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Abstract
Solar power is broadly acknowledged as a green technology. Malaysia, as a tropical country, has been promoting solar power as an option for rural electrification. This article aims to discuss the sustainability of a stand-alone AC Bus Configuration solar system for a rural village in the state of Sarawak, East Malaysia, based through a community-based project. The project was implemented via installation of photovoltaic system to supply electricity to the rural village. Different coupling configurations are shown in this paper. Actual load profile for four consecutive days and average monthly solar irradiation is studied. Analysis of the daily consumption is shown between the PWD centre, church and housing infrastructure. Average monthly solar radiation is also shown here, with the daily load profile discussed. The project has brought certain benefits for the local villagers such as free electricity. Further studies on the load growth are needed to ensure system sustainability.
... Malaysia has a good potential of solar energy, due to the abundance of solar radiation averaging 4.8-6.1 kW h/m 2 /day. Based on this, solar energy has always been considered as a sensible approach to sustainable green energy in Malaysia [6,7]. Malaysia has lots of remote areas that are located away from the main grid and, surrounded by rugged terrains and dense jungles. ...
... Meanwhile, PV systems had showed lower cost, and is more applicable compared to wind turbines [22]. Hybrid PV/Diesel systems for rural electrification was recommended in most studies [7,8,[16][17][18]23]. Some studies have discussed the optimized designing methods of hybrid systems using different optimization software such as HOMER and several other optimization algorithms including artificial neural networks (ANN), differential evolution (DE), and particle swarm optimization (PSO) for assessments of suitable sizing and appropriate operating strategies for different configuration [24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. ...
This study considered two decentralized power stations in Sabah, Malaysia; each contains different combi
nation of photovoltaic (PV), diesel generators, system converters, and storage batteries. The work was built
upon previous related site surveys and data collections from each site. Verification of the site data sets, sim
ulation of different operational scenarios, and a comparison with the optimum design were all considered in
the work. This includes all possible standalone diesel generators, hybrid PV/diesel/battery, and 100% PV/
battery scenarios for the proposed stations. HOMER software has been used in the modeling entire systems.
The operational behaviors of different PV penetration levels were analyzed to accurately quantify the impact
of PV integration. The performance of these stations was analyzed based on technical, economic and envi
ronmental constraints, besides, placing emphasis on comparative cost analysis between different operational
scenarios. The results satisfied the load demand with the minimum total net present cost (NPC) and levelized
cost of energy (LCOE). Moreover, sensitivity analysis was carried out to represents the effects of changing
main parameters, such as; fuel, PV, battery prices, and load demand (load growth) on the system performance.
Comparison of all operational behaviors scenarios was carried out to elucidate the advantages/disadvantages
of utilizing each scenario. The impact of different PV penetration levels on the system performance and the
generation of harmful emissions is also investigated. The results show more trends towards using renewable
energy (RE) sources in energy generation and less dependence on standalone diesel generators. Hybrid PV/
Diesel/Battery system is seen to be the best technical performance compared to all other scenarios, while also
reporting good economic and environmental performance, which result in increased system sustainability. The
100% RE system showed the best environmental characteristics with the highest costs. This study has demon
strated that the presence of RE sources improves the performance of standalone systems and reduces energy
storage requirements.
... Ishaq et al. conducted a Design of An Off Grid-Photovoltaic System: A Case Study of Government Technical College, Wudil, Kano State [3]. Many other researchers have proposed methods for designing PV off-grid [4][5][6]. ...
In 2015, the Government, through a special allocation fund, has finished constructing an off-grid 15 KWp off-grid solar power plant in Paya Tampah Village, Aceh Tamiang district. The long-term reliability of solar power plants is highly reliant on on-site measurements because of the vagueness in some of the constantly-changing variables such as irradiation, drought rate, which possibly lead to cause significant power losses and which turn out to also affect the estimated cost of PV (kWh). With the aim of upgrading capabilities in off-grid solar power plant planning especially in the province of Aceh, this paper outlining detailed comparison of the results of calculating the performance of off-grid 15 KWp off-grid solar power among system performance measurement results after 2 years of operation. Performance calculations performed with the assistant of PVsyst software. The measurement results characterize the total power generated by the off-grid solar power plant is 15 kWp and used by 38 households. The result of this investigation is expected to be used by local governments to be a benchmark on the future planned off-grid solar power plant planning.
... Ishaq et al. conducted a Design of An Off Grid-Photovoltaic System: A Case Study of Government Technical College, Wudil, Kano State [3]. Many other researchers have proposed methods for designing PV off-grid [4][5][6]. ...
