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Modeling and Cost Optimization of an Islanded Virtual Power Plant: Case

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Article in Electric Power Components and Systems · October 2022

DOI: 10.5152/tepes.2022.22024

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 TEPES, Vol. 2, Issue. 2, 168-179, 2022 DOI: 10.5152/tepes.2022.22024

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Modeling and Cost Optimization of an Islanded Virtual Power Plant:

Case Study of Tunisia
Ramia Ouederni , Bechir Bouaziz , Faouzi Bacha

National Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology, Centre Urbain Nord, Tunis Cedex, Tunisia

Cite this article as: R. Ouederni, B. Bouaziz and F. Bacha, "Modeling and cost optimization of an islanded virtual power plant: Case study of tunisia," Turk J
Electr Power Energy Syst, 2022; 2(2), 168-179.

ABSTRACT

The renewable energy resources placed a crucial aspect in all residential, and industrial communities. In this article presents the optimal sizing for the design of
virtual power plant (VPP) to plan, and operate the system proposed is a solution for Djerba Island in Tunisia also to determine the management over six differ-
ent models as taking the factor cost, economics, and environment criteria, etc. An analysis is carried out by studying the potentials of wind energy, solar energy,
water flow, and biomass, as well as collecting data from different sources. For the optimization of the virtual power plant, the HOMER Pro is the software utilize
for help analyze an available data, also an economical utility form virtual power system project with a battery. The results showed that the best structure of
virtual power plant among all feasible configurations, with a net present cost of the design proposed is 314.846 $, and a cost of energy (COE) produced are
0.4031$. We have obtained a good result to use the sources of the proposed system by providing a cleaner, and environmentally friendly environment for the
communities by using renewable energies resources meeting the charge requirements as per Kyoto protocol.

Index Terms—Virtual power plant concept, cost of energy, optimal system design, economic and environmental optimization, HOMER Pro.

I. INTRODUCTION grid-connected solar/battery systems for a rural community in

Nowadays, as renewable energy sources are developed, and the Rwanda was examined by using HOMER.
demand for them increases. At the end of their useful life, con-
ventional power plants are expected to be replaced by renewable Electrical energy has become a basic requirement for people to live
energy sources and cleaner technologies. While renewable energy in both rural and urban places, and the request is urban and island
is expected to grow incredibly in coming years, its absorption rate areas, and the request is rising day by day [7]. The huge increase in
is very low compared to other non-renewable energy sources [1]. In the fossil fuel prices [8] and decreasing fossil fuel reserves have led
addition, there is a need to integrate renewable energy technologies to an energy emergency. Alternative renewable sources of energy
into hybrid power systems to improve power reliability and capacity are suggested to face this energy crisis and reduce harmful gas emis-
and to effectively reduce fluctuation [2]. A many research paper on sions. Yet, a single renewable energy source could not satisfy the
off-grid and on-grid hybrid energy system utilizing a variety of opti- energy demand of the meet the energy demands due to the uncer-
mization and tool. In [3] has proposed an autonomous renewable tainty of production renewable energy sources. As a result, hybrid
hybrid system energy hydro/wind/solar/diesel/battery to supply the renewable energy systems, including a variety of sources such as
Persian Gulf islands utilizing Hybrid Energy Resource Optimization solar, wind, biomass, hydro, and energy storage systems are being
(HOMER) models. In [4], a hybrid solar/wind/diesel/battery energy recommended [9]. Hybrid energy system can be developed to oper-
system that is isolated from the grid was studied on HOMER for a ate off-grid or grid-connected systems and can use Energy Storage
local village called Perumal Kovilpathy, an off-grid solar/wind/hydro/ System (ESS) [10].
battery hybrid energy system designed on HOMER to electrify the
remote and hard-to-reach villages in India’s Himalayan region has To use the renewable energy sources efficiently, and economically,
been suggested by [5]. In [6], a comparative study of off-grid and each component must be aggregated, and selected. To ensure

