Hybrid wind/photovoltaic energy system developments: Critical review and findings

Renewable energy sources are certain to play a key role in the future energy generation due to the rapid depletion of conventional sources of energy. The solar and wind energy are the major renewable energy sources which have the potential to meet the energy crisis to some extent. However, such sources when explored independently are not completely reliable because of the unpredictable nature. Whereas their use as hybrid energy systems seems to be more reliable and cost effective, due to the complementary nature of these two resources. In this paper an attempt has been made to discuss a systematic review related to hybrid PV/wind energy systems with battery storage. The work as presented in the manuscript will help the researchers to explore such hybrid energy systems for further improvements in terms of designing, analyzing and integrating such systems into the power network. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.