Energy Strategy Reviews 23 (2019) 23–32

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Energy Strategy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/esr

Feasibility study on the provision of electricity and hydrogen for domestic T

purposes in the south of Iran using grid-connected renewable energy plants
Mehdi Jahangiria,∗, Ahmad Haghania, Akbar Alidadi Shamsabadib, Ali Mostafaeipourc,
Luis Martin Pomaresd
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, 88137-33395, Iran
b
Young Researchers and Elite Club, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran
c
Industrial Engineering Department, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran
d
Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, P.O. Box 5825, Doha, Qatar

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This work presents a feasibility study on the provision of electricity and hydrogen with renewable grid connected
Hybrid system and off-the-grid systems for Bandar Abbas City in the south of Iran. The software HOMER Pro® has been used to
Off-the-grid perform the analysis. A techno-enviro-economic study comparing a hybrid system consisting of the grid/wind
Solar radiation turbine and solar cell is done. The wind turbine is analyzed using four types of commercially available vertical
Wind speed
axis wind turbines (VAWTs). According to the literature review, no similar study has been performed so far on
Total net present cost
the feasibility of using VAWTs and also no work exists on the use of a hybrid system in the studied area. The
Energy cost
results indicated that the lowest price of providing the required hydrogen was $0.496 which was achieved using
the main grid. Also, the lowest price of the electricity generated was $1.55 which was obtained through using
EOLO VAWT in the main grid/wind turbine/solar cell scenario. Also, the results suggested that the highest rate
of preventing CO2 emission, which was also the lowest rate of using the national grid, with 3484 kg/year was
associated with EOLO wind turbines where only 4% of the required electricity was generated by the national
grid.

1. Introduction capacity of wind energy is 487 GW [3].

In the past decades, the renewal of the power sector with new
sources of generation of energy and its privatization have been im-
plemented in some countries and recommended as a way to solve the
future problems of lack of fossil fuels. In this restructured environment,
it is not so easy to convince investors to participate in new power
generation and transmission projects. These changes along with such
factors as environmental pollution, the increase of the demand of en-
ergy and the problems related to the construction of new transmission
lines have resulted in an increase in the demand for distributed gen-
eration [1]. The main reason for this change in favor of distributed
production of energy is because the closest is the consumer to the
productions points, the lower the costs of electrical energy provision
will be because the lost in the transmission of energy is minimized. All
these factors, along with electrical inaccessibility to 1.2 billion people
in the world [2], have made the use of solar and wind energies to be
increasingly desired. As it could be seen in Fig. 1, by the end of 2016,
the installed capacity of solar energy is 303 GW and the installed
A crucial challenge, that always complicates the design of power
generation systems based on renewables, is energy storage [4] because
the intermittency of this source of energy. Nowadays, chemical bat-
teries like Li-On are used for short-term storage of energy in renewable
systems as backup and buffer systems due to its high cost and short
cycle of life [5]. In line with sustainable development, the long-term
storage is achieved by hydrogen due to its high energy density and
being a clean fuel [6–9].
In the following, a review of recent works on renewable energies
and HOMER software in Iran and abroad is presented.
Using HOMER Software, Kennedy et al. [10] studied an optimal
hybrid energy system including of a small hydropower, horizontal axis
wind turbine (HAWT), solar cell, battery, and a diesel generator for an
island in England. Results indicated that for 8 months of the year, the
required electricity could not be guaranteed through renewable en-
ergies alone. To produce electricity wholly from renewable energy
sources, it was suggested to use hydrogen produced from excess re-
newable electricity as a substitute for diesel as the fuel for diesel

