Hybrid power/energy generation through multidisciplinary and multilevel design optimization with complementarity constraints

The optimal design of hybrid power generation systems (HPGSs) can significantly improve the technical and economic performance of power supply. However, the discrete-time simulation with logical disjunctions involved in HPGS design usually leads to a nonsmooth optimization model, to which well-established techniques for smooth nonlinear optimization cannot be directly applied. This paper casts the HPGS design optimization problem as a multidisciplinary design optimization problem with complementarity constraints, a formulation that introduces a complementarity formulation of the nonsmooth logical disjunction, as well as a time horizon decomposition framework, to ensure a fast local solution. A numerical study of a stand-alone hybrid photovoltaic/wind power generation system is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.