Design and Characterization of PV Minigrid Plants for Modern Farming and Rural Electrification in Rwanda

IF 2.1 4区 工程技术 Q3 CHEMISTRY, PHYSICAL
Kayitare Morris, Gace A. Dalson, Sendegeya Al-Mas
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Abstract

Solar energy is among the clean, ecofriendly, and reliable energies. Standalone PV plants have great potential to fulfill specific load demands in remote villages in Rwanda. However, owing to the scarcity of information on solar energy potentials in some areas, lack of accurate load demands, and overlooking energy consumption by farming activities, PV plants can be hardly optimally sized, developed, or utilized. This study proposes and characterizes the PV plant model based on precisely quantified load demands including the energy needed for e-farming. The technoeconomic performance of these PV plants was analyzed using PVSyst software. The results confirm availability of solar resources enough to steadily satisfy the loads in the communities. Nevertheless, several factors were seen to induce energy losses for the developed PV systems, among which the heating owing to the rise of temperature being the major factor of energy loss. In fact, the solar radiation intensity exceeds 1800 kW/m2/year, and the heating occurring at the surface of the panels causes energy losses of up to 9.46%. Also, the findings suggested that the investors will gain the financial benefits for 10 out of 25 years while the energy’s price would drop from 0.252 EUR/kWh to 0.180 EUR/kWh. These findings are significant as they provide information that planners and investors could use to make informed decisions. Future studies may need to use such results to quantify the contribution of available subsidies and incentive reduction on cost of solar energy and adoption of PV plants.
为卢旺达现代农业和农村电气化设计光伏微型电网并确定其特性
太阳能是清洁、环保和可靠的能源之一。独立光伏电站在满足卢旺达偏远村庄的特定负荷需求方面具有巨大潜力。然而,由于某些地区太阳能潜力信息匮乏、缺乏准确的负荷需求以及农耕活动对能源消耗的忽视,光伏电站的规模、开发和利用很难达到最佳状态。本研究根据精确量化的负荷需求(包括电子农业所需的能源),提出了光伏电站模型并对其进行了描述。使用 PVSyst 软件对这些光伏电站的技术经济性能进行了分析。结果证实,太阳能资源足以稳定地满足社区的负荷需求。然而,有几个因素导致了所开发的光伏系统的能量损失,其中温度升高导致的加热是能量损失的主要因素。事实上,太阳辐射强度超过 1800 千瓦/平方米/年,电池板表面产生的热量造成的能量损失高达 9.46%。此外,研究结果表明,投资者将在 25 年中的 10 年内获得经济收益,而能源价格将从 0.252 欧元/千瓦时降至 0.180 欧元/千瓦时。这些研究结果意义重大,因为它们提供了规划者和投资者可用于做出明智决策的信息。未来的研究可能需要利用这些结果来量化现有补贴和激励措施对太阳能成本和光伏电站采用的贡献。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
6.00
自引率
3.10%
发文量
128
审稿时长
3.6 months
期刊介绍: International Journal of Photoenergy is a peer-reviewed, open access journal that publishes original research articles as well as review articles in all areas of photoenergy. The journal consolidates research activities in photochemistry and solar energy utilization into a single and unique forum for discussing and sharing knowledge. The journal covers the following topics and applications: - Photocatalysis - Photostability and Toxicity of Drugs and UV-Photoprotection - Solar Energy - Artificial Light Harvesting Systems - Photomedicine - Photo Nanosystems - Nano Tools for Solar Energy and Photochemistry - Solar Chemistry - Photochromism - Organic Light-Emitting Diodes - PV Systems - Nano Structured Solar Cells
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