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: Jahangiri.m@iaushk.ac.ir (M. Jahangiri).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2018.12.003
Received 14 December 2017; Received in revised form 31 October 2018; Accepted 6 December 2018
2211-467X/ © 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/).
M. Jahangiri et al.
Fig. 1. The world power generation capacity by solar cells and wind turbines
for the period 2006–2016 [3].
generators. Results suggested that by substituting diesel for hydrogen,
electricity could be generated wholly from renewable energy sources
without CO2 emissions in this island. For this new system, the cost of
electricity per kWh was $0.776.
Given the high potential of solar and wind energies in Saint Martin
island, in Bangladesh, Lipu et al. [11] used HOMER for design opti-
mization and sensitivity analysis of hybrid renewable energy systems in
this island. They studied six scenarios using various sources including a
solar cell, HAWT and diesel generator. Their results indicated that, with
a net present cost of $359729 and the price per kWh of $0.27, HAWT-
diesel generator-solar cell system was the best option in terms of energy
costs. This superiority is due to higher fuel prices in recent years.
Zin et al. [12] used HOMER to perform a techno-economic analysis
of sustainable combined energy systems for electrification of calibration
equipment (Pumps, Lighting, Air conditioning and …) in the area of oil
drilling. To this end, various configurations of combined energy systems
were suggested based on the required calibration of equipment. Eco-
nomically, the HAWT-battery system with an initial cost of $19165 and
price per kWh of $0.938 was the best option followed by solar cell-
HAWT-battery system with an increase in price by 20%. Due to more
sustainable and durable power generation and lower dependence
(about 50%) on battery, solar cell-HAWT-battery system was re-
commended. Also, results indicated that for the combined system of
solar cell-HAWT-battery, solar cells produced more electricity com-
pared to the HAWT.
Mas'ud [13] used HOMER to study the prospects of using a com-
bined renewable energy system in Sokoto Village, Nigeria. Daily elec-
tricity demand, annual solar radiation, and wind speed were used to
determine the desirable size of renewable energy system. Results
showed that, based on the country's current electricity tariff, the initial
cost is $249910.24 with a 5-year repayment. Despite the high im-
plementation cost of this combined system, it has a cheaper main-
tenance cost compared to the present grid system.
Shezan et al. [14] conducted a techno-economic analysis of a smart
grid-integrated hybrid renewable energy system for Brisbane City,
Australia. The simulation and optimization of the whole hybrid energy
system were performed by HOMER. They integrated a combined energy
system including solar cell-HAWT-diesel-battery to a smart grid. Their
main intention was a reduction in Greenhouse Gases and also in costs so
that the proposed combined system guaranteed a reduction of CO2
emissions by about 1600 ton/year that indicated it being
24
Energy Strategy Reviews 23 (2019) 23–32
environmentally friendly. Results suggested that the cost per kWh of
electricity generated by the optimized system, the net cost of the op-
timized system, and its operational cost are $0.209/kWh, $33310, and
$2037/year, respectively. Compared to other conventional or tradi-
tional energy sources in terms of reliability and effective cost, the
combined renewable energy system including solar-HAWT-diesel was
more feasible and environmentally friendly.
Fakhim and Sarir [15] performed an economic feasibility study on
the electricity generation using a combined renewable energy system
for a standalone Hotel in cold climate in Tabriz City, Iran. The wind
power and speed and the potential of solar radiation were initially
studied analytically. Then, this analysis was used to present a suitable
combined system. To this end, first, the required heating and cooling
loads of a building were calculated using EnergyPlus™. Then, four types
of combined systems were investigated using HOMER. The studied
systems were: diesel generator-battery system, HAWT-diesel generator-
battery system, diesel generator-photovoltaic-battery system, and
HAWT-photovoltaic-diesel generator-battery system. Results suggested
that all systems were feasible, but they were different in terms of cost-
effectiveness. From the results, it was found that the diesel-battery
system with a net cost of $5486000 was the cheapest one. However,
given the energy saving plans in Iran and the elimination of fossil fuels,
renewable energy sources will become a priority over time.
Since the residential sector, as one of the largest consumers of en-
ergy in Iran, it is potentially suitable for using renewable energies,