In 2015, the Government, through a special allocation fund, has finished constructing an off-grid 15 KWp off-grid solar power plant in Paya Tampah Village, Aceh Tamiang district. The long-term reliability of solar power plants is highly reliant on on-site measurements because of the vagueness in some of the constantly-changing variables such as irradiation, drought rate, which possibly lead to cause significant power losses and which turn out to also affect the estimated cost of PV (kWh). With the aim of upgrading capabilities in off-grid solar power plant planning especially in the province of Aceh, this paper outlining detailed comparison of the results of calculating the performance of off-grid 15 KWp off-grid solar power among system performance measurement results after 2 years of operation. Performance calculations performed with the assistant of PVsyst software. The measurement results characterize the total power generated by the off-grid solar power plant is 15 kWp and used by 38 households. The result of this investigation is expected to be used by local governments to be a benchmark on the future planned off-grid solar power plant planning.
... The model of the proposed non outages hybrid gridphotovoltaic solar energy system consists of the PV solar panels, charge controller, batteries bank, PLC controlled ATS panel and inverter as shown in Figure 2. The system behaves as a load demand optimizer, where the load can fully be supplied by the solar energy in case of the public grid outages [10], [11]. ...
p>Attempting to reduce the existing electricity consumption bill, as well as the stability and non-outage grid recharge with the lowest possible cost and suitable quality, is one of the most important goals for those interested in energy around the world. This paper study the circumstances surrounding the Egyptian society to find the best solutions to a achieved this goals, and it was found that solar energy is one of the best alternatives available for energy. Firstly will be study the electricity consumption bill, slice prices and a program was made to calculate the consumption invoice moreover another program for quick estimation to the proposed solar system.The proposed system provides a smart integration between the solar system and grid, where the supply sustainability and the optimal cost are considered. This configuration allows the two sources separately or simultaneously supply the loads depending on photovoltaic extracted energy. Operational analysis of the proposed system will discussed in this paper. The proposed system consists of solar cells, charge controller, batteries and inverter plugged to automatic transfer switches (ATS) using Programmable Logic Control (PLC). The system grantee a safe and reliable load feeding independently on the grid status. The system durability is the most depicted feature through the modelling and experimentally results. A typical case studies for about four years of non-outages photovoltaic-grid hybrid supply (the implemented system) will be presented and discussed.</p
... Proposed Appliances and Energy Consumptions For Rural House byFadaeenejad M et al.[94] Wong Sy et al.[95] from Swinburne University Sarawak configured the solar system ...
Growing energy demands are expected to exceed the supply from current energy resources. Therefore, renewable energy and energy management systems will become more crucial for increasing supply and efficiency of energy usage. The novelty of this research is an energy management system (EMS) based on fuzzy logic for a solar house to ensure the maximum utilisation of renewable sources, protect components from being damaged due to overloading, and manage energy storage devices to increase stability in the power system. There is no published analysis of hybrid energy storage between battery and supercapacitor using fuzzy logic as EMS. The energy management system is implemented in a solar cabin system developed by IBC Solar to mimic a typical rural house. The solar cabin is equipped with solar photovoltaic panels, solar charger, battery and inverter. Supercapacitors and a custom made DC to DC converter were added to the system to support the batteries during high current load demand and manage energy flow. Three sets of experiments were conducted in the solar cabin system with the new energy management system. Power consumption usage of a typical rural household was studied to create two load profiles that were used as load for the experiments. The results show an efficiency of 95.9% by using the new energy management system and supercapacitors to the solar cabin, which is higher than recent research (95.2% and 84.4%). The result is on par with the Malaysian and International Standard in energy efficiency of around 95%. The energy management system controlled the charging and discharging of the battery and supercapacitor using fuzzy logic. The novelty of this thesis is use of supercapacitors to reduce stress on the battery and an energy management system to control and manage the system for efficient energy usage.
... The model of the proposed non outages hybrid gridphotovoltaic solar energy system consists of the PV solar panels, charge controller, batteries bank, PLC controlled ATS panel and inverter as shown in Fig.2 Cairo-Egypt fully be supplied by the solar energy in case of the public grid outages [7], [8]. In case of a regular operation, solar energy and public grid are available. ...
... A few assessment has been published by [1][2][3][4] showing that almost 100% of rural homes in Peninsular Malaysia and 80-90% in Sabah and Sarawak up to 2010. The appointed systems are either diesel generator system, diesel-PV hybrid system or stand-alone PV system. ...
