Hybrid renewable multi-generation system optimization: Attaining sustainable development goals

The optimization of hybrid renewable multi-generation systems is crucial for enhancing energy efficiency, reducing costs, and ensuring sustainable power generation. These factors can be significantly affected by system designs, optimization methods, climate changes, and varying energy demands. The optimization of a stand-alone hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) that integrates various combinations of electricity, heating, cooling, hydrogen, and freshwater needs has not been reported in a single comprehensive study. Additionally, there has been insufficient attention given to the impact of temporal resolution, the recovery of excess energy usage, and aligning these efforts with the sustainable development goals (SDGs). This study reviews the recent state-of-the-art studies on the stand-alone HRES options for meeting electric, heating, cooling, hydrogen, electric vehicles, and freshwater demands with various combinations. This study further contributes by examining contemporary literature on sizing optimization, reliability analysis, sensitivity analysis, control techniques, detailed modelling, and techno-environmental-economic features. It also provides justification for selecting configurations suitable for specific geographical locations, along with an analysis of the choice of algorithms and power management systems required to meet the various load demands of a self-sufficient community. By highlighting the improvements and potentials of HRES to achieve various United Nations SDGs, this review study aims to bridge existing research gaps.