Hosseinalizadeh et al. [16] economically analyzed the energy genera-
tion from small HAWTs. This study was an extensive and integrated
analysis of small HAWTs, as one of most economic sources of generating
renewable energy in 88 regions of Iran, to identify their cost-effec-
tiveness for investment and to compare the effects of the various
parameters using HOMER. Results indicated that small HAWTs are cost-
effective in about 30% of the studied regions which are mostly located
in the North. In most of these regions, the wind speed is higher than
5 m/s and the best capacity of wind turbines is 3 kW.
Razmjoo et al. [17] evaluated a standalone PV-HAWT hybrid system
for small residential regions in the Central Desert of Iran. The aim of
this study was to techno-economically analyze the combination of solar
and wind energies for two cities of Qom and Yazd to study the feasi-
bility of constructing a clean energy plant in these regions. Therefore,
first, the required data were collected from National Meteorological
Organization (NMO) and then HOMER was used for techno-economic
analysis at the two cities. Both cities are highly potential for solar en-
ergy generation but the wind speed data suggested that only Qom has
suitable wind characteristics for generating wind power. Generally, it
could be concluded that investing in the solar energy sector in both
cities is economically justifiable. In case of wind energy, however, only
investing in Qom's energy sector will be economically feasible.
Jahangiri and Alidadi Shamsabadi [18] performed a statistical
analysis on wind data of Fadashk station in Sothern Khorasan Province
and accordingly designed a HAWT for this station. Determination of
wind energy potential and estimation of energy output from this site
were performed using Weibull function. Also, choosing two turbines in
a real-world scenario (Kuriant 18 by Kuriant Corp., and Vestas 55 by
Vestas Corp.) the annul energy output of the site was estimated. Ac-
cording to the calculations, the highest and lowest power generations
occurred in March and September, respectively. The average annual
power density in the station was 285 W/m2.
Haratian et al. [19] studied an off-grid renewable energy solution
for supplying a given load at Khomeini Shahr University site, Iran, using
HOMER Pro. Solar panels, HAWT and batteries were three energy so-
lutions chosen. The daily average electricity consumption, during a one-
year period, was 3 kWh/d and the peak demand was 388 W. Results
indicated that the best and most cost-effective solution was using a
1.2 kW PV array and six 3 kW batteries counting up to totally $8.173
net present cost and $0.546 cost of energy. Also, the second optimal
solution was a wind/PV/battery system including 1.6 kW PV arrays, a
M. Jahangiri et al.
0.5 kW HAWT, and four 3 kW batteries. Furthermore, other results
showed that for the central parts of Iran, photovoltaic energy genera-
tion systems had a higher cost and wind systems were more desirable.
Faghani et al. [20] studied the wind power density and wind
characteristics in central parts of Iran in order to investigate the feasi-
bility of installing HAWTs. In this study, data obtained from 35 stations
in 9 provinces were evaluated according to 10 min intervals and various
altitudes from 10 to 100 m. From the results it could be observed that
the wind power density was highly time-varying in nature. So that in
spring and summer most central parts of Iran had a high potential for
installing large wind turbines while in autumn and winter, the wind
power density reduced. Generally, according to the obtained results it
could be concluded that north-west and north-east regions of central
Iran were suitable for installation and operation of large wind turbines.
Given the mentioned issues and despite the high potential of re-
newable energies in Iran, clean energies are not yet fully and properly
tapped. This paper is a potentiometric study for supplying power and
hydrogen in Bandar Abbas by four scenarios including the national grid,
national grid-wind turbine, solar cell-national grid, and national grid-
wind turbine-solar cell. It is noteworthy that Bandar Abbas has a high
wind and solar potential among southern cities of Iran [21,22]. The
studied parameters were the amount of power and hydrogen generated,
the amount of pollutants, and the share of each renewable energy re-
sources in supplying the required power. According to the literature, no
study is performed so far on the potential of VAWTs. Thus in this paper
the results of using experimental data of four VAWTs in a hybrid grid-
connected renewable energy system are compared and, eventually, the
most appropriate wind turbine, the best scenario, and the lowest
amount of pollutants are introduced.
In the following, after giving the geographical coordinates of the
