Effect of load following strategies, hardware, and thermal load distribution on stand-alone hybrid CCHP systems

Results indicate that if operating under an FEL/FTL type PMS, both PV/Batt/ICE and PV/Batt/MGT-based CHP systems have marginal differences in terms of Cost of Energy (0.25 $/kWh, 0.28 $/kWh, respectively) compared to the CCHP systems (0.28 $/kWh, 0.31 $/kWh, respectively). However, the overall efficiency in CCHP systems is higher with FEL/FTL (65% for PV/Batt/ICE, 43% for PV/Batt/MGT) compared to FEL (57% for PV/Batt/ICE, 37% for PV/Batt/MGT). In terms of load following strategies, the FEL leads to higher environmental benefits compared to the FEL/FTL for both PV/Batt/ICE and PV/Batt/MGT-based CCHP systems. The results also indicate that relative magnitude of heating (Pther,h) and cooling (Pther,c) has insignificant effects on the Cost of Energy for the PV/Batt/ICE-based CCHP systems; however, this significantly increases with Pther,h:Pther,c for the PV/Batt/MGT.