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Published in IET Renewable Power Generation
Received on 7th November 2012
Revised on 6th February 2013
Accepted on 28th March 2013
doi: 10.1049/iet-rpg.2012.0329

ISSN 1752-1416

Optimal capacity allocation of standalone wind/solar/

battery hybrid power system based on improved
particle swarm optimisation algorithm
Jidong Wang1,2, Fan Yang1,2
1
Key Laboratory of Smart Grid of Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, Peoples Republic of China
2
School of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, Peoples Republic of China
E-mail: jidongwang@tju.edu.cn

Abstract: A standalone wind/solar/battery hybrid power system, making full use of the nature complementarity between wind
and solar energy, has an extensive application prospect among various newly developed energy technologies. The capacity of
the hybrid power system needs to be optimised in order to make a tradeoff between power reliability and cost. In this study,
each part of the wind/solar/battery hybrid power system is analysed in detail and an objective function combining total
owning cost and loss of power supply probability is built. To solve the problems with non-linearity, complexity and huge
computation, an improved particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm is developed, which integrates the taboo list to
broaden the search range and introduces restart and disturbance operation to enhance the global searching capability. The
simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithm is more stable and provides better results in solving the optimal
allocation of the capacity of the standalone wind/solar/battery hybrid power system compared with the standard PSO algorithm.

1 Introduction algorithm to optimise the capacity of the wind/solar/battery

Wind and solar energy is inexhaustible, and highly
complementary in terms of time and region. Therefore the
wind/solar/battery hybrid power system is capable of
making up the intermittency and randomness of solar and
wind energy and realises uninterrupted power supply.
At the same time, the development of the standalone wind/
solar/battery hybrid power system is an important method to
reduce emission, adjust energy structure and speed up the
development of power systems. The standalone wind/solar/
battery hybrid power system is widely used in common
power units such as ofces, residential areas and corporates,
in rural areas far from the grid and in other areas with
power shortage but rich in the wind and sun energy such as
grasslands, islands and deserts [1]. However, the traditional
experience design is very difcult to meet economy and
reliability requirements in allocation of the standalone wind/
solar/battery hybrid power system. Therefore it is necessary
to establish a reasonable objective function and adopt an
effective algorithm.
There are many optimisation algorithms applied to the
wind/solar/battery hybrid power system. In [2], an iterative
algorithm is used to calculate the capacity allocation for the
standalone wind/solar/battery hybrid power system, which
is better in nding optimal capacity allocation but with slow
speed. Moreover, the battery model used in this paper is
simple, and the charging and discharging characteristics of
the battery are not considered. In [3] the elitist strategy and
adaptive penalty function are combined with the genetic
hybrid power system. The speed is relatively fast but it is
easy to fall into local optimal solution. In [4] wind turbines
are optimised at rst, and then photovoltaic panels and
batteries are selected according to the load, in which only
one objective is considered.
In this paper, the model of wind turbine, PV panel and
battery is established to calculate the generated energy of
8760 h in one year. In the selection of the objective function,
the total owning cost and the loss of power supply probability
(LPSP) are taken into account to meet the requirement of the
power system economy and reliability. In the selection of the
algorithm, an improved particle swarm algorithm is used to
improve the ability of searching the optimal solution and
make the capacity allocation of standalone wind/solar/battery
hybrid power system more reasonable.
2 Model of optimal capacity allocation of
standalone wind/solar/battery hybrid power
system
Fig. 1 shows the structure chart of stand-alone wind/solar/
battery hybrid power system [5]. The hybrid system is made
up of wind turbine, photovoltaic panel, battery, inverter,
controller etc.
2.1 Modelling wind turbine
The analysis of a large number of measured data show that the
wind speed change approximately obeys Weibull [6]

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is the scattered radiation of the sky on the inclined surface
per hour, kW/m2; IrT is the reected radiation of the ground
on the inclined surface per hour, kW/m2 and IT,STC is the
incident radiation at standard test, 1 kW/m2.
The direct solar radiation on the inclined surface per hour
IbT can be expressed as (6)
 