studied are, the used software, the required data for techno-econo-en-
vironmental simulation, and the results of the present work as com-
parisons between four VAWTs are presented.
2. The studied area and work novelty
Hormozgan Province with an area of 68475.8 km2 is located in the
south of Iran between 25 ͦ 23′ to 28 ͦ 57′ northern latitude and 52 ͦ 41′ to
59 ͦ 15′ eastern longitude of the Greenwich meridian. Bandar Abbas is
located in North of Hormoz Strait and it is the capital city of
Hormozgan. It has an area of 45 km2 with an altitude of 10 m from sea
level. Approximately 1000 km of water border with Persian Gulf and
Oman Sea and the strategic strait of Hormoz have granted the city a
particular image. Bandar Abbas is now the largest port of Iran. Its
distance from Tehran is 1333 km. Due to its specific conditions which
always welcomes numerous guests from various parts of Iran, its po-
pulation varies in different seasons. However, according to the 2011
census, its population is 435751 inhabitants. Hormozgan Province has a
hot and dry climate which is influenced by semi-desert and desert cli-
mate. The weather in coastal line is very hot and humid in summer and
the region's annual average temperature is 27 ͦC. Hormozgan weather
characterizes a long warm season and a short cool season [23]. The
geographical location of Bandar Abbas is illustrated in Fig. 2.
One of the benefits of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) is that
they do not have to be adjusted to the wind direction. Given the
variability of wind direction and wind speed turbulence, this is con-
sidered as a privilege for locations such as residential buildings (near
the ground surface) [24,25], which are also the desired location of the
authors. According to the wind rose plot of Bandar Abbas station which
is shown in Fig. 3 [26] and shows that the prevailing winds blowing
southward account for only 25% of total winds, the necessity of using
VAWTs becomes more obvious.
Furthermore, compared to horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs),
VAWTs have a smaller size and lower noise. Also, given the verticality
of the turbine's axis, the gearbox and generator are able to be placed
near the ground which increases the ease of access for equipment
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Energy Strategy Reviews 23 (2019) 23–32
maintenance [24,25]. Therefore, according to the aforementioned
points, since no techno-econo-environmental potentiometric study has
been done so far on using the VAWTs in a renewable energy hybrid
system, in this study the experimental power curves and technical
specifications of four VAWTs are fed into HOMER as.txt files. The im-
portant point here is that HOMER's database only includes power
curves and technical specifications of HAWTs. In addition to the fact
that the present work's findings can be used for regions having similar
climates, the experimental data on wind power based on wind speed
can be used for other studies in this field. Also, as it is properly men-
tioned by the third reviewer, no research has been conducted so far
which includes 4 various feasibility scenarios of using hybrid solar-
wind system for producing hydrogen based on comparing 4 different
VAWTs and given the ultra-tropical climate of Bandar Abbas, the results
of present work can be used for other stations having similar climates.
3. Advantages, and disadvantages of VAWT
In the available wind farms in which HAWTs are deployed, due to
aerodynamic effects of each turbine's propeller on other propellers, the
spacing between turbines should be inevitably increased which leads to
larger size of the wind farm. Meanwhile the major part of the wind
coming to the farm leaves without indenting any propeller and takes
out its energy with it. In other words, the available wind farms only use
part of the wind energy. Other disadvantages of HAWTs include: dif-
ficulty in operating near the ground, handling, installation and opera-
tion, maintenance, and dependency of installation direction of wind
turbine on the wind direction [27,28].
The aim of designing new turbines is that, through their vertical axis
design instead of horizontal propeller turbines, turbines could be placed
near each other. Installation of HAWTs is economically justifiable only
in regions having perpetual and high-speed winds. VAWTs, however,
have a very simple structure and installation and they are applicable at
various wind speeds and directions. VAWTs perform efficiently during
turbulent winds and they can be installed near each other. Their
gearbox and generation is placed near the ground which makes them
cheaper in manufacturing and easier in maintenance and no supporting
tower is needed. Since the tip of the blades in this kind of turbines is
closer to the rotation axis, they produce less noise compared to HAWTs
and their smaller sizer reduces environmental impacts [29,30].
