Enhancing Reliability of a Hybrid Solar-Wind Systems: A Weibull-Driven Maintenance Framework

Hybrid energy systems combining solar and wind power require efficient maintenance planning to ensure reliability and cost-effectiveness. This research introduces a comprehensive maintenance framework tailored for hybrid systems, using the Weibull distribution to model component failures and determine optimal preventive maintenance schedules. By balancing preventive and corrective actions, the approach reduces repair costs, minimizes downtime, and enhances system uptime. The results reveal that wind turbines require preventive maintenance every six months, while PV panels require it every ten months, this will ensure consistent operation of the hybrid system with minimal disruptions. The total cost of the maintenance plan is calculated to be 1,228,521 MU, highlighting its economic feasibility. A detailed sensitivity analysis explores the influence of repair costs on system performance, revealing how cost variations affect maintenance schedules. For instance, when corrective maintenance costs are increased, the optimal preventive maintenance frequency doubled for the solar panels, while for wind turbines the number of maintenance action tripled, these resulting in maintenance intervals of every four months for the wind turbine and every six months for the PV panels. In contrast, variations in preventive maintenance costs produce no observable changes in the optimal schedule plan, demonstrating the robustness of the framework. A key contribution of this work lies in its novel integration of failure modelling with maintenance optimization, enabling operational decisions that maximize reliability and minimize costs over the system’s lifecycle. These findings underline the importance of predictive maintenance, with the framework demonstrating its potential to improve system reliability by addressing failures proactively. The results highlight an optimal maintenance plan with distinct schedules for solar panels and wind turbines, showcasing the complementary nature of these components. This framework provides a practical and viable solution to improve the sustainability and operational efficiency of hybrid energy systems, advancing cost-effective energy management strategies for real-world applications.