© Decentralized/Stand-Alone Hybrid Wind-Diesel Power Systems To Meet Residential Loads Of Hot Coastal Regions Elhadidy, MA; Shaahid, SM PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, ENERGY CONVERSION AND MANAGEMENT; pp: ; Vol: 46 King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals Summary In view of rising costs, pollution and fears of exhaustion of oil and coal, governments around the world are encouraging to seek energy from renewable/sustainable energy sources such as wind. The utilization of energy from wind (since the oil embargo of the 1970s) is being widely disseminated for displacement of fossil fuel produced energy and to reduce atmospheric degradation. A system that consists of a wind turbine and Diesel genset is called a Wind-Diesel power system. The literature indicates that the commercial/ residential buildings in Saudi Arabia consume an estimated 10-40% of the total electric energy generated. In the present study, the hourly mean wind-speed data of the period recorded at the solar radiation and meteorological station, Dhahran (26 degrees 32N, 50 degrees 13'E in the Eastern Coastal Region of Saudi Arabia), has been analyzed to investigate the potential of utilizing hybrid (Wind-Diesel) energy conversion systems to meet the load requirements of a hundred typical two bedroom residential buildings (with annual electrical energy demand of 3512 MWh). The long term monthly average wind speeds for Dhahran range from 4.2 to 6.4 m/s. The hybrid systems considered in the present case study consist of different combinations/clusters of 150 kW commercial wind machines supplemented with battery storage and Diesel back-up. The deficit energy generated by the Diesel generator (for different battery capacities) and the number of operational hours of the Diesel system to meet a specific annual electrical energy demand of 3512 MWh have also been presented. The evaluation of the hybrid system Copyright: King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals;

© shows that with seven 150 kW wind energy conversion system (WECS) and one day of battery storage, the Diesel back-up system has to provide 21.6% of the load demand. Furthermore, with three days of battery storage, the Diesel back-up system has to provide 17.5% of the load demand. However, in the absence of battery storage, about 37% of the load needs to be provided by the Diesel system. The study also places emphasis on the monthly average daily energy generation from different sizes (150 kW, 250 M, 600 kW) of wind machines to identify the optimum wind machine size from the energy production point of view. It has been noted that for a given 6 MW wind farm size (for 50 m hub height), a cluster of forty 150 kW wind machines yields about 48% more energy as compared to a cluster of ten 600 kW wind machines. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. References: *AM WIND EN ASS, 2003, GLOB WIND EN MARK RE *EL AFF AG, 1997, MIN IND EL EL GROWTH *GUID MET INSTR OB, 1971, TP3 WMO *RES I, 1992, KFUPM *SAUD CONS EL CO, 1999, ANN REP, P25 *SAUD EL CO, 2000, 1 ANN REP ABDULRAHMAN SH, 2002, P 1 S EN CONS MAN BU, P103 AMR M, 1990, SOL ENERGY, V45, P167 BELLARMINE GT, 1996, ENERG CONVERS MANAGE, V37, P1741 BERGEY M, 1993, WIND EN APPL TRAIN S BEYER HG, 1996, SOL ENERGY, V57, P381 BHATTI TS, 1997, ENERGY CONVERS M JUN, P CRAMER DG, 1994, POWER ENGFEB, P33 DAOO VJ, 1998, ENERG CONVERS MANAGE, V39, P1351 ELHADIDY M, 2000, RENEW ENERG, V21, P129 ELHADIDY MA, 1994, SOL ENERGY, V52, P439 ELHADIDY MA, 1998, WORLD RENEW ENERGY C ELHADIDY MA, 1999, INT J RENEWABLE ENER, V18, P77 EVANS LC, 1992, WIND ENERGY EUROPE HANSEN U, 1998, ENERGY J, V19, P63 MCGOWAN JG, 1988, SOL ENERGY, V41, P561 NAYAR CV, 1991, RENEW ENERG, V1, P713 NAYAR CV, 1993, SOL ENERGY, V51, P65 NFAOUI H, 1998, SOL ENERGY, V63, P51 OMAR B, 2002, P 1 S EN CONS MAN BU, P175 RANDALL S, 1992, US WINDFARMS EXPAND RIZK J, 2001, P ABSTR 7 INT SOL EN, P235 Copyright: King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals;

© SEELINGHOCHMUTH GC, 1997, SOL ENERGY, V61, P77 SHAAHID SM, 1994, P 40 INT INSTRUM S TRACA A, 1983, IEEE T POWER APPARAT, V102, P1515 For pre-prints please write to: Copyright: King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals;