Optimal management of a hybrid photovoltaic-pump hydro energy storage system by Particle Swarm Optimization Theory

By means of an optimization model based on the Particle Swarm Theory, the managing strategy of a system aimed at supplying electricity and water to an isolated small village in Nigeria has been optimized in order to fulfil the requirement of the users and to improve the system efficiency. Ground water is pumped into a storage reservoir and can be used both for irrigation and domestic use. The system is composed by a photovoltaic plant, a pump as turbine and a diesel internal combustion engine for integration purposes. An optimization of the reservoir and photovoltaic field has been performed too. The analysis has been conducted for different values of solar irradiance profiles, users requirement profiles and devices size.