Impact of Location on Hybrid Renewable Energy System Design Optimization: A Case Study for Two Cities of USA

Renewable energy resources are the only sustainable and environment-friendly solution to the energy crisis that the whole world is facing and the crisis is likely to exacerbate in the future unless dealt with proper emphasis. The hybridization of various renewable energy resources not only helps in alleviating the continuously rising demand of conventional energy resources but also provides a sustainable solution to the crisis. While dealing with the design of hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES), the researchers tend to put less emphasis on analyzing the impact of the variability of renewable resources on the optimum outcome of the design. Nevertheless, this issue should be properly addressed in HRES design as the availability of these resources is highly dependent on the location. Consequently, while a particular configuration of HRES can be economically viable in one location, it might not be the same for others. Hence, this work aims to address the foregoing aspects of two locations in the USA from an economic viewpoint.