IbT = Ib + Id A RB (6)

where Ib is the direct solar radiation per hour; Id is the

Fig. 1 Structure chart of stand-alone wind/solar/battery hybrid
power system
distribution and can be expressed as (1)
scattered radiation of the sky per hour, kw/m2; A = Ib/Io; I0
is the extraterrestrial horizontal radiation per hour, kw/m2
and RB is the ratio of beam radiation on the tilted surface to
the beam radiation on the horizontal surface.
The scattered radiation of the sky on the inclined surface
per hour IdT can be expressed as (7)

      
v k 1 + cos b 3 b
Fw (v) = P(V v) = 1 exp (1) IdT = Id (1 A) 1 + f sin (7)
c 2 2



I
where k is the shape parameters of the Weibull distribution, c where is the slope of the surface; f = b and I is the global
is the scale parameter of Weibull distribution and k and c can I
horizontal radiation on the earths surface per hour, kw/m2.
be expressed as (2), (3)
I is synthesised by the global horizontal radiation on the
earths surface per month [8].
ln ( ln T )
k=   (2) The reected radiation of the ground on the inclined
ln 0.9vmax /
v surface per hour IrT can be expressed as (8)

v r
c= (3) IrT = I(1 cos b) (8)
G(1 + (1/k)) 2
1
where G(1 + (1/k)) = 0 x1/k ex dx; vmax is the maximum where is the ground reectance, generally = 0.2.
wind speed per hour, m/s;
v is the average wind speed per
hour, m/s; T is the time. 2.3 Modelling battery
Output power of the wind turbine with PW power can be
expressed as (4) Kinetic Battery Model is used in this paper to determine the
amount of energy that can be absorbed by or withdrawn
 k

e(vc /c) e(vR /c)

k k
from the battery bank at each time step [9]. The Kinetic
pi = pw     e vF /c (4) Battery Model, named after the concepts of electrochemical
vR /c vc /c
kinetics, models a battery as a two-tank system. The rst
tank contains available energyE1, corresponding the
where the rated power of the wind turbine is pw, kw; vR is the following (9). The second tank contains bound energy E2,
rated wind speed, m/s; vc is the starting up wind speed, m/s; vF corresponding the following (10). The total amount of
is the cutting off wind speed, m/s. energy stored in the battery is E

2.2 Modelling PV panels E1 (t + Dt) = E1 (t) e(kDt)

 
When solar radiation goes through the atmosphere, it will be   1 e(kDt)
absorbed by various gases, dust and so on and will be E(t) kc + p
reected or refracted by clouds of dust, water droplets and +
k (9)

c

gas in the atmosphere. Thereby solar radiation changes the +p kDt 1 + e(kDt)
original direction before reaching the earths surface. The k
solar radiation incident on the PV array is divided into three
parts: the direct solar radiation on the inclined surface, the E2 (t + Dt) = E2 (t) e(kDt)


scattered radiation of the sky on the inclined surface and the
E(t) (1 c) 1 e(kDt)
reected radiation of the ground on the inclined surface.
+ (1 c)

In this paper, HDKR model [7] of PV panels is used.
Output power of PV panels can be expressed as (5) +p kDt 1 + e (kDt)
k
(10)
IT
P = Ypv fpv (5)
IT ,STC where E = E1 + E2, E1(t) is the available energy at the
beginning of the time step t, kWh; E2(t) is the bound
where Ypv is the rated power of the PV panels, kw; fpv is the energy at the beginning of the time step t, kWh; E1(t + t)
derating factor; IT is the solar radiation incident on the PV is the available energy at the end of the time step, kWh;
array per hour, kw/m2, IT = IbT + IdT + IrT; IbT is the direct E2(t + t) is the bound energy at the end of the time step,
solar radiation on the inclined surface per hour, kw/m2; IdT kWh; p is charge (positive) and discharge (negative) power,