Most of renewable energy electrification systems in rural residential area in Malaysia are benefitting the solar PV (photovoltaic) system. The initial 24V DC voltage generated by the modules are converted and inverted to 240V AC to replicate national utility grid standard. However indeed most modern connected loads and electrical appliance are operable within DC voltage internally which requires no extra conversion or inversion at all. Nevertheless when the AC voltage from the grid once been connected to the system, the early PV modules seemed to be totally forgotten and abandoned. An energy conservation concept has been disrupted. A new strategy of benefitting both available DC power and AC utility grid was introduced which could be implemented to save energy and optimised the whole system. Throughout design concept has been proposed and discussed.
This paper proposes simple and deterministic model for generating an hourly synthetic wind speed time series based on a typical meteorological year. It considers daily averages, the maximum wind speed of the day, and its time of occurrence. The model was tested for a location in the northern region of Brazil and is crucial for dispatching energy generation in remote areas such as indigenous communities where demand is seasonal. The model developed in this work employs the ARMA model and Weibull distribution to generate the hourly synthetic time series. For the validation of the model, MERRA-2 reanalysis data were used. A simulation of hourly energy generated by two commercial turbines was performed. The results showed that the northeast wind direction predominates in the studied region of Raposa Serra do Sol, with most wind speed data within the limits of 2 and 8 m/s. Additionally, the data revealed that winds are stronger between December and March, with averages exceeding 6 m/s. An adjacent stationary series was used with the Gaussian space mapping method, obtaining a series with normal distributions that can be easily modeled using autoregressive methods. Furthermore, an hourly modeling approach is employed to predict the intraday behavior of wind speed. The synthetic hourly time series for a typical year was then generated and compared with values from 2010, revealing a high degree of congruency between the model and real data.
Solar Home System (SHS) is a stand-alone power solution in isolated places where there is no connectivity to the national power grid. Currently, an off-grid SHS has a solar panel, a lead-acid battery, a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) solar charge controller, and 12V DC power operated electrical home appliances; in some cases, a DC to DC converter or a DC to AC inverter has been connected. So far, various SHS packages have been introduced, each with a set of product features and prices. Since the majority of SHS are small in size, producing energy is inadequate to satisfy the customer's demand. This study introduces a new feature that incorporates both analog PWM solar charging techniques and a DC to DC (12V to 120V) converter to satisfy the needs of existing off-grid SHS users. The design of solar charging includes improved charging techniques i.e surge voltage and lightning protection. The result produced is a noise-free switching gate drive signal and high-performance fixed-frequency current mode controllers. The new controller's design also reduces the number of devices in the SHS; thus reduces the controller's total production cost.
1. INTRODUCTION Non-renewable sources of energy in the world are coal, oil, natural gas as their main fuel for energy production. Nuclear energy employs the technique of nuclear fission of uranium for electricity generation. Renewable sources of energy in the world are hydroelectricity, wind and solar energy. Hydroelectric power plants cannot use water continuously for generating electricity. Solar and wind may not be available throughout the day thereby reducing the efficiency of the system. A Solar Tracker was design to detect the exact position of the sun. The solar tracking system can collect more energy compare than the fixed panel system. Equipped with light sensors for searching sunray directions and positioned the solar tracker with a stepper motor. There are two types of active solar tracking systems: i. Single axis ii. Dual axes. 2. BACKGROUND Shortage of oil in the world reserved, also resulting in higher oil prices. Fuel or raw material oil also plays a vital issue for energy; the work will be hard to run if the shortage. Countries around the world to finding new areas for oil supply to meet the needs of the world rising oil prices also resulted in impaired energy supply and require the government to act to overcome this problem. Although the nuclear raw material to meet the needs for energy supply, but the side effects resulting from nuclear frightening whole life. Disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Japan on 11 March 2011, makes public anxiety about the side effects of the existence of a nuclear plant. With the increasing demand for energy in the international market, the price of fuel continues to rise. In the future energy demand is expected to continue to rise faster than fuel sources currently available. The transition to clean energy sources such as solar energy, allowing the world to improve the quality of life on earth, not only for humans, but also the flora and fauna. Therefore there is a need to develop the conversion of solar energy systems intelligently and then replace fossil fuel applications of weakening. Research and development of solar energy must be carried out using high technology. 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS The SST was optimized with 1.8 0 stepper motor for double, single and half-stepping capability. Auto cut Abstract: Solar energy, which is a free energy source, plays an important role in the energy industry. Very good to use and available at all times in Malaysia ,it is also environmentally friendly and sustainable to meet the energy needs of mankind. Use of other fuels such as no renewable fossil fuels has many side effects. Combustion products can produce air pollution, acid rain, global warming and also the world's fuel reserves are decreasing. Solar energy is one of important renewable energy source for usage by humankind. However, the efficiency of the solar energy collector can be further improved if it can be tracked by the collector so that photon energy incident on the collector surface is at its maximum. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to Develop Smart Solar Tracker (SST) and Charging System by using Microcontroller. This project will improve the previously constructed projects in terms of how to improve the efficiency of solar tracker and control system to be utilized in this country. A solar tracker system is a combination of design consisting of sensors and stepper motor to mechanically track the sun. This system automatically moves toward the actual position of the sun is used by light sensors as an inputs. By tracking the sun's actual position will increases solar panel efficiency due to the high solar energy absorption which can be stored into the battery. Inaccurate detection of the sun, the panel changing position will interfere with the absorption of solar energy during charging. These will results in a waste of time, energy and costs. To charge the battery will take a long time, solar energy will only be wasted and solar tracker construction cost is also high. When the battery fully charged, the system will automatically cut off. The project will be operated by using their own power supply from the battery that was in charge itself without the use of other power such as electricity. The smart solar tracker and charging system in this project has been successfully design, fabricated and tested.