Received: August 26, 2022

Corresponding author: Bechir Bouaziz, bechi​r.bou​aziz@​isimg​.tn
Accepted: September 29, 2022
Publication Date: October 21, 2022
Content of this journal is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
 TEPES Vol 2., Issue. 2, 168-179, 2022
Ouederni et al. VPP Cost Optimization

minimum investment and full utilization of the virtual power plant, VPP and its components, and section VI includes main component
we have chosen sizing and optimization techniques. As a result, models of the VPP. The evaluation of the system includes the eco-
the system can operate in optimal conditions with the appropriate nomic and environmental criteria presented in section VI and section
configuration. In these locations, renewable resource has been the VII demonstrates the results and discussion of the work. In the end,
best alternative source of electricity generation. The most recognize the conclusion is presented in section VIII.
alternatives of electricity generation are hydroelectricity, wind plant,
tidal plant, photovoltaic also the biomass [11]. II. HOMER SOFTWARE

This system configuration offers greater reliability, and down cost A Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Electric Renewable (HOMER) soft-
than single-feed system. However, sizing of the system components ware system simplified the assignment of designed on-grid and off-
is an important factor in the technical and economic viability of the grid distributed generation (DG) systems for a variety of application.
system [13].
In this study, the HOMER software was used for designing VPP.
Generally, virtual power plant uses a both operating modes: on-grid, The HOMER is an optimization tool for VPP developed by National
and islanded (off-grid). In two operating modes, virtual power plants Renewable Energy Laboratory [5][6]. The basic functions of HOMER
system has there are some implications for consumer, and power are imitative, optimization, and sensitivity analysis.
systems. In [14], a hybrid system supplies the energy from Wind
Turbines (WT), PhotoVoltaic (PV), Tidal Turbines (TT), Hydraulic The HOMER Software helps in configuration of the suggested renew-
source (Hy), Biomass source (Bio), and battery. Fuel cells, and stor- able electrical hybrid system, and leads to the answer to the follow-
age batteries store the excess energy generated by the generators ing two questions:
and release it in the event of a power outage.
• Which component makes sense including in the system design.
The HOMER program provides a robust frame for user to compare • You must use the quantity and size of every component.
many different economic, and technological options. In addition, it is
possible to account for numerous variations, and uncertainties in the A core capability from HOMER software helping with the evaluation
input data. A HOMER simulates the energy systems performances at them any possible system configuration, too more precisely in:
every time of the year and display the energy available supply pat-
terns and life cycle costs. • Simulation: It attempts to create a feasible configuration
for every possible combination you would like to take into
During the optimization process, the program searched for differ- consideration.
ent possible configuration, renewable resource sizes, and demand • Optimization: HOMER is an economical optimization model,
satisfactions, taking into account the constraints to reach the most allows to reduce fuel consumption. It’s possible to define the
economical state [15] [16]. criteria, so that you can see the best possible fits. Analog sys-
tems are classified also according to these criteria.
In this paper proposes the optimal solution of virtual power system • Sensibility testing: It’s a stage that models the effect of a variable
composed by PV,WT,TT,Hy,Bio, and battery using HOMER software. on the control, e.g., the meteorological data, fuel cost, besides
view the responses in the optimization virtual power plant.
This article is organized as follows: section II presents the HOMER
software, section III presents a description of study area location, The objective of using the HOMER function is to obtain a minimum
section IV presents the energy demand, resources, and metrological net present value (NPC) is the present value of the system costs,
data of proposed community, section V includes the best model of e.g., of installing also operating all component over their lifetime
less the current value of the components income he has been mak-
ing money all his life. The cost includes capital cost, replacement
Main Points
cost, operation and maintenance cost, fuel cost, also network pur-
• The core capabilities of the HOMER software make it easier chasing power costs. Revenue includes residual value and turnover
to evaluate any possible system configurations and more of the network, in this case zero, because there is no connection to
precise in simulation, optimization, and sensitivity analysis. the network.
• This study presents a virtual power plant’s (VPP) optimal
design and comparative studies based on real data on the III. LOCATION OF THE STUDY AREA
Djerba Island, Tunisia, of six models and how it can be ben- Figure 1 present the geographic position of the study area on a
eficial to the island to adapt to the frequent disturbances. plan. The study zone is situated in the Djerba quarter of Medenine,
• With proper planning and sizing, it is possible to provide Tunisia. Djerba is an island of the Mediterranean Sea region of
electricity to the island community in Tunisia. 514 square kilometers (25 kilometers by 20 kilometers, with a
• The results showed that the best structure of VAA among all coastline of 150 kilometers), located to the east of the east coast
feasible configurations, with a net present cost of the sys- of Tunisia. It is the biggest island on the North African coast and is
tem, is 314,846$ and the cost of energy produced is 0,4031$. located southeast of the Gulf of Gabes, bordering the eastern coast;
Djerba is the closest to the southern bay of Boughrara.