Nonetheless, VAWTs have their own disadvantages too. The main
problem of these turbines is that there is opposing forces acted on the
other side of the blades which reduces their individual efficiency
compared to HAWTs and the torque produced in each rotation period.
Moreover, due to the low rotational speed of blades, the torque is high.
The high costs of designing and analyzing the blades’ airfoil is another
disadvantage of VAWTs [27–30].
Finally it should be mentioned that the lower efficiency of VAWTs
can be compensated through their tighter arrangement and modern
design. The problem of structural fatigue can be significantly resolved
by the capability of more accurate prediction of aerodynamic loads.
Given the aforementioned points and since no techno-econo-en-
vironmental study has been performed so far on the feasibility of pro-
ducing electricity and hydrogen by VAWTs in a hybrid renewable en-
ergy system, in this study four types of commercially available VAWTs
has been used based on the experimental power data of wind turbines in
terms of wind speed.
4. Software and input data
HOMER Pro® software was used to evaluate and design an optimized
micro-power system, in two modes of off-grid and grid connected, to
achieve the purposes of the desired applied programs. During the de-
sign of a power system, many decisions have to be made about the
system's configuration. For example, which elements are required to
design a power system or what is the correct size or number for each
M. Jahangiri et al.
Fig. 2. The geographical position of Bandar Abbas.
Fig. 3. Wind rose diagrams at Bandar Abbas [26].
component. The availability of numerous technologies, changes in the
costs of these technologies, and the availability of various energy
sources render the decision process difficult. The optimization algo-
rithms and sensitivity analyses performed by HOMER make it easier to
evaluate many feasible systems [31].
To simulate solar-wind hybrid systems, HOMER requires climatic
information on the wind speed and solar radiation. As it is illustrated in
Fig. 4, these data are based on a 20 year average for the studied stations
[32] and they are extracted from NASA website. The annual average for
solar radiation and wind speed are 5.403 kWh/m2-day and 6.013 m/s,
26
Energy Strategy Reviews 23 (2019) 23–32
respectively. Also, it could be observed that the highest monthly
average radiation occurs in June while the highest average wind speed
appears in August. Since a diesel generator was used in the simulations,
diesel price should be entered into the software. The present price of
diesel in Iran is $0.09/L [33] which is the lowest among the Asian
countries. Also, an annual real interest rate (i) of 18% was considered
over a 25-year project lifetime [34] which is the highest among the
Asian countries. HOMER obtained the total net present cost by dividing
the total annual cost by the capital recovery factor. HOMER used the
following relation to calculate the capital recovery factor (CRF) [31]:
i (1 + i) N
CRF =
(1 + i) N − 1 (1)
Where N is number of years. Furthermore, the price per kWh of elec-
tricity generated is obtained by dividing the total annual cost by the
electrical load generated.
The annual average electricity requirement is 13.9 kWh/day which
is shown in Fig. 5. As it is seen in Fig. 5, the hourly maximum required
load is 2.12 kW which occurs in June. In addition, the average hourly
electricity requirement is 0.579 kW. A 15% daily random variability in
electricity requirement was also calculated.
The annual average hydrogen requirement is 85 kg/day and its
maximum is 11.5 kg/h which is shown in Fig. 6 for 12 months of a
whole year during 24 h. From Fig. 6, which is based on the hydrogen
requirement (kg/h), it could be seen that the peak hydrogen require-
ment occurs between 17:00 to 19:00. 19.7% Daily random variation in
hydrogen requirement was considered. According to Fig. 6, hourly
average hydrogen requirement for all month is about 3.5 kg.
Given the accessibility to the national grid in the studied area, the
studied hybrid renewable energy system is connected to the national
grid and it is able either to buy electricity or sell its excess generation to
the grid. As it is seen in Fig. 7, and given the different price of electricity
at low-load, high-load, and mid-load hours, three schemes were used to
sell/buy electricity to/from the national grid. Also, fixed prices have
been assumed for buying and selling electricity which is $0.12, $0.07,
and $0.05/kWh for high-load, normal, and low-load modes, respec-
tively. Meanwhile, since the CO2 is the dominant emission, 632 g of CO2
per kWh of electricity generated by the national grid is also considered.
A capacity of 1000 kW/month for selling/purchasing electricity to/
M. Jahangiri et al. Energy Strategy Reviews 23 (2019) 23–32