444 IET Renew. Power Gener., 2013, Vol. 7, Iss. 5, pp. 443448
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2013 doi: 10.1049/iet-rpg.2012.0329

kw and t is the length of the time step. c is the ratio of the
available energy tank size to the combined both tanks size.
k relates to the conductance between the two tanks, and
therefore it is a measure of how fast the battery can convert
the bound energy to the available energy or vice versa.
The maximum charging power of the system is decided by
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For the standalone wind/solar/battery hybrid power system,
LPSP and total owning cost are combined as the objective
function, because LPSP must be limited in a range.
Equation (17) that adds Cr to the original formula of the
total owning cost is chosen as the nal objective function
three constraints, corresponding the following equations
(11)(13)


kcEmax + kE1 (t) e(kDt) + E(t)kc 1 e(kDt)
p1 (t) =  
1 e(kDt) + c kDt 1+e(kDt)
(11)

   photovoltaic panels and batteries, respectively; f is the rate
1 e(aDt) Emax E(t) of ination; i is the interest rate; n is the life of the system,
p2 (t) = (12)
Dt
Nbatt Imax Vnom
p3 (t) = (13)
1000
where is the batterys maximum charge rate, A/Ah; Emax is
the total capacity of the battery bank, kWh; Nbatt is the number
of batteries in the battery bank, Imax is the batterys maximum
charge current, A and Vnom is the batterys nominal voltage,V.
The maximum charge power of the system can be
expressed as (14)
 
MIN P1 , P2 , P3
Pc max = (14)
hc
where c is the battery charge efciency.
The maximum discharge power of the system can be
expressed as (15)



hd E1 (t)k e(kDt) + E(t)kc 1 e(kDt)
Pdmax =   (15)
1 e(kDt) + c kDt + e(kDt)
where d is the battery discharge efciency.
2.4 Setting up the objective function
The design goal of the optimal capacity allocation of the
standalone wind/solar/battery hybrid power system is to
minimise the system overall cost of investment, operation
and reliability. LPSP [10] is used to measure systems
reliability. It is dened as the energy that the load demand
that the system cannot meet divided by the total load
demand, which can be expressed as (16)
 
LPSP = L(t) EW (t) EP (t) EB (t) /L(t) (16)
where L(t) is the load, EW(t) is the generation energy of wind
turbine, EP(t) is the generation energy of PV and EB(t) is the
discharge energy of the battery. Normally, LPSP is limited in
a range that is < 0.2%. When LPSP > 0.2%, loss of power
supply hour (LPSH) adds 1. The cost of the reliability is Cr
= LPSH, where is a very large penalty factor, like 1010. where w is inertia weight factor, c1 and c2 are positive learning
The method of total owning cost used most to evaluate the
reliability and economy [11] is employed to compare different
schemes. The total owning cost is the sum of initial
investment of the project and costs of outage. Schemes with
different investments and different levels of reliability are
compared. At last the scheme with the least total owning
cost is chosen.
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1+f n 1+f
TTOC =C+ 1 EENS b
1+i if
d + Cr (17)
where C is the total investment cost of the system C = Cw +
Cs + Cb [12], Cw, Cs, Cb is the cost of wind turbines,
generally taken to be 25 years; EENS is the desired power
shortage, kWh; b is electrovalence of blackout per unit
divided by average electrovalence per unit, generally taken
to be 25 and d is the average electrovalence, Yuan/kWh.
3 Optimise capacity allocation of standalone
wind/solar/battery hybrid power system using
improved particle swarm optimisation (PSO)
PSO algorithm is based on the social activities of ocks of
birds and sh. Through the sharing of information between
the various members of the group and a summary of the
individuals own experience, members update their own
activities. PSO algorithm has strong ability to solve
non-linear problems, and it is simple, universal, robust and
strong. PSO algorithm shows its superiority in solving
practical problems of power system [13, 14]
3.1 Standard PSO algorithm
In PSO algorithm, the group of random particles is initialised
rst. Then the particles y, following the current optimum
particles in the solution space to nd the optimal solution by
iteration. Assuming the position and velocity  of the particle
in the d-dimensional
  is Xi = xi,1 xi,2 . . . xi,d )
search space
and Vi = vi,1 vi,2 . . . vi,d , respectively. In each
iteration the particles update themselves by tracking two
optimal solutions. One is the optimal solution which  the
particle itself nds pbest, pi = pi,1 pi,2 . . . pi,d . The
other is the optimal solution which the entire population
nds, that is, the global optimal solution, gbest, pg. When
nding the two optimal solutions, the particle updates its
own speed and position according to the following equation
   
