Design and Implementation of Solar Power System for Educational Institutes in Rural Areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Transcription

1 1 Design and Implementation of Solar Power System for Educational Institutes in Rural Areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan Iftikhar Javed Khan, M. Riaz, Yawar Hayat Khan, and Salman Rashid engineer and School of Information Technology University of Lahore, Islamabad Campus Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan. Abstract Solar energy is a permanent energy source on earth and it is available for use in its direct and indirect forms. Solar Photovoltaic (PV) panel is another empowering technology that can convert part of the sunlight into useable electricity. This paper combines the use of sunlight and solar PV panels to design and implement solar system for the educational institutes in the rural areas of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. The end target of the solar system design to serve tube lights, energy saver bulbs, computer labs and classrooms. Such a solar system is more economical in a sense that it requires low initial cost and less maintenance. Keywords: Solar panel, photovoltaic, batteries, charge controller, cooling box. I. INTRODUCTION Solar energy is a permanent and natural energy source on earth and it is available for use in its direct and indirect forms [1]. Solar Photovoltaic (PV) panel is another empowering technology that can convert part of the sunlight into useable electricity. Utilization of solar hybrid system is essential in every field of life. In [2], an experiment is conducted using the PV panel to supply electricity in each building in the schools like classrooms, computer labs etc. Since we know that energy especially electricity is the basic requirement for the social and economic development of a country. Therefore, the use of electricity is increasing day by day in every field or department of a country e.g., industries require continuous and uninterrupted supply of electrical energy [3]. Due to increased demand of electricity in a country like Pakistan, energy crises have been raised. In [4, 5], various energy sources like oil, coal, natural gas are presented, where the authors pointed out that these sources are limited in the country and if these are used at the current rate then these energy sources will be finished very quickly in the upcoming decades [6]. The shortfall of energy leads to bring in use the fossil fuel-based power plants which generate substantial green house gases effecting global climate [7]. Rural areas are far apart from the cities, supply of electricity is the main challenge in this regard. Solar PV panels are best to produce electricity in such rural areas. Photovoltaic system make use of PV panels which convert solar energy directly into electrical energy. The solar hybrid system gives green, clean, climate friendly and inexhaustible energy to mankind [8]. Pakistan needs more electrical energy and facing energy shortage for the last ten years. The total supply from different sources are round about MW and we require to MW, so due to high demand than supply, there is daily load shedding from 14 to 20 hours in rural areas and 8 to 10 hours in the urban areas of the country. The load shedding causes serious impact on business, industries, factories, everyday life of a citizen and more importantly on the education system of young generation in the rural areas of the country. In order to provide modern education in the rural areas, there is a need of continuous electricity in the educational institutes to maintain computer labs and lightning system in the class rooms. This may be possible if continuous electrical energy is supplied to these institutes in the working hours. In this paper, we present a design and implementation of solar system for the educational institutes in rural areas of Khyber pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Khyber pakhtunkhwa, one of the provinces in Pakistan, has the potential of renewable energy sources such as wind, geothermal and solar. Among all of this solar energy is the best option to provide electricity to these rural institute of khyber pakhtunkhwa due to fact of greater solar radiations. The solar power system requires less maintenance and low cost, though it has the initial implementation cost. Rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section II describes the system model of the proposed design. Design procedure is presented in Section III. In Section IV, cost and budget calculation is provided. Finally, the conclusion of the paper is given in Section V. II. SYSTEM MODEL In this section, we present the basic components used in the design of our proposed solar system. Description of some of the components like photovoltaic solar panels, batteries, charge controller and balance of system components is also given in [9, 10].