Fig. 4. The daily values of (a) solar radiation and, (b) annual wind speed.

from the grid was considered. presented in Table 1.

The main advantage of VAWTs is that they do not need to be In Table 2, the prices, size, useful lifetime, and other information
pointed to the wind. This is a privilege in places with high variations in relevant to the elements used in the simulation are presented. It should
the wind direction, for example, at the top of residential buildings. be noted that the tilt angle of solar panels is kept the same as the la-
Furthermore, given that the axis is vertical, the generator and gearbox titude of the location and they lack solar tracking system.
are able to be placed near the ground. This arrangement improves the
accessibility to this equipment for maintenance purposes. In the current
study, 4 types of VAWTs are used, the information of which are

Fig. 5. The daily electricity requirement in 2016.

27
M. Jahangiri et al.
Fig. 6. Mean load of hourly hydrogen requirement on a monthly basis.
Fig. 7. Electricity consumption profile for various hours.
5. Results
The economically optimal results in terms of the wind turbine type
and the techno-environmental values produced by VAWTs used are
presented in Tables 3 and 4, respectively. The significant point ob-
servable from all results is that in none of the scenarios a diesel gen-
erator and hydrogen tank are used to produce electricity and hydrogen.
This could be attributed either to the high price of this equipment or the
fact that hydrogen is consumed to such extent that is depleted im-
mediately after production and no excess hydrogen remains for storage.
As it is seen from Table 3, the most optimal mode for the provision of
electricity and hydrogen is using the national grid scenario with $3036/
kWh of electricity and $0.496 per kg of hydrogen generated. In this
scenario, the total net present cost (Total NPC) is $84200.
Given the uniformity of radiation, in the national grid/solar cell
scenario, one solar cell and one AC/DC converter are used to provide
the demand and a total net present cost of $91838 is considered. In this
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Energy Strategy Reviews 23 (2019) 23–32
scenario, 35% of electricity is generated by solar cells and the rest is
produced by the national grid. Given different powers, prices, and
performance curves of VAWTs, different prices exist per kg of hydrogen
produced and per kWh of electricity generated by them. Therefore,
according to the results of national grid/wind turbine scenario, the
lowest cost of producing hydrogen with $0.509/kg is associated with
Spiral turbine type, the highest cost of producing hydrogen with $0.63/
kg is related to Turby, the lowest cost of electricity generated with
$2.168/kWh belongs to EOLO turbine, and the highest cost of gen-
erating electricity with $3.451/kWh is obtained for Turby turbine.
Regarding the national grid/wind turbine scenario, another significant
point is that utilization of Spiral turbine with a total net present cost of
$86394 is recommended in terms of cost-effectiveness.
In the national grid/wind turbine/solar cell scenario, the lowest and
highest total net present costs are associated with the Spiral turbine,
with $92791, and Turby turbine, with $113327, respectively. In this
scenario, the most cost-effective turbines in terms of electricity and
hydrogen production costs, with a price of $1.55/kWh and $0.547/kg,
are EOLO and Spiral turbines, respectively.
The lowest cost of hydrogen production is $0.496/L which is related
to the national grid scenario. The lowest cost of generating electricity in
case of using WRE and Turby VAWTs, with $3.036, belongs to the
national grid scenario, and in case of using EOLO and Spiral VAWTs, it
is related to the national grid/wind turbine/solar cell scenario, with
$1.55/kWh and $2.653/kWh, respectively.
Another point that can be concluded from the results is that in case
of using EOLO and Spiral VAWTs, the national grid/wind turbine sce-
nario economically outperforms the national grid/solar cell scenario.
While for WRE and Truby VAWTs, the national grid/solar cell scenario
performed better than the national grid/wind turbine scenario.
Another general result drawn from Table 3 is that it is economically
more advantageous to use wind turbine alone than using wind turbine
and solar cell simultaneously. Although, since during the day the solar
and wind energies reach their peak at different times, and also since,
according to the results, in case of simultaneous utilization of wind and
solar energies, the dependence (%) on the national grid is significantly
reduced, it is recommended that the national grid/wind turbine/solar
M. Jahangiri et al. Energy Strategy Reviews 23 (2019) 23–32

Table 1
Data of VAWTs used.
Turbine type Power curve Figure

EOLO 3 kW

Spiral 1 kW

Turby 2.5 kW

WRE 3 kW

Table 2
The system information.
Equipment Cost ($) Size (kW) Other information Schematic