vi,j (t + 1) = wvi,j (t) + c1 r1 pi,j xi,j (t) + c2 r2 pg,j xi,j (t)
xi,j (t + 1) = xi,j (t) + vi,j (t + 1), j = 1, 2, . . . , d
(18)
factors, r1and r2 are 01 random numbers which are evenly
distributed.
Standard PSO has the shortcomings that the calculation
time is too long and it is easy to fall into local optimal
solution. In order to improve the search capabilities of PSO
algorithm, an improved particle swarm algorithm is used in
this paper.
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3.2 Improved PSO algorithm
3.2.1 Introduction of the taboo list: If the optimal
value did not change signicantly in a few iterations in the
searching process, that is pg, j pg, j 1 < , adds 1 to ,
that is = + 1. When , put the optimal particle in the
taboo list. is the time of iterations marking that the
particle traps into local optimal solution.
3.2.2 Introduction of restart and disturbance:
Whenever the particle traps into local optimal solution, put
the local optimal particle in the taboo list, and stop
iterations to reduce unnecessary search and restart the
algorithm [15]. Making full use of the information in the
taboo list after restarting, the particle that falls in [Xbest ,
Xbest + ] will be removed, where is the threshold.
Thereby, repeated convergence to the optimal solution can
be reduced and speed is improved.
At the same time, if there are continuous particles falling
into the local optimal solution in the taboo list, search
around the local optimal solution precisely in order to
obtain the optimal solution. So whenever the number of
particles falling into the local optimal solution in the
taboo list exceeds the threshold , it will introduce the
disturbance operation. The formula is xnew i = xold
i
g randn(0, 1), where is a constant and randn(0, 1) is
normal distribution.
Fig. 2 Flow chart of improved PSO algorithm
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3.3 Advantage and difference of improved PSO
algorithm
To overcome the shortcomings of the standard PSO algorithm,
the operation of taboo list, restart and disturbance is
combined with the standard PSO algorithm. Once the particle
traps in the local optimal solution, put the particle in the taboo
list to avoid unnecessarily repeating search. Then restart the
program. The new particles which fall in a certain range
around the local optimal solution will be removed to expand
the search scope. Thus the capability of the global searching is
enhanced and the speed is faster. A satisfying solution can be
obtained even if the number of the iterations is small. If
continuous particles fall into local optimal solution, the
operation of disturbance is used. With the operation of
disturbance, the area surrounding the local optimal solution is
searched precisely and the accuracy of the algorithm is improved.
By the introduction of the operation of taboo list, restart
and disturbance, not only the capability of the global
searching but also the accuracy of the algorithm is improved.
3.4 Steps of improved PSO algorithm for capacity
optimisation
+ Steps of improved PSO algorithm are as follows to solve the
optimal capacity allocation of the standalone wind/solar/
battery hybrid power system.
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1. Initialise the particle: randomly initialise the number of
wind turbines, photovoltaic panels and batteries;
2. Calculate the generated energy of the wind turbines,
photovoltaic panels using (4) and (5) according to the local
climate, environment and user data. Check the charging and
discharging of battery according to (14) and (15);
3. Calculate the tness value of each particle according to
(17);
4. Update the particles according to (18);
5. Determine whether the particle traps in local optimal
solution. If so, put the local optimum particle in the taboo
list, restart the algorithm, and particles which fall in [Xbest
, Xbest + ] will be removed forcibly. Then move to
7. If not, move to 6;
6. Determine whether there are more than one particle
trapping into the local optimal solution in the taboo list. If
the number exceeds , disturbance operation is introduced
to search around the local optimal solution thoroughly;
7. Determine whether or not the maximum number of
iterations is reached. If so, move to 8. If not, move to 2; Fig. 4 Comparison results of the two programs with 200 times
8. Output the result. iterations running 10 times

The ow chart of improved PSO algorithm for capacity

optimisation is as Fig. 2 shows. The improvement is shown
in the dashed box.

