Assessment of Hybrid Renewable Energy System: A Particle Swarm Optimization Approach to Power Demand Profile and Generation Management

The use of non-renewable energy resources is one of the main drivers of climate change. In response, the United Nations established the seventh Sustainable Development Goal, “Affordable and clean energy”, which promotes the transition toward renewable and environmentally friendly sources such as wind and solar energy. However, the intermittent nature of these resources poses challenges for maintaining a stable, continuous power supply, highlighting the need for hybrid technology approaches, such as Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems (HRES), which integrate complementary renewable sources with energy storage. In this context, this study applies a Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO)-based approach to determine the optimal sizing and operating strategy for a hybrid system comprising photovoltaic, wind, battery storage, and diesel backup units under various synthetic load profiles. The results indicate that diesel-assisted configurations achieve lower levelized costs of energy (0.23–0.35 USD/kWh) and maintain high reliability (LPSP < 0.25%), although at the expense of higher fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Conversely, fully renewable configurations present higher energy costs (0.29–0.44 USD/kWh), but reduce annual CO2 emissions by up to 50% and create more employment opportunities, particularly in regions with abundant wind resources such as La Guajira, Colombia.