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Ouederni et al. VPP Cost Optimization

Fig. 1. Geographical location of the study area.

The island of Djerba, Tunisia, is chosen as the case study to assess HOMER profiles for daily and seasonal profiles are shown in Figure 2,
and analyze the potential resource and the feasibility of a proposed and the mean power is 6.9 kW.
VPP for the community while considering the cost factor, economics,
environmental criteria, etc. B. Resources and Meteorological Data
The power output of renewable energy sources depends primarily
on meteorological data and the available resources in the project
IV. ENERGY DEMAND AND RESOURCES location area. The HOMER program processes those variables as
A. Load Profile Assessment inputs. The relationship of the output energy to the parameters is
The monthly charge profiles for the suggested communities are described in Section VI. Djerba Island parameters were taken from
calculated with the residential charge demands in mind. Fans and the NASA databases.
lights are basic devices for charge calculation. The loading is divided
into two seasons: winter and summer. In the summer, the charge Figure 3(a) shows live global solar radiation; on the other hand,
is high due to the weather. In contrast, winter loads are lower. The Djerba island as caught in Solar and obtained through HOMER

Fig. 2. Load profile.

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Ouederni et al. VPP Cost Optimization

Fig. 3. Annual meteorological data of the Djerba Island: (a) daily irradiance; (b) daily temperature; (c) average wind speed; (d) water speed;
(e) biomass resource.

software. The average solar access index was recorded at 0.6 and average tidal speed is 0.71 m/s as shown in Fig. 3(d). The available
the average daily radiation was registered at 5.13 kWh/m2/day with biomass resource for 1 year is 291.67 t/day in average value as
the mean temperature of about 21°C. shown in Fig. 3(e).

Figure 3 (b) shows the ambient daily temperature average. The mean
yearly temperature was 23°C, with the top temperature in the sum- V. ISLAND VIRTUAL POWER PLANT STRUCTURE
mer from May through October and lowest temperatures in the win- Figure 4 shows the available energy delivery options and diagrams the
ter. The hottest ambient temperature was recorded in August with a virtual power plant system on the island of Djerba in Tunisia. This sys-
temperature of 28°C, while January was the coldest month with an tem is composed of photovoltaic power plants, wind power plants, tidal
ambient temperature of 12°C. power plants and hydro power plants are considered as a renewable
energy source. The biogas producer is used for a backup power supply
Figure 3(c) shows wind speed probability distribution and the aver- to be activated in case of inadequate generation, and a battery bank
age wind speed for this island was found to be 5.77 m/s. Also, the as a source of compensation generation, converters and controllers.

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TABLE I.
GENERIC 10 KW WIND TURBINE SPECIFICATIONS

Wind Turbine Value

Type Generic 10 kW

Rated power 100 kW

Startup. wind speed 3 m/s

Rated wind speed 12 m/s

Cut-out wind speed 21 m/s

Tower height 50 m

Rotor diameter 22 m

Swept area 2300 m²

VI. MAIN COMPONENTS OF THE ISLAND’S VIRTUAL POWER PLANT

The components of the energy optimization system involve hybrid

modeling, in order to achieve its performance under various circum-
stances. The following mathematical model is used to demonstrate
the proposed VPP system components:

A. Windpower Plant Model

Figure 5 indicates the power graph of a generic 10 kW WT. The
capital, exchange, maintenance with the life from the turbine is
represented by 18 000 $, 18 000 $, 200 $/year, and 20 years,
Fig. 4. Proposed scheme of an islanded virtual power plant in HOMER
respective. The output power for the wind turbine is shown by
software model.
equation (1) [3] [17]:

1 2 3
Pwt  wt C pRwt vwt (1)
2

where R is the blade radius, ρwt is the density of the air, Cp is the coef-
ficient of power, and vwt stands for the speed of wind.