2 2 A. Solar Panels: Solar panel converts sunlight into electrical energy. It is also called photovoltaic as it converts light energy directly into electrical energy. Solar panel consists of cells that generate electricity depending upon the light incident on these cells. Stronger the light incident on these cell more electricity is generated from the cells. The basic solar system as given in [2] and is shown in Fig. 1. E. Constraints: Minimizing cost and simplicity was the main concern throughout the design process. The site was located off grid to minimize cost and inefficiency. The system was designed for DC system. Although AC system would have allowed for grid contestability. AC/DC converter is required which increase power inefficiency and component acquisition. F. Inverters: As we know that inverters are used to convert DC electricity to AC electricity. The use of inverters depends upon the condition because sometimes we need direct DC electricity from the batteries and can not require AC electricity so in that case we can not require inverters. Although it was considered as a mechanical device used for the conversion of AC to DC and is known as converters. Later on for the reverse of this device which convert DC to AC and was named as inverters. III. DESIGNING OF THE PROPOSED SOLAR SYSTEM Fig. 1. B. Lighting: Solar System. Here, we use tube lights and energy savers available in rural ares of KPK. The system is designed for 40W tube lights and 23 to 35W energy saver bulbs. These tube lights and energy savers are used in the schools and examination halls. In this section, we describe the whole design of our project. In this project we mainly focus on our project constraints, array sizing and the system integration with the site. The general integrated design process for the project in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 are as fallow: 1) The basic requirement of the system are end use application,cost of project and constraints of project. 2) Size and design of system(load determination,pv and battery array). 3) Integration of the system(solar panel mounted on roof,cooling box placement and wiring arrangement. 4) During this process was interrelated feedback occurred between the team members and author. C. Batteries: The batteries are commonly used to store DC energy obtained from solar panels, which further give this energy to the inverter for further procedure. When the battery is in the charging state it converts electrical energy to chemical energy and while the batteries in turn convert this chemical energy to electrical energy. For the PV system, it is necessary to select such batteries which have good design features, best economical features and good operational characteristics. In PV system the main importance of batteries are. The main function in PV system for batteries are that it provides the energy storage capacity. The batteries operate for the stability of current and voltage. The batteries also used to supply surge currents. D. Charge controller: The charge controller is necessarily used to optimize battery power of the system, it prevent batteries from overcharging. The charge controller is 30 Amp, 500v and price ranges from to Fig. 2. Block Diagram of Solar panels array.

3 3 Charging and Safety Circuit UPS System and Control Circuit Main AC AC Socket where 30 is the total hours in which load components are used in 1 week. Similarly if we calculate the load component of the energy unit used in 1 month Main AC Solar Panel Microcontroller Input from Main, Battery Solar Panel Output Relays Status of LCD Inverter Load component of the energy units used in 1 month (4 weeks + 2 Days) = AB * 130 = 130AB KWhr Further we shall calculate the energy calculation for summer and winter. For Summer calculations Fig. 3. Block Diagram of Solar Process. Energy Units used by Load components in summer (3 months) = AB * 130 * 3 = 390 KWhrs A. Basic Requirement: The main requirement for the project is to deliver cheap and easy power to the educational institutes in rural areas of KPK. The system should have low fixed costs and can be easily maintained and reliable. B. Load Calculations: In this section, we mainly focus on the total loads of educational institutes in order to improve our literacy level in the rural areas of KPK. For this purpose we, visited different educational institutes and collect data from High, Middle and Primary schools, respectively. All these schools are located in the rural areas of KPK i.e Bannu and Karak. We have collected data regarding total number of students, total numbers of fan and energy savers bulbs and total numbers of computer labs to improve the literacy rate in those schools. After this, we have summarized and calculated the whole data for the total load required for the fans, computer labs and energy saver bulbs. 1) Energy Calculations:: Here we shall calculate the generalized form of energy. Total no of Load components = A One load component wattage = B Total load components = A * B = AB watt For daily load components the energy units used are = AB * 5 = 5AB KWhr Where 5 is the total hours in which the load components are used. If we calculate for 1 week. Load component of the energy units used in 1 week (6 Days) = AB * 30 = 30AB KWhr where 3 is the total number of months in which the load components are used in summer. C. Sizing PV Array: The initial rough estimate for our project was a minimum of 600w system which is based on minimal lightning load that was estimated for the classrooms.we will request a 600w panels obtained from BP solar.this frequently met our initial and final estimates for our system amp-hours required.five PV panels was required for rounded up which will be more sufficient to give the load current and can be lowered easily to four if it is necessary. D. Design Balance Of System: It illustrates the basic design of our system which includes mounting of panels and wiring in system and housing equipment. 1) Positions of panels:: The panels were designed such that it is placed flat on our educational institutes as it helps to prevent shadowing of one other panel, thus it allows us for closing panels spacing. So its specification becomes easy and simple. It was not anticipated that panels are not subject to high pressure wind loads. We shall also think about anti-theft element to our system so we shall fix our panels at the top of our institutes. 2) Wiring:: Wiring of the system can be made by the position of the components. The panels are placed parallel to the ground and the wiring are done in such a way that could be simple and easy to understand. 3) Housing Equipment:: The final design component of our system is housing equipment. The charge controller and batteries are kept very securely and in adequate operating conditions. Similarly the housing can also be used to store tools, manuals and replacement of components for the system. IV. BUDGET CALCULATION In this section, we discuss our final implementation of our system which includes team combination, acquisition of

