Implementation of a hybrid renewable energy plant with remote monitoring feature

Abstract

This study is intended to present the implementation of a hybrid renewable energy plant where solar and wind energy conversion systems are installed together. The hybrid plant consists of a wind turbine with permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) at 2 kWp rated power and solar panel array at 0.64 kWp rated power. The generated energy is coupled on the dc bus bar and is supplied to energy storage subsystem in order to ensure the sustainability of energy. The stored energy is used to meet energy requirement of a microprocessor laboratory where the left energy is supplied to the grid in spare times. The plant is developed with communication features that enable to observe the plant remotely. This is performed with the designed data acquisition card that consists of current and voltage sensors, and microprocessor communicating with computer over universal serial bus (USB) port. The user interface software that generates log files and graphs is built by using Visual C#.Net platform. The implemented system is assumed as an essential training and education plant in terms of distributed generation, renewable energy sources, smart grid, and remote monitoring.