The pertinent details for the generic 10 kW wind turbine are pre-
sented in Table I.

B. Photovoltaic Power Plant Model

The power produced by a photovoltaic module is proportional to the
area of the semiconductor that is exposed to sunlight, the area of the
photovoltaic module, the average temperature, and the properties
of the photovoltaic cell under industry standard solar radiation test
condition [18]. So, the generated power can be determined by (2):

Ppv  pv Apv Gt (2)

where ηpv represents the rapid efficiency for the PV module table,
Apv represents the position of the module used in this system, Gt
represents the total radiation. The photovoltaic panels are Trina
Solar 300TSM-300PA14, with a lifespan of approximately 25 years,
Fig. 5. The power curve of the generic 10 kW wind turbine. and the capital cost is 120 $/kW, the replacement cost is 120 $/kW,
and the maintenance price is 10 $/kW/year.

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Fig. 6. The power curve of the AR2000 tidal turbine.

C. Tidal power Plant Model D. Hydroelectric Power Plant Model

The HOMER program offers various type of tidal turbine for use in The Generic 5 kW hydraulic pump component newly added in the
Hydrokinetic, part of its component library. When selecting a Generic HOMER components libraries was used to model the hybrid system
hydrokinetic 40kW tidal turbine, 4 cost parameters must be entered for this purpose [20].
into the program, (a) capital (or installed cost and wire); (b) replace-
ment cost; (c) maintenance cost; and (d) life span of the tidal turbine. Ph  hgHQ (4)
For the purposes of this study, the following parameters were used:
14 000 $, 14 000 $ and 2700 $/year and 20 years, respectively. The Where, is power capacity (5.494 kW),is water density (1000 kg/m3),
power curve for the tidal turbine is shown in Figure 6. The output of g is due acceleration at gravity (9.8 m/s2), Q is the tip rate (0.0231
the tidal turbine is represented by (3): m3/s), and H is effective gauge height through the turbine (m) is
assumed by 80%. With a lifetime of approximately 25 years, it being
1 noted that the capital cost is equal to 40 000 $/kW, and the replace-
Pt  t C p  Rt2vt3 (3)
2 ment cost is 20 000 $/kW, and the maintenance and operation cost
is 1200 $/kW/year.
Among them, ρt represents the density of seawater, Rt is the radius
of the tidal current generator blades, vt is the tidal flow speed, and E. Biomass Resources
Cp represents the coefficient of the power of the turbine, ranging Biomass is every organic material which can be convert to energies
approximately 0.35–0.5 [19]. sources. It consists of materials of plant origins (agricultural residue,
leave, and wood) and materials of animal origins (animals or humans
The pertinent details for the Generic hydrokinetic 40kW tidal wastes, soil organisms, animal carcass). In our case, the hotel wastes
turbines are presented in Table II. have been considered as the single biomass resources used for
power generation. The input to the HOMER is the daily mean of the
waste generation that could be utilized for biogas production. Based
on survey conducted in the project area.
TABLE II.
TIDAL TURBINE SPECIFICATIONS Biomass expressed as a net change in biomass, as biomass can
Tidal Turbine Value change significantly over a specified period. The calculation is
defined as [21]:
Type Generic hydrokinetic 40kW
CB hB mB
Rated capacity 40 kW PB = (5)
3.6
Manufacturer SAE/GE Where, is the output power of biomass and is measured in kW. (in
Cut-in tidal speed 1 m/s percentage) is the power conversion efficiency of biomass. The unit
is the, and the unit is the kg/h. is the heating value of a biomass
Cut-out tidal speed 3.05 m/s measured by MJ/Kg. In This study, a general-purpose biogas plant
Operational tidal speed range 1–4.5 m/s attached to an AC outlet.