4 4 TABLE I BUDGET CALCULATION. S.No Discription Market Price in KPK Rs Diagram 1 Solar Panel 12 KW (6 pannels 250 wattage) /- 2 Battery 150 Ah 12 Volt 22000/- 3 Charge Controller 50 Amp 500 Volt 40000/- 4 Inverter 12 KW 350 volt DC 30000/- 5 Panel Box 5 per Watt 8000/- 7 Installation - 8 Transport - 6 Cable 5 mm 30000/ / /- Total - - 3,50,000/- or 3465 USD

5 5 component and project costs. All the members of our team work hard. During system installation several phases occur. We anticipate purchasing the batteries, lightning, wiring, charge controller and system tools are purchased at the urban areas of KPK and then shifted to the site by roads. A. Funding and System costs: For funding, we shall approach to our provincial government. For this we shall write an application to the government and approved funds for the better future of our rural educational institutes. The second part includes system costs which contain two parts which are the total system cost and per person field cost. After the funds approval first we purchase system components which contains solar PV panels, batteries, charge controller, cool box and system tools, detail of these components are given in Table I. While completing our system components then we calculate per persons labor charges. After all this we shall implement our solar system. V. CONCLUSION In this paper, we have designed and implemented a solar PV system for education institutes in rural areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. We have designed a solar system which can provide electricity to computer labs, tube lights, energy savers in class rooms and exam halls etc. We have presented a complete a analysis regarding total initial cost including batteries, inverter, installation and transportation costs. Such a solar system is more economical in a sense that it requires low initial cost and less maintenance. REFERENCES [1] A. W. Bhutto, A. A. Bazmi, and G. Zahedi, Greener energy: issues and challenges for pakistansolar energy prospective, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 16, no. 5, pp , [2] W. Shyr, A photovoltaic systems laboratory activity plan for taiwanese senior high schools, Word Transactions on engineering and technology education, vol. 6, no. 1, p. 185, [3] M. Sidrach-de Cardona and L. M. Lopez, Performance analysis of a grid-connected photovoltaic system, Energy, vol. 24, no. 2, pp , [4] M. A. Sheikh, Renewable energy resource potential in pakistan, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 13, no. 9, pp , [5] W. Hutzel and D. Goodman, Remotely accessible solar energy laboratory for high school students, in IEEE Frontiers in Education(FIE), 2004, pp. S2D 18. [6] K. Y. Awan and A. Rashid, Overview of pakistan s electricity crisis, generation-mix and renewable energy scenarios, International Journal of Engineering & Technology, vol. 1, no. 4, pp , [7] R. Banos, F. Manzano-Agugliaro, F. Montoya, C. Gil, A. Alcayde, and J. Gómez, Optimization methods applied to renewable and sustainable energy: A review, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 15, no. 4, pp , [8] A. W. Bhutto, A. A. Bazmi, and G. Zahedi, Greener energy: Issues and challenges for pakistanbiomass energy prospective, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 15, no. 6, pp , [9] S. M. Hussam, Design and implementation of a solar power system in rural haiti, Ph.D. dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, [10] W. Feng and Z. M. Slameh, Off-grid photovoltaic system design for haiti school project, Journal of Power and Energy Engineering, vol. 2, no. 11, p. 24, 2014.