TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC COMPARISON OF A GRID-CONNECTED SOLAR POWER PLANT WITH GENERATOR SUPPORT AND A HYBRID SOLAR POWER PLANT

• Date: 2026
• Main Author: Stepenko , V.
• Format: Article
• Language: Ukrainian
• Published: Institute of Renewable Energy National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine 2026
• Subjects: grid-connected solar power plant; hybrid solar power plant; gas generator; diesel generator; battery energy storage system; autonomous operation; backup power supply; technical and economic comparison; industrial load; capital expenditures; operating expenditures.
• Online Access: https://ve.org.ua/index.php/journal/article/view/628
• Journal Title: Vidnovluvana energetika

Given the growing need of industrial enterprises for uninterrupted electricity supply under unstable grid conditions, this paper presents a technical and economic comparison of a grid-connected solar power plant with generator support and a hybrid solar power plant with battery energy storage. The study considers the operating features of both architectures in islanded mode, their strengths and weaknesses, as well as the limitations that arise when supplying industrial loads. Particular attention is paid to differences in the structure of capital and operating costs, duration of autonomous operation, the role of the generator as a source of reference voltage and frequency for grid-following inverters, and the limitations of hybrid inverters during long-duration blackouts. An industrial printing house with a relatively stable load profile is used as a case study. For the grid-connected solar power plant with gas-generator support, natural gas consumption, the cost of backup electricity, and capital expenditures for the inverter and generator parts of the system are calculated. For the hybrid solar power plant, a configuration based on two hybrid inverters with a total capacity of 160 kW and a battery energy storage system with a nominal capacity of 900 kWh is selected. In addition, a scenario involving the use of an auxiliary diesel generator for the hybrid solar power plant during long-duration outages is considered. The comparison made it possible to determine the conditions under which each of the studied architectures is more suitable for the backup power supply of an industrial enterprise.