How it works
A hybrid project combines generation or storage technologies, such as solar with a battery or wind with solar. In a co-located hybrid, the sources share a point of connection and an export limit set in MW. A plant controller reads their outputs and keeps the total within that limit. When the sum would exceed it, the controller trims generation or sends surplus into a battery if one is installed. Some procurement frameworks also combine resources at different locations.
Design starts with overbuilding. Developers often install more generating capacity than the connection allows, because solar and wind rarely peak together. Solar peaks around midday. At many sites the wind blows harder in the evening, at night or in a different season. Hourly weather data for the site shows how often the combined output would hit the export limit. The developer then picks the mix of solar, wind and storage that delivers the most energy per MW of connection, after counting the energy clipped at the limit.
Why it matters
Grid connections are scarce and slow to secure. A hybrid sends more energy through the same connection, so the cost of the substation and line is spread over more MWh. Its output is also flatter through the day, which buyers value and some tenders require. The price is design complexity. The mix, the overbuild and the battery size interact, so each has to be tested against the others before the project is fixed.
A worked example
Take a 100 MW connection. A 100 MW solar plant at a 22% capacity factor delivers 100 × 8,760 × 0.22 = 192,720 MWh a year, equivalent to 22% of the connection's full annual energy capacity. Adding 60 MW of wind at 35% gives 60 × 8,760 × 0.35 = 183,960 MWh more, for 376,680 MWh in total. Suppose 4% of that, about 15,067 MWh, is clipped at the 100 MW limit. Net export is 361,613 MWh, so annual connection utilisation rises to 361,613 ÷ 876,000 = 41.3%. This measures average loading, not the share of hours with any export.
Illustrative figures.
Across markets
India has a dedicated route. Its national wind-solar hybrid policy and central tenders for hybrid and round-the-clock supply set rules on the share of each source, and some require a minimum annual CUF. In the US, most hybrids pair solar with batteries, and long interconnection queues push owners to add storage at existing connections. In Europe, rules on sharing one connection between technologies, sometimes called cable pooling, vary by country and are still being written in several.