Swept area 314 m² HOMER considers the amount of the biogas generated when
dimensioning the power plant. The capital costs, replacement costs,
Rotor diameter 20 m
and maintenance cost for 1 kW biogas plant have been determined

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Ouederni et al. VPP Cost Optimization

2) Levelized cost of energy

TABLE III.
Levelized cost of energy (COE) present the minimal price at which
GENERIC 1 KWH LEAD-ACID BATTERY SPECIFICATIONS
power has to be delivered to the end users in order to achieve break
Properties Ratings even over the lifetime of the project, and expressed in ($/kWh). To
determine the COE from HOMER software, we simply to take the
Nominal voltage 12V
annualizes costs of power generation (total annualizes costs less
Round trip efficiency 80% for the cost of serving the thermal charge) and divided by the total
electric load being served. It is the mean system operating cost to
Lifetime throughput 800 kWh
produce one kilowatt-hour of power. COE is defined as the ratio of
Maximum charging current 16.67 A the total annualize systems cost to the total available power genera-
tion of the system per year [24]. A mathematical equation for COE is
Maximum discharge current 24.33 A described by (7).

to be 3 000 $, 1 500 $, and 0.1$/hr [22], respectively. The lifetime Ca ,tot  C boiler Hserv
COE  (7)
of the generator has been fixed at 20 000 hours operating. The E serv
minimal charge ratio has been supposed by 50% capacity. where Ca,tot presents the total annualized costs of the system
($/year), Cboiler presents the boiler marginal costs ($/kWh), Hserv pres-
F. Modeling Storage of Energy System
ents the total thermal charge served (kWh/year), and Eserv presents
The power storage is one of the most critical component of inte-
the total electrical charge served (kWh/year).
gration systems generated by different renewable energy sources.
A 12V general-purpose lead-acid battery with 1 kWh of energy stor-
3) Cost of operation
age is provided to assure extremely reliable service and economi-
The operating costs are the estimated value of every cost and rev-
cal operation. Specifications are given in Table III. The capital costs,
enue other than initial capital cost. The HOMER software displays
replacement costs, maintenance costs, and life of the battery are
operating costs in an optimization result list. To calculate the operat-
300 000$, 300 000$, 10.00$/years, and 10 years, respectively.
ing cost, we use (8).
G. Energy Converter Model C op  Can ,tot  Can ,cap (8)
Universal system converters are provided to rectify the AC genera-
tor outlet to DC, which is much less expensive than a bi-directional where Cop is a sum of annualized costs of the system ($/year), and
convertor. Consider capitals, replacements, maintenances, durability, Can,cap is a total annualized capital costs ($/year).
and efficiency of the converter are 250$, 250$, 10$/year, 5 years,
and 95%, respectively [23]. 4) Initial capital costs
The capital costs of the components are the total installed costs of
VII. EVALUATION CRITERIA OF THE SYSTEM component at the beginning of the project.
This part is reserved to evaluate the electricity production. There are
different elements that affect the cost, and those cost. The cost is 5) Renewable fraction
expressed in kWh/MWh, and typically include the capital, the dis- A renewable fraction is the portion of the energy supply to the loads
count rate, subsidy, and operating cost like fuel, maintenance, etc. that are derived from renewable energy source. The HOMER soft-
The costs of a decentralized energy system need to be standardized ware calculates a renewable fraction using (9).
or levelized. The mathematical representations for various costs and
emissions will be discussed in the bellow. Enonren  Hnonren
fren  1  (9)
E serv  Hserv
A. Economic Criteria
where Enonren presents the nonrenewable electrical production
1) Net present cost (kWh/year), Egrid,sales presents the energy sold to the grid (kWh/yr)
The Homer program calculates the total NPC by adding up the sum (included in Eserv), Hnonren presents the nonrenewable thermal produc-
of the discounted future cash flow for every year in the lifetime of tion (kWh/year), Eserv presents the sum of electrical charge served
the project. The NPC total, it’s an economic output in HOMER soft- (kWh/year), Hserv presents the sum of the thermal load served
ware and allows for the ranking all the systems configuration in the (kWh/year).
optimum result, also calculated a total annualizes, and discounted
energy costs. A mathematical representation of the NPC is described VIII. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
by (6). HOMER software analyzes the engineering practicability, and life cycle
cost of the virtual plant for every year, and test the inputs for the given
CTAC
CNPC = (6) time period. Simulation capacity is long-term to Homer. Optimization,
f
and sensitivity analysis are performed to find the simulation capacity
where CTAC presents the sum of annualized costs and f is the capital with user specified classes. The less costs for the virtual power plant
recovery factor. depend on the total net costs. The optimization is performed on