Capital Replacement O&M

PV [35,36] 6900 6900 0 1 Lifetime: 25 years

Derating factor: 90%
Diesel Generator [35,36] 3500 3000 0.023 1 Lifetime: 15000 h
Minimum load ratio: 30%
Converter [35,36] 800 700 100 1 Lifetime: 15 years
Efficiency: 90%
EOLO wind turbine [37] 5269 5269 130 3 Lifetime: 20 years
Hub height: 10 m
Spiral wind turbine [38] 1900 1900 48 1 Lifetime: 20 years
Hub height: 10 m
Turby wind turbine [39] 19243 19243 480 2.5 Lifetime: 20 years
Hub height: 10 m
WRE wind turbine [40] 13635 13635 340 3 Lifetime: 20 years
Hub height: 10 m
Electrolyzer [5] 2700 2700 3 8 Lifetime: 15 years
Efficiency: 85%
Hydrogen Tank [5] 3100 3100 4 8 Lifetime: 25 years
Reformer [5] 3200 3200 4 8 Lifetime: 25 years
Efficiency: 68.6%

cell will be used instead of the national grid/wind turbine scenario. In
addition, given the results of Table 4, a more than 50% reduction in
emissions for the hybrid national grid/wind turbine/solar cell scenario
instead of the national grid/wind turbine further supports this claim.
As it is observed from the environmental analysis of various sce-
narios in Table 4, taking into account that a CO2 emission of 632 g has
been considered per kWh of electricity generated by the grid, there will
be 3206 kg/year of CO2 emission in the national grid scenario that, by
including the penalty payments for the emissions, the cost per kWh of
electricity or per kg of hydrogen will increase. By the way, no excess
electricity exists in this scenario since the grid is accessible when re-
quired.
In the national grid/wind turbine scenario, the highest excess
electricity is produced by EOLO turbine which accounts for 34.1% of
the total excess electricity produced and prevents the emission of
883 kg CO2 annually. In this scenario, 92% of the electricity is gener-
ated by the wind turbine and the rest by the national grid. The highest
amount of emissions, with a value of 1745 kg CO2/year, is related to
Turby wind turbine where 51% of the electricity is produced by the
national grid. The reason for the importance of studying excess

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M. Jahangiri et al. Energy Strategy Reviews 23 (2019) 23–32

Table 3
The economically optimal results in terms of the wind turbine type: (a) EOLO, (b) Spiral, (c) Turby, (d) WRE.
(a)

PV (kW) EOLO Conv. (kW) Grid (kW) Initial Capital ($) Operating Cost Total NPC COE ($/kWh) COH ($/kg) Ren. Frac.
($/year) ($)

– – – 1000 6400 14231 84200 3.036 0.496 0

– 1 1 1000 12469 13989 88945 2.168 0.524 0.86
1 – 1 1000 14100 14220 91838 3.146 0.541 0.32
1 1 2 1000 20169 13780 95504 1.550 0.563 0.94

(b)
PV (kW) Spiral Conv. (kW) Grid (kW) Initial Capital ($) Operating Cost Total NPC ($) COE ($/kWh) COH Ren. Frac.
($/year) ($/kg)

– – – 1000 6400 14231 84200 3.036 0.496 0

– 1 1 1000 9100 14138 86394 2.769 0.509 0.57
1 – 1 1000 14100 14220 91838 3.146 0.541 0.32
1 1 1 1000 16000 14047 92791 2.653 0.547 0.71

(c)
PV (kW) Turby Conv. (kW) Grid (kW) Initial Capital ($) Operating Cost Total NPC ($) COE ($/kWh) COH Ren. Frac.
($/year) ($/kg)

– – – 1000 6400 14231 84200 3.036 0.496 0

1 – 1 1000 14100 14220 91838 3.146 0.541 0.32
– 1 1 1000 25443 14722 106925 3.451 0.630 0.41
1 1 1 1000 33343 14631 113327 3.391 0.668 0.59

(d)
PV (kW) WRE Conv. Grid Initial Capital Operating Cost Total NPC ($) COE ($/kWh) COH ($/kg) Ren. Frac.
(kW) (kW) ($) ($/year)

