This progress report summarizes the theoretical study and problem definition for a student's industrial project on electrifying a small village in South Africa using stand-alone solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. The student aims to design a standalone PV solar system to provide electricity for households, businesses, public services, and development in the village. Research will include determining the village's electricity load and estimating the required PV system and storage components using software. The goal is to improve lives in the village by allowing activities after dark and facilitating education, telecommunications, safety, health care and productivity.
This progress report summarizes the theoretical study and problem definition for a student's industrial project on electrifying a small village in South Africa using stand-alone solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. The student aims to design a standalone PV solar system to provide electricity for households, businesses, public services, and development in the village. Research will include determining the village's electricity load and estimating the required PV system and storage components using software. The goal is to improve lives in the village by allowing activities after dark and facilitating education, telecommunications, safety, health care and productivity.
This progress report summarizes the theoretical study and problem definition for a student's industrial project on electrifying a small village in South Africa using stand-alone solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. The student aims to design a standalone PV solar system to provide electricity for households, businesses, public services, and development in the village. Research will include determining the village's electricity load and estimating the required PV system and storage components using software. The goal is to improve lives in the village by allowing activities after dark and facilitating education, telecommunications, safety, health care and productivity.
This progress report summarizes the theoretical study and problem definition for a student's industrial project on electrifying a small village in South Africa using stand-alone solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. The student aims to design a standalone PV solar system to provide electricity for households, businesses, public services, and development in the village. Research will include determining the village's electricity load and estimating the required PV system and storage components using software. The goal is to improve lives in the village by allowing activities after dark and facilitating education, telecommunications, safety, health care and productivity.
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Independent
Progress Report 1 :
Theoretical Study and problem Definition
Student Number
49056301
Name & Surname :
Phathutshedzo Mulaudzi
Course Name & Code
Progress Report
01- 886382
Industrial Project IV (IPR4701)
Declarations: I Mulaudzi Phathutshedzo, declares that the progress report 1 of the project titled Electrification of a small village using Stand Alone Solar PV System is my own work for B-Tech Electrical Engineering specializing in Computer Systems at UNISA and hereby submitted by me and not previously being submitted at this or other universities.
Student
Signature:
Mulaudzi Phathutshedzo
Date: 20/05/2016
INTENDED FIELD OF STUDY:
ELECTRIFICATION OF A SMALL VILLAGE USING STAND-ALONE SOLAR PV SYSTEMS Energy is a basic need for the overall growth and improvements of peoples living standard. Like any other developing countries, South Africa (SA) has some areas where there are no electricity grid lines.
Limpopo province is one of the SA
provinces which is taken as a rural province, due to the fact that the province is still in development stage. Most of the people are unemployed and depend on the small scale farming. Currently the government has started some initiative on renewable energy projects, to promote the use of renewable energy and electrification of remote rural villages. South Africa and especially Limpopo province region has huge solar energy potential and therefore it should be exploited for the benefit of its people. The current study will focus on a standalone photovoltaic power station for electrification of a small village in Limpopo Province of South Africa.
Its impact on
the environment and socio economic development at the village will be evaluated. The electrification will focus its studies in the typical households, small scale business centres, public services and a room for the development of the village. For the systematic study, interviews from the village, load of electricity needed will be determined, the estimation of the system and its storage will be performed using computational software like, Matlab, HOMMER, SAM and any other softwares are used to calculate the energy demand and cost of the electrification. At the end we hope to design the stand-alone PV Solar system, which will supply the energy to the village and improve their life. The teaching and learning process of schools will improved due the presence of electricity. The solar power areas will reduce the time required for fetching woods and give girls time to focus on the education.
1. Statement of the research problem
Like any other developing country, South Africa is also embarking on developing its people living standard by bringing electricity to the rural villages that are not having electricity, as it is costing and taking time to provide coal electricity to every rural village, they now focusing also on the renewable energy to electrify the rural villages. As there are many source of renewable energy, stand-alone Photovoltaic Solar system is one of those sources that has potential in the Limpopo Province rural village.
Objectives of the Research
The main objective of the research improve the living standard of the
villagers. To elaborate how the electrification of the village will using Photovoltaic solar
system will help in terms of the socio-economic and environmental
development of the village.