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TABLE IV.
OPTIMAL SIMULATED ELECTRICAL COMPONENT

Specification Component Unit Best Hybrid System Per Model

Model
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Model 5 Model 6

System PV Array (Trin​aSola​r300T​SM-30​0PA14​) kW 62.6 69.2 79.5 119 - -

architecture
Wind Turbine (Generic 10 kW) Number 1 - 1 - 6 15

Biogas (Generic Biogas Genset) kW 5 5 - - 5 -

Pumped Hydro (10kW Generic) kW 11 11 11 11 11 11

Tidal turbine (AR2000) Number 1 1 1 1 1 1

Converter kW 18.3 16.7 20.8 22.8 18.7 37.8

Battery Number 100 120 208 224 336 728

Dispatch strategy LF or CC LF LF CC CC CC CC

Cost COE $ 0.403 0.413 0.458 0.484 0.740 1.29

NPC $ 314.846 322.628 357.454 377.675 577.651 1.01M

Operating cost $/year 11.206 12.711 12.940 15.114 19.666 32.018

Initial capital $ 169.985 158.303 190.169 182.292 323.419 593.740

Power PV Array kWh/year 94.087 104.097 119.518 178.434 - -

production
Wind Turbine kWh/year 23.366 - 23.366 - 140.197 350.492

Biogas kWh/year 8.590 11.350 - - 12.160 -

Tidal Turbine kWh/year 20.792 20.792 20.792 20.792 20.792 20.792

Capacity factor PV Array % 64.1 76.4 73 89.6 - -

Wind Turbine % 15.9 - 14.3 - 81 94.4

Biogas % 5.85 8.33 - - 7.02 -

Tidal Turbine % 14.2 15.3 12.7 10.4 12 5.6

TABLE V.
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS SUMMARY

Component Capital ($) Replacement ($) O&M ($) Fuel ($) Salvage ($)

Hydraulic 80 000 0 31 026,04 0 0

Tidal Turbine 14 000 4 463,30 34 904,29 0 −251 536

Battery 30 000 26 781,44 12 927,52 0 −3 348,96

Biogas 15 000 5 497,79 12 856,42 5 611,94 −769,21

Power Converter 5 476,39 2 323,49 2 359,87 0 −437,30

PV Array 7 508,99 0 8 089,39 0 0

Wind Turbine 18 000 5 738,53 2 585,50 0 −3 234,03

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Ouederni et al. VPP Cost Optimization

the basis of these inputs, and the table results. During optimization, • Model 3: PV+WT+Bat+Hy+TT
HOMER considers the profile of every generator based on the specifi- • Model 4: PV+Bat+Hy+TT
cations of the user. • Model 5: WT+Bio+Bat+Hy+TT
• Model 6: WT+Bat+Hy+TT
In this sense, Table IV presents six the most efficient system
architectures and their respective costs. Six the inputs to the model Table IV indicates the component details, and a technical, economi-
of design have been provided as follow: cal specification for the optimal hybrid systems in all the model.

