Hybrid Wind and Solar Electric Systems
- Published in: Renewable Energy
- Permalink
Amongst the most fundamental characteristics of being electricity independent at home is generating your own safe, green energy. However, most homeowners believe that this only applies to solar panels on their roofs. Some families can benefit from hybrid systems that harness both the sun and even the wind for electricity.
What Is the Correlation Between Hybrid Wind and Solar Electric Systems?
Hybrid energy solutions incorporate two (or more) forms of green energy. A rooftop solar panel system paired with a small to a medium-sized domestic wind turbine is the most popular hybrid green energy system. For those wanting to go off-grid, hybrid systems enable you to generate electricity 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This allows you to reduce the size of the battery device used to power your home at night. You would reduce the dependence on the electricity grid with private, grid-connected solar energy systems.
Most grid-connected solar energy projects provide energy to the grid throughout the day and only draw energy from the grid at night. Hybrid systems, on the other hand, enable you to harvest wind energy throughout the night. In some instances, when both wind and sun are plentiful, you will also achieve zero-carbon even net-positive status. If you’ve had a net-positive building, it can generate more electricity than it absorbs.
Why Wind Turbine and Solar Panel Combination Is Used?
Surprisingly, the days when solar and wind resources are most efficient are opposed. Summer solar is most efficient during daylight hours. In the meantime, wind turbines generate the most energy during the nighttime winter hours, specifically in offshore wind. As a result, a wind turbine and solar panel hybrid device is a perfect fit.
A hybrid energy system that combines solar and wind energy will provide a stable supply of power across the year, with the benefits of each resource compensating for the other’s limitations. As one resource’s output declines regularly, the other continues to take up the slack with further generation.
Hybrid Solar-Wind Power Generation System
Hybrid energy systems may be costly since they depend on two different forms of power to provide a common need. However, there are certain situations in which a hybrid energy solution makes a lot of sense. Before investing in one, analyze the particular usage cases where specific systems provide the most financial and non-financial insight.
Off-grid or electrical networks in rural locations, for example, provide reliability and cannot depend on the grid for a reliable supply of energy. In these cases, a stand-alone, hybrid wind-solar energy system may be an excellent choice, particularly when combined with energy storage.