Social and economic benefits of electrification of rural village
Allow activities to occur after daylight hours, including education. In
impoverished and undeveloped areas, small amounts of electricity can free large amounts of human time and labour. In the poorest areas, people carry water and fuel by hand, their food storage may be limited, and their activity is limited to daylight hours.
Reduce isolation through telecoms
Improve safety with the implementation of street lighting, lit road signs.
Improve healthcare by electrifying remote rural clinics.
Reduces the need for candles and kerosene lamps and improves indoor air quality.
Improve productivity, through the use of electricity for irrigation, crop
processing, and other activities.
Background Theory The developing nations of Africa are popular locations for the application of renewable energy technology. Currently, many nations already have small-scale solar, wind, and geothermal devices in operation providing energy to urban and rural populations. These types of energy production are especially useful in remote locations because of the excessive cost of transporting electricity from large-scale power plants. The applications of renewable energy technology has the potential to alleviate many of the problems that face Africans every day, especially if done so in a sustainable manner that prioritizes human rights. Access to energy is essential for the reduction of poverty and promotion of economic growth. Communication technologies, education, industrialization, agricultural improvement and expansion of municipal water systems all require abundant, reliable, and cost-effective energy access. The following study is going to focus on building the photovoltaic solar power station for the electrification of the rural village using the stand-alone photovoltaic solar systems. Development of a country boost its economy, then by electrifying the rural village will also bring opportunity to it expand the wisdom and knowledge of the learner and everyone in the village to be technological advanced.
The Literature Survey
Definition of Photovoltaic Solar System: A photovoltaic system, also known as solar PV power system is a power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaic. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity, a solar inventor to change the electric current from DC to AC, as well as mounting, cabling and other electrical accessories to set up a working system. PV systems convert light directly into electricity and shouldn't be confused with other technologies, such as concentrated solar power used for heating and cooling. PV systems range from small, rooftop-mounted or building-integrated systems with capacities from a few to several tens of kilowatts, to large utility-scale power stations of hundreds of megawatts. Nowadays, most PV systems are gridconnected, while off-grid or stand-alone systems only account for a small portion of the market. Operating silently and without any moving parts, PV systems have developed from being niche market applications into a mature technology used for mainstream electricity generation. Photovoltaic
technology has seen much wider use in the field. As of 2013, PV
systems outnumber concentrators by about 40 to 1.
Photovoltaic Power Station A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, is a large-scale Photovoltaic Systems (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power into the electricity-grid. They are differentiated from most building-mounted and other decentralised solar power applications because they supply power at the utility level,
rather than to a local user or users. They are sometimes also referred to as solar farms or solar ranches, especially when sited in agricultural areas. The generic expression utility-scale solar is sometimes used to describe this type of project. In some countries, the nameplate capacity of a photovoltaic power stations is rated in megawatt-peak (MWp), which refers to the solar arrays DC power output. Most of the existing large-scale photovoltaic power stations are owned and operated by independent power producers, but the involvement of community- and utilityowned projects is increasing. To date, almost all have been supported government for the development of the country and its economy. It also involves providing of any South African Constitutional Rights Basic needs of Health facility and basic education.
Retrieved 2011-07-21. "A STAND-ALONE PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM, CASE STUDY: A RESIDENCE IN GAZA" (PDF). Trisanita.org. Retrieved 2011-07-21. "Stand Alone PV Systems". Eai.in. Retrieved 2011-07-21. "Batteries and Charge Control in Stand-Alone Photovoltaic SystemsFundamentals and Application" (PDF). Localenergy.org. Retrieved 2011-0721. "Guidelines for Monitoring Stand-Alone Photovoltaic Systems: Methodology and Equipment". Iea-pvps.org. Retrieved 2011-07-21. "Photovoltaic system performance monitoring Guidelines for measurement, data exchange and analysis". IEC standard 61724, Geneva: 37. 1998. line feed character in |journal= at position 5 (help); "Use of appliances in Stand-Alone PV Power supply systems: problems and solutions". Iea-pvps.org. Retrieved 2011-07-21. "Advantages of Solar Energy". Conserve Energy Future. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