• Model 1:PV+​WT+Bi​o+Bat​+Hy+T​T We can see that the optimum solution composed of 62.6 kW pho-
• Model 2: PV+Bio+Bat+Hy+ TT tovoltaic plants, a 10 kW WT plant, a 5 kW biogas generator, 100

Fig. 7. Monthly average electrical outputs from the optimal configuration system.

Fig. 8. The PV array output.

Fig. 9. Biogas generator output.

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Ouederni et al. VPP Cost Optimization

batteries, an 11 kW pumped hydroelectric storage, a 1 tidal turbine, occurred from 06:00 a.m. to 06:00 p.m. and was most likely to peak
and an 18.3 kW generator bidirectional converters with one load (55.7 kW) from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. In addition, the total yearly
following dispatch strategies. All sources are presented. Its costs of photovoltaic electricity production is 94.087 kWh/year, which cor-
power (COE) and its total NPC was 0.403$ and 314,846$ respectively, responds to a system capacity factor of 17.2%.
and the renewable fraction is 100%.
Figure 9 demonstrates the performance of the biogas plant through-
The assessment of the virtual power system in term of investment, out the years. It has been very likely that the generator would be
operation, also maintenance cost is shown from Table V. The capi- turned on from 06:00 p.m. till midnight. Also, the biogas producer
tal costs in the system are owned by the hydraulic system power is was able to supply its maximum electrical power (5 kW) from 06:00
higher, and the operation and maintenance costs. A total cost of the p.m. to 00:00 a.m. The yearly electricity generation of the biogas
systems over the life for the project is calculate at 314,846$ based production was 8.590 kWh/year, which is a system capacity factor
on this assessment. of 19.6%.

Figure 7 presents the monthly contribution of the virtual power Figure 10 presents the energy and the production profile from the
system (all sources used in the system) throughout the year. The converter for a period of 1 year with a capacity factor of 13.3% for
HOMER Pro indicated that the energy supplied by PV was 64.1%, the the inverter and 0.862% for the rectifier. Fig. 11 shows the state of
energy supplied by WT was 15.9%, the energy supplied by TT was load of the battery storing station for 1 year.
14.2%, and the biogas produced was 5.85%.
A randomly selected week’s energy situation of generation and con-
The production of the photovoltaic generator all year long, pre- sumption in 1-year period of a VPP operation is given in Fig. 12. In
sented in Figure 8, shows that the photovoltaic power production Fig.12, the PV power production, wind turbine power, tidal turbine

Fig. 10. The energy output profile of converter during period of 1 year.

Fig. 11. State of charge of the pumped-hydro storage station.

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Fig. 12. One-week energy gener​ation​–cons​umpti​on graph of the virtual power plant.

power, load, and the amount of load energy are presented. When all compared six categories, and how it can be beneficial to Djerba
the sources of the VPP production are more than just the uptake, the Island to address the frequent power outages and disruptions and
energy is provided to the charge alone of a VPP system, and excess to encourage the utilization of renewable energy sources in these
power is sent to the utility grid. When PV production is below the communities.
consumption, necessary energy is bought from the network. In this
operating strategy, the battery is used. In this study, a proposed VPP consists of a photovoltaic energy
plant, a wind energy plant, a tidal energy plant, a hydropower sys-
IX. CONCLUSION tem, a biogas generator, and an energy storage system based on
This study provides a detailed overview of how the potential of battery bank designed to supply power for the island of Djerba,
renewable energies can be realized in Tunisia with optimal design Tunisia. Yet, the optimal for dimensioning and operating this addi-
and is a comparison study of real data for Djerba Island. The study tional system should be done properly so that maximum benefit

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Ouederni et al. VPP Cost Optimization

can be obtained. We find an optimal sizing of all components based 7. S. Kanata, S. Baqaruzi, A. Muhtar, P. Prasetyawan., and T. Winata,
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bine, water turbine, biomass, water pressure, and charge data. The in Sebesi Island,Indonseia,” Int. J. Renew. Energy Res. (IJRER), vol. 11,
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over a period of 1 year.
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HOMER software can be utilized to analyses a variety of structure distributed generation using Homer,” 3rd International Conference on
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