an important target. In crowded urban areas, on-site energy production and storage from renewables can be a real challenge from a technical point of view. The main objectives of this paper are quantification of the impact of the consumer’s profile on overall energy efficiency for on-site storage and final use of solar thermal energy, as well as developing a multicriteria assessment in order to provide a methodology for selection in prioritizing investments. Buildings with various consumption profiles lead to achieving different values of performance indicators in similar configurations of storage and energy supply. In this regard, an analysis of the consumption profile’s impact on overall energy efficiency, achieved in the case of on-site generation and storage of solar thermal energy, was performed. The obtained results validate the following conclusion: On-site integration of solar systems allowed the consumers to use RES at the desired coverage rates, while restricted by on-site available mounting areas for solar fields and thermal storage, under conditions of high energy efficiencies. In order to segregate the results and support optimal selection, a multicriteria analysis was carried out, having as the main criteria the energy efficiency indicators achieved by hybrid heating systems.

This paper presents a laboratory setup for testing and experimental verification of fault detection methods based on contactless measurement of power line magnetic field. The setup consists of a physical power line model scaled to laboratory conditions with two orthogonal measuring coils installed on one support pole underneath phase conductors. Voltages induced in the coils are amplified and filtered out by using analog electrical circuits and are fed to a digital data acquisition board. The sampled voltages are digitally processed by employing a generalized fault detection method previously developed by the authors. In this paper the main steps for designing the measuring coils, analog amplifying and filtering circuits are described in detail. The developed laboratory setup is verified by experiments for different shunt and series faults.

Optimal sizing of standalone hybrid renewable power supply for mobile telephony base stations is considered in this paper. This task is very complex due to stochastic nature of input variables such as wind speed, solar irradiance, ambient temperature and electric load. Further concern is modeling of the power consumed by cooling devices which is also uncertain variable dependent both on ambient conditions and power dissipation of telecommunication equipment. The realistic behavior of the station both in electrical and thermal terms can be analyzed only by a comprehensive probabilistic simulator. The basic idea of this paper is to systematically vary the main input parameters (rated powers of wind turbine and photovoltaic system along with battery capacity) and to run a Monte Carlo simulation for each considered variant observing the technical and economic indicators. Based on the minimum annual costs, it is possible to choose the best available investment solution. Simple optimization can be extended to multi-objective by adding some additional goals, such as minimizing the operating time of a diesel backup generator. The optimization method is tested on an illustrative example of a base station located in the Mediterranean area.

Bifacial photovoltaic modules have gained increasing attention in the last decade due to their potential to achieve higher annual energy yield in comparison to conventional monofacial modules. Since the higher energy production is also accompanied by higher investment costs, it is necessary to conduct a careful techno-economic analysis in order to provide the investors an answer about their accurate cost efficiency. The achievable energy output of a bifacial photovoltaic power plant is influenced by many factors such as module geometry, row spacing, orientation of the modules and ground albedo. Since the methodology for prediction of the energy yield has not yet been standardized, the main target of this paper was to create one version of a comprehensive standalone energy calculator that would serve as a useful performance assessment tool for designers and investors. The developed software tool was tested on several characteristic scenarios and the obtained results were compared with the results provided by two freely available online calculators.

This paper discusses the problem of powering a remote rural mobile base station using a standalone hybrid renewable energy system. A wind turbine and photovoltaic system are employed as the complementary power generation technologies, while the diesel generator serves as a backup power supply. A battery is required to reduce the impact of intermittency of renewable sources. On the consumption side, along with telecommunication electronic equipment, the consumption of cooling devices as a result of the ambient temperature, is also taken into account. The behavior of the base station in electrical and thermal terms is tested using the sequential Monte Carlo simulation. Adequate models have been used to generate wind, irradiance, and temperature input series, using the monthly averages for calibration, as the statistic information that is widely available in meteorological atlases, even for remote rural locations. The developed software provides all the variables of interest either in the form of chronological diagrams or probability histograms. The simulation platform can also be incorporated as a module of an algorithm for selection of optimal capacity of the generating system elements and for the optimal control of the cooling devices.