Reaching universal access to electricity by 2030 requires a massive deployment of mini-grids in rural areas of developing countries. Among the many challenges hindering this process, there are the high uncertainties in assessing demand patterns in rural communities, the costs of field survey campaigns, and the absence of ample and reliable datasets coming from existing projects. This paper tries to address these issues by presenting and discussing a database of load profiles from sixty-one off-grid mini-grids from developing countries worldwide, gathered from the literature, private developers and fieldworks, and reported with technical, socio-economic and geographical characterization factors. A clustering procedure led to the identification of five archetypal load profile clusters, which are presented and analyzed together with their load duration curves. Subsequently, the distribution among the clusters of the various characterization factors selected is studied. The proposed approach allows to widen the range of load profiles usually considered, and to seek correlations between the load profile shapes, the peak power and average energy consumption per connection, the number of customers, the age of measurement, geographical position, operator model, type of tariff and generation technologies present. This work establishes a first step in the creation of a shared database for load profiles of rural mini-grids, helping to overcome the lack of available data and difficulties of demand assessment, proposing original insights for researchers to understand load patterns, and contributing to reduce risks and uncertainties for mini-grid developers.
This paper focuses on providing solution for the incessant farmer/herdsmen conflict, using modern technology. It centered on electrification of nomadic settlement, with case study of three nomadic locations in North-central Nigeria, using DC-Nano grid. Research revealed that frequent clashes of herdsmen with farmers are as a failure of the herdsmen to ranch their animal in a single or confined location. However, the herdsmen are willing to ranch in one location if facilities such as irrigated ranches and sprinkler pumps are provided. Thus, this called for electrification of their settlement to improve their socioeconomic way of life. Meanwhile, owing to the distance of their settlement from the national grid, it is therefore better and more economical to supply these settlements from an off-grid system. The preliminary research revealed that the load requirements of these nomadic settlements can be serviced from DC source, thus the reason for proposing a DC-Nano grid from renewable energy source. The research is carried out with sizing of the DC-Nano grid from possible options of wind and solar energy using particle swarm optimization (PSO). Results obtained shows that solar energy will be more economical to power the nomadic settlement than wind energy. In addition, with the designed load management system on the proposed renewable energy source, 50% reduction in energy consumption was achieved, while with PSO, 63.41% reduction in cost of electricity was achieved.
Rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa are frequently afflicted by energy poverty; as it is typically cost-prohibitive to extend the electricity grid to these locations, off-grid energy kiosks provide a locally sourced alternative for the community. This paper describes the technical design, development and implementation of an energy kiosk in Chalokwa, located in southern Zambia. Predicted load profiles are estimated based on experience from previous projects and are refined for the specific requirements of the Chalokwa community. Computer simulations are performed using publicly available software to size the photovoltaic panels, system batteries, and electronic components in such a way that the kiosk may function reliably in a range of operating conditions. The energy kiosk was installed and commissioned in June of 2016, and was outfitted with a data logger which measures system voltages and temperatures; this makes it possible to close the design loop and validate the assumptions made in the design process. The process outlined in this paper is presented in such a way that it may be used as a template for the technical design of future energy kiosks.
