Development of the programme 'IBRID' for sizing diesel-photovoltaic generation plants designed for insulated users.

The main aspect to be considered when designing a hybrid electric power generation plant to be installed for stand alone users, in this case a Diesel-photovoltaic plant, is the optimisation of the potentiality of the generation sources and the storage system. The parameters required to stimulate and dimension a plant include the geographic features of the installation site, the type of load represented by the user, the absorbed power and, finally, the conditions and operative restrictions which must be adopted.

In fact, the primary factors which regulate plant sizing include load data, or at least, their estimate, covering the entire year, the frenquency and the duration of peaks in energy demand.

Climatic data ( radiation, ambient temperature, wind speed), the inclination of modules on a horizontal plane and possible modification of their values, the physical characteristics of the modules (policrystalline or amorphous silicon or something else ), the characteristics of the storage system and the electric Diesel-generator unit used represent the second set of parameters which are used to define possible sizing configurations.

The IBRID programme considers all these variables to propose final indications not only about sizing, but also about the use level of the electric power sources and implementation of the storage system.