Noninvasive contactless methods for electric power line monitoring based on magnetic field measurement have become an interesting topic for researchers and the electric power industry since introduction of the Smart Grid concept. By measuring and analyzing magnetic field originating from currents in power line conductors, it is possible to detect faults in the network. In medium voltage distribution networks, where a variety of different pole geometries are present, different criteria for fault detection have to be employed for each geometry, which complicates detection and influences accuracy. This paper proposes a novel approach for fault detection in medium voltage distribution networks which is based on processing of signals measured by low cost contactless magnetic field sensors. In order to create a generalized method for fault detection, a sequence of mathematical transformations of the measured magnetic field components is applied. A novel geometric transformation which eliminates influence of pole geometry is introduced, providing signals from which steady-state symmetrical components of the rotating magnetic field are computed. Those components are used as general fault detection criteria. The proposed approach is confirmed to be applicable for different fault types by a set of experiments on three-phase overhead power line model scaled to laboratory conditions.

The paper presents an online web-oriented system named SOLARS, which is aimed at calculating the feasibility of building the photovoltaic (PV) systems. SOLARS currently enables potential investors to calculate the technical and financial feasibility of building the PV systems in the Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Very intuitive GUI design enables investors to obtain feasibility calculations in three simple steps: (i) selection of a geographical location, (ii) specification of technical parameters, and (iii) specification of financial parameters. A usage scenario is illustrated by a real feasibility calculation example.

In this paper, a stochastic simulation procedure for energy assessment of PV systems is developed and tested. The method is especially adequate for urban applications since the impact of surrounding obstacles both for direct and diffuse irradiance is taken into account. The main input is the system location along with its monthly average irradiance and temperature statistics. Based on the input data, the program generates a set of random years represented by hourly sequences of global horizontal irradiance and ambient temperature. The generated sequences are then converted into the module plane-of-array irradiance and module temperature time series and, consequently, the AC energy production is estimated for each simulated year. The final results are presented in a form of probability density function of the system annual energy output.

Fault passage indicators (FPIs) and fault locators (FLs) are employed in modern distribution networks in order to enhance the process of fault localization, thus resulting in reduction of interruption time and improving the reliability of power supply. In this paper, a novel probabilistic techno-economic optimization method is proposed for determining the number and positions of FPIs that lead to maximum reduction of interruptiontime and investment costs in medium voltage (MV) distribution networks with and without FLs. The proposed method is basedon a probabilistic non-sequential Monte Carlo simulation model of the real network, which is a proper compromise between complicated sequential simulation models and too simplified analytical models. The main goal of the method is to obtain maximum improvement of the network reliability indices while using the minimum number of FPIs. The method is tested on a combinedurban/rural MV distribution network in Bosnia and Herzegovina and results are thoroughly discussed.

One of the effective strategies for increasing reliability of the distribution networks is to perform a faster fault localization. The common techniques for accelerating the process of finding the faults are based on application of fault locators and fault passage indicators. The goal of this study is to assess the performance of both techniques, either considered separately or in combination with each other. Since the performance of both concepts depends on various stochastic variables, a comprehensive assessment methodology developed in this paper is based on the non-sequential Monte Carlo simulation.

In this paper a methodology for determining proper number and positions of fault passage indicators (FPIs) in medium voltage distribution networks with installed fault locators (FLs) is proposed and discussed. The main goal is to achieve the techno-economic balance, by obtaining maximum improvement of the reliability indices while using the minimum number of FPIs. The method is verified by Monte Carlo simulation on a real combined urban/rural distribution network in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The purpose of the simulation tests is to assess performance of the proposed methodology, as well as to discuss the results and propose potential actions required to improve their reliability for several possible scenarios: the use of FLs only, the use of FPIs only and the combined use of FLs and FPIs.