Multi-Criteria Optimization and Techno-Economic Assessment of a Wind–Solar–Hydrogen Hybrid System for a Plateau Tourist City Using HOMER and Shannon Entropy-EDAS Models

Hydrogen offers an effective pathway for the large-scale storage of renewable energy. For a tourist city located in a plateau region rich in renewable energy, hydrogen shows great potential for reducing carbon emissions and utilizing uncertain renewable energy. Herein, the wind–solar–hydrogen stand-alone and grid-connected systems in the plateau tourist city of Lijiang City in Yunnan Province are modeled and techno-economically evaluated by using the HOMER Pro software (version 3.14.2) with the multi-criteria decision analysis models. The system is composed of 5588 kW solar photovoltaic panels, an 800 kW wind turbine, a 1600 kW electrolyzer, a 421 kWh battery, and a 50 kW fuel cell. In addition to meeting the power requirements for system operation, the system has the capacity to provide daily electricity for 200 households in a neighborhood and supply 240 kg of hydrogen per day to local hydrogen-fueled buses. The stand-alone system can produce 10.15 × 10 6 kWh of electricity and 93.44 t of hydrogen per year, with an NPC of USD 8.15 million, an LCOE of USD 0.43/kWh, and an LCOH of USD 5.26/kg. The grid-connected system can generate 10.10 × 10 6 kWh of electricity and 103.01 ton of hydrogen annually. Its NPC is USD 7.34 million, its LCOE is USD 0.11/kWh, and its LCOH is USD 3.42/kg. This study provides a new solution for optimizing the configuration of hybrid renewable energy systems, which will develop the hydrogen economy and create low-carbon-emission energy systems.