The project was developed as a hybrid solution to capture the combined high levels of solar radiation and monthly average wind speed in Malaysia of which Kota Kinabalu was selected. The Hybrid Solar Wind Energy Tower (HSWET) combines the functions of wind turbines in parallel with solar panel hence having a higher total of renewable energy values. In order to determine the efficiency of the HSWET, the output power is measured and monitored. Furthermore, the efficiency of HSWET design was compared with an existing solar hybrid system already in the market and the results of the proposed HSWET system showed a higher efficiency. Experimental results have proven that not only is the HSWET cheaper in assembly cost but it also has a more constant output. The design therefore allows for application in two modes therefore even though there is a in-balance in either wind speed or sunlight, generation of power is always there.
In a world struggling for sustainable access to energy for all, renewable energy systems can be a solution to implement on isolated micro-communities. However, such an implementation is still a challenge. This paper aims to review several types of projects developed in different micro-communities, namely small islands and remote villages, both in cases of real implementation and only evaluation studies. To do that, we analyzed documented projects in micro-communities with less than 100,000 people. We looked into different indicators related to island characterization, energy demand and proposed technical solution, in order to identify the determinant factors for the success of the implementation and how do they differ for islands and remote villages. In islands, the main factors that influence the achievement of higher percentages of renewable source (RES) are the design of the existing energy system, the presence of a reliable energy storage system and the profile of the electricity demand, especially the occurrence of peak demand and seasonal oscillations. In general, the more popular configuration is a diesel/wind/photovoltaic. In remote villages, higher percentages of RES are meet more easily in cases of very low demand, unstructured previous electric supply and the capability of using batteries as storage. The more popular configuration is the photovoltaic/diesel/batteries. Having detailed demand information, estimates from the local renewable resources and the adequacy of the storage system are critical aspects for the system 0 s design and its successful and reliable application. This review also shows that the data reported in many different case studies is often incomplete, which makes it hard to benchmark and evaluate the different projects. Thus, this paper proposes a methodology to report the data regarding the design and implementation of hybrid renewable energy systems, to enable the comparison of future projects and contribute to the discovery of new insights about the implementability of these systems.
Nearly one and a half billion people in the world do not have access to electricity, and even when energy resources are available, millions of people are unable to pay for them. As so, the access to modern affordable and renewable-based energy services in developing countries is essential to achieve a sustainable development by reducing poverty and improving the living conditions (health, security, etc.). In this paper, we analyze how rural electrification efforts can benefit from the implementation of microgrid systems. Following a systematic methodology, we estimate a demand that can evolve through time and design a system that copes with the demand increase. Then, we test the operation of such a facility using a pilot installation, the polygeneration energy container (PEC), an experimental setup that mimics the deployment of a hybrid microgrid system. The development of the experiment has allowed us to test design issues and solve operation and maintenance challenges associated with autonomous electricity production systems. The results demonstrated that it is possible to design systems that are robust and flexible to operate under different conditions.
As we are facing energy resource shortages around the world, there is an urgent need to develop a more sustainable energy system to cater for growth. The use of renewable energy (RE) sources is one of the feasible options. Malaysia is amply endowed with RE sources and is environment-friendly in nature. However the RE capacities are grossly under-utilized, particularly from biomass and solar energy. The Malaysian Government recognizes the potential of RE as an alternative to ensure the sustainability of energy resources. Thus, the green technology policy was launched to promote the utilization of low carbon energy and technology of which RE has been identified as the promising green energy option. In addition to current RE incentives, concerted efforts are underway to embark on programs to promote the green technology market in Malaysia. This paper will identify the key issues and challenges of RE development in Malaysia and explore the merits of establishing Green Technology Policy in order to adopt a green economy for sustainable future in Malaysia. This paper will look in detail at the barriers of RE proliferation, broad strategies and action plans which will be a catalyst for RE penetration in power generation in Malaysia.
Utilization of off-grid solar PV system is one of the availability approaches that can provide electricity to these villages from the remote area. The successful application of off- grid solar PV system reached the electricity demand and improved the living condition of local people in the remote area in Inner Mongolia. According to design and application of off- grid solar PV system, valued experience was gotten for popularizing off-grid solar PV system in the remote area of Inner Mongolia, which played an important exemplary role for utilization of solar energy in future.
Design and Application of Off-grid Solar PV System in Inner Mongolia of China," presented at the Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference
- M Zhao
- Z Liu
M. Zhao and Z. Liu, "Design and Application of Off-grid Solar PV System in Inner Mongolia of China," presented at the Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference, 2009. APPEEC 2009., Wuhan, 2009. Figure 9. Daily Load Profile for 19 th to 22 nd of December 2010 (a)
Photovoltaic Power Systems Resource Book. Queensland: Renewable Energy Centre of Brisbane Institute of TAFE
- P Monsour
- Renewable Energy