Pilot centralized solar power station in remote village, Rompin, Pahang

Abstract

Malaysia has considerable number of widely deployed small rural areas. These hamlets are very much associated with the aborigines' or better known as 'Orang Asli' residents. Normally they get their source of energy from candle or kerosene light while some richer communities can afford generator sets. Conservatively, solar photovoltaic systems are installed as standalone system to provide basic electricity to each aborigines home. On the other hand, for this project, a pilot centralized solar power station was installed to provide electricity to fifteen houses at a small village east of Malaysia. This system is the first solar photovoltaic system installed at the 'Orang Asli' village in Malaysia. This system will be the first ever built for the Orang Asli settlement at Pahang. The objectives of this project are to design and install the solar power station at remote location and to develop standard design of stand-alone solar power station suitable for Malaysia. Orang Asli residents at Kampung Denai was chosen because there is a school for the Orang Asli children. Moreover, the remote communities are living in stratification, which makes electrical wiring easier. Furthermore, the remote area is far from the last transmission line and cumbersome to bring diesel through the rough and unpredictable land road. The main domestic energy is for residential purposes (e.g. small lighting unit, radio, television, video, etc.). The load demand was calculated based on the previous diesel generator set. The generator capacity is 18.6 kW. The solar sizing was done both for the home and school appliances at Kampung Denai. The maximum demand measured was 4195.35 kW. The pilot centralized solar power station consists of 10 kW photovoltaic panels, 10 kW inverter, 150 kWh battery and other balance of system. A generator set with capacity of 12.5 kVA is installed for back up and during monsoon season. This paper will present status of the system, operational and maintenance Issues, load profile of the solar power station and economics and system design of the whole system.