Development and Testing of Prototype-Scale Off-Grid Solar Power Generation for Electric Charging Station

Abstract: The demand of electricity that keeps increasing necessitates additional electricity generation. The highly dependence of power generation on fossil fuels implies the intensive use of this resources that may cause them finish sooner than predicted. On the other hand, the use of fossil fuels for transportation is quite dominant. The development and use of electric transportation system is a solution for reducing fuel consumption. However, the electricity for supplying the electric transportation system is mainly from the generation system that uses fossil fuels. For further improvement, the energy supplied to the transportation system should come from the renewable energy generation. This may lead to minimum use of fossil fuels besides giving minimum effect on environment. This paper presents the development of renewable energy generation where the generated power is used to supply the storage that charges the electric bicycle. The power is generated by solar photovoltaic panels and it is saved in a battery. The charging for the bicycle is taken from the battery. The developed system is off-grid since the system may be placed in the non-electrified area. This prototype will be a role model regarding the combination of renewable energy generation and green transportation system.