– – – 1000 6400 14231 84200 3.036 0.496 0

1 – 1 1000 14100 14220 91838 3.146 0.541 0.32
– 1 1 1000 20835 14538 100315 3.225 0.591 0.45
1 1 1 1000 27735 14447 106713 3.171 0.629 0.62

electricity generation is that one of the macro policies of Iran Electrical
Industry is the reduced dependence on thermal power-plants and in-
creasing the renewable energies share in the electricity and energy mix
of the country. In this regard, the power ministry has announced that it
will subsidize up to 50% of any costs concerning investments in the
installation and operation of small renewable energy plants and also
guarantees the purchase of excess electricity from subscribers [41].
Another point regarding the use of national grid/solar cell scenario,
which is obvious in Table 4, is that in this scenario no excess electricity
exists and 2121 kg CO2 emissions will be produced annually due to
using the national grid. In this state, 65% of the electricity is generated
by the national grid and the rest by the solar cells. This scenario
maintains the lowest percentage of using renewable energies compared
to the national grid/wind turbine and the national grid/wind turbine/
solar cell scenarios.
In the hybrid national grid/wind turbine/solar cell scenario, the
highest and lowest excess electricity, with an amount of 14.4% and
6.34%, are produced by Turby and Spiral turbines, respectively. The
highest rate of preventing CO2 emissions, which is also the lowest
percentage of using the national grid, with a value of 3484 kg/year, is
related to the EOLO turbine where only 4% of the required electricity is
generated by the national grid.
Given the aforementioned results, if the studied system is to be used
in the remote areas with no access to the national grid, it is re-
commended to use EOLO wind turbine since it has the lowest depen-
dence on the national grid.

Table 4
The techno-environmental values obtained from VAWTs used.
Scenario Turbine Type Excess Elec. (%) Emissions (CO2 kg) Production

Grid EOLO 0 3206 100% Grid

Spiral
Turby
WRE
Wind + Grid EOLO 34.1 −883 92% Wind+8% Grid
Spiral 0 1150 60% Wind+40% Grid
Turby 9.47 1745 49% Wind+51% Grid
WRE 7.3 1597 52% Wind+48% Grid
PV + Grid EOLO 0 2121 35% PV+65% Grid
Spiral
Turby
WRE
Wind + PV + Grid EOLO 11.3 −3484 14% PV+82% Wind+4% Grid
Spiral 6.34 331 26% PV+49% Wind+25% Grid
Turby 14.4 929 25% PV+42% Wind+33% Grid
WRE 12.4 775 25% PV+44% Wind+31% Grid

30
M. Jahangiri et al.
Fig. 8. World climate map [42].
Given the tropical climate of Bandar Abbas, the findings can be used
for other regions having similar climate that are shown in Fig. 8. Also,
this study uses experimental data of four VAWTs commonly used in
industry which can be extended to similar cases.
Renewable energy-based power generation systems are always
complicated by the challenge of energy storage [43]. Batteries are used
for short-term storage of energy in renewable energy systems while for
the purposes of sustainable development and long-term storage, elec-
tricity can be changed into hydrogen [5]. Given the fact that hydrogen
is a clean energy with high energy density [44–46], instead of storing
electricity in batteries or other storing equipment, it's better to use
hydrogen. Therefore, the dear reviewer opinion is totally correct.
However, as it is mentioned in previous study of the present work
corresponding author [35], since fuel cell technology is very costly in
Iran, its use is not economically justified. Thus, using this kind hy-
drogen is not addressed in the present study.
6. Conclusion
Iran is among the countries with a long history of using wind energy
in various sectors. Unfortunately, however, this process has been de-
layed for some reasons. According to the sixth five-year economic de-
velopment plan, up to 5000 MW of the country's required energy has to
be produced by renewable sources [47]. However, the share of wind in
this sector is not obvious yet, whereas this country has a high potential
for the development of wind energy and plants, an event that can
contribute also to the control of global warming which is due to in-
creased urbanization and population and overconsumption of fossil
fuels. The main results of the current work are as follows:
- The most economically optimal state of producing electricity and
hydrogen is the use of a national grid with a price of $3.036 and
$0.496 per kWh of electricity and per kg of hydrogen produced,
respectively.
- In the national grid/solar cell scenario, 35% of the electricity is
generated by solar cells and the rest by the national grid.
- In the national grid/wind turbine scenario, the use of Spiral turbine
with a total net present cost of $86394 is economically re-
commended.
- In the national grid/wind turbine/solar cell scenario, the most cost-
effective states of producing electricity and hydrogen with a price of
$1.55/kWh and $0.547/kg are related to using EOLO and Spiral
31
Energy Strategy Reviews 23 (2019) 23–32
turbines, respectively.
- In cases where the studied system is to be used in remote areas with
no access to the national grid, EOLO wind turbine is recommended.
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