4 Example
Take Tianjin as an example. The wind speed, sunshine and
temperature of Tianjin area are referred to the United States
NASA database. Zhejiang Yinghua 2 kw wind turbine
costing 17 000 Yuan is used and the service life is 25
years. Wuxi Suntech photovoltaic panel costing 20 Yuan/w
is used and the service life is 25 years. Shuangdeng 360
AH capacity of lead-acid battery costing 1500 Yuan is used
and the service life is 5 years. Take a district with 100
residents as the load. The maximum load is 200 kw per
hour and minimum load is 10 kW per hour. The rate of
ination f is 0.03. The interest rate i is 0.065. The average
electrovalence is 1 Yuan/kWh. Use standard PSO algorithm
and improved PSO algorithm separately to calculate the Fig. 5 Comparison results of the two programs with 1000 times
optimal capacity allocation of the standalone wind/solar/ iterations running 10 times
battery hybrid power system. The disturbance constant is
20. The number of iterations , marking the particle traps
into local optimal solution is 20 and the threshold is 50.

Fig. 3 Comparison results of the two programs with 50 times Fig. 6 Comparison results of the two programs with 5000 times
iterations running 10 times iterations running 10 times

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Table 1 Comparison results of standard PSO and improved PSO
Algorithm Times of Amount of the 2 kW Amount of the PV
iteration wind turbine
standard PSO 50 459
200 274
1000 280
5000 278
improved PSO in 50 248
this paper 200 278
1000 285
5000 282
The learning factors c1and c2 are 2, respectively. The inertia
weight factor w is 0.5. is 4 106. The results of the
standard PSO and improved PSO algorithms which run ten
times each (each processes 50, 200, 1000, 5000 times of
iteration) are shown in Fig. 36 below.
From Fig. 36, the resulting curve of the standard PSO
algorithm uctuates more severely than improved PSO
algorithm. Take Fig. 3 as an example. It is clear that the
results of the standard PSO uctuate severely. Different
results may be obtained in different times the standard PSO
algorithm is run and obviously, it is easy for the standard
PSO algorithm to trap in local optimal solution. Even if the
standard PSO algorithm is run many times, a satisfying
result may not be obtained. By comparison, also shown in
Fig. 3, the difference of the results of the improved PSO is
relatively small. It is easier to obtain a satisfying result. The
introduction of the the taboo list and restart operation
reduces the probability of early-maturing. The probability of
obtaining a satisfying result by using the improved PSO is
much higher than using the standard PSO. From Figs. 46,
the same conclusion can be obtained. As a result, the
standard PSO algorithm is easier to trap in local optimal
solution. The resulting curve of improved PSO algorithm is
smoother. Therefore the improved PSO algorithm has a
better capability to nd optimal solution and it is more
stable. Obvious advantages of the improved PSO algorithm
can be found especially when the number of iterations is
small. It is clear that with the introduction of the the taboo
list and restart operation, the improved PSO is easy to
jump out of local optimal solutions and the search
capability is greatly enhanced.
Best results are listed in Table 1. From Table 1, the
improved PSO algorithm can obtain a better capacity
allocation with both less amount of power shortage and low
cost. So the system has a better reliability and economy.
Furthermore, the result is improved with the increase of
iterations. It is clear that the improved PSO Algorithm has a
better ability to search around the local optimal solution by
disturbance operation.
5 Conclusion
In this paper, the models of wind turbines, photovoltaic
panels and batteries are set up. The objective function is
produced based on total owning cost and LPSP. An
improved PSO algorithm is used to optimise the capacity
allocation of the standalone wind/solar/battery hybrid power
system. Simulation examples show that the improved PSO
algorithm has a better capability to nd the optimal solution
than the standard PSO algorithm does in solving the
complex non-linear problems of the capacity allocation of
the standalone wind/solar/battery hybrid power system.
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Amount of the Loss of power of Total cost,
panels, kW battery users, kWh Yuan
90 967 0.12 1.5405 107
59 1217 0.12 1.3140 107
54 1219 0.3 1.3154 107
46 1247 0.12 1.3128 107
88 1223 0.12 1.3374 107
48 1242 0.12 1.3138 107
49 1220 0.15 1.3145 107
49 1225 0.12 1.3124 107
6 Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (NSFC) (grant no. 51007062), The
National Basic Research Programme of China (973
Programme) (grant no. 2009CB219700) and The National
High Technology Research and Development of China (863
Programme) (grant no. 2011AA05A115).
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