The availability of solar resources has led to the utilization of photovoltaic (PV) system for the generation of a clean electricity and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The techno-economic assessment of a medium scale microgrid system is investigated in this work by utilizing some key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs are used as the benchmarks to study the economic impacts of PV in the grid-connected power system for 10 selected locations across the nine provinces of South Africa. The HOMER package is utilized in the study to obtain viable solutions that will mitigate the undesirable technical and economic issues that come up during the grid integration. The research work is carried out by utilizing the surface meteorology and solar energy data provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for assessment of the proposed microgrid system. The outcomes of the study show that the annual average daily radiation varies from 4.3 kWh/m2/day in Durban to 5.749617 kWh/m2/day in De Aar. It is deduced from the work that De Aar is the most feasible location among the 10 selected sites for the installation of PV in terms of cost of energy (COE), net present cost (NPC), net energy purchased, energy purchased, energy sold, energy charge, annual utility bill savings and revenue with the following values: 0
The presence of adequate renewable energy resources and the rapid development of wind projects in South Africa have led to mapping out of the country’s wind capability. In view of this, the economic prospects of utilizing wind energy as a potential energy alternative in South Africa are examined and discussed from the perspectives of green energy strategies for sustainable energy development. This research work is designed to investigate the economic effects of using the wind turbine (WT) in ten locations in South Africa based on the grid planning and power sector reform. The HOMER application software is utilized in this study to assess the wind resources on provincial and national scales, along with estimating the annual energy generation of the selected locations. The wind energy potential of South Africa is analysed by utilizing the capacity factor (CF), wind penetration and mean output of the WT for various locations in South Africa. The results obtained from the study indicate that the selected sites fall within the range of Class 1V of IEC wind classifications with the annual average wind speed of 4.04 m/s for Pretoria and 6.39 m/s for Cape Town at 50m hub heights. The economic assessment of the WT for electric power generation is carried out by using some key performance indicators (KPIs) such as net energy purchased, energy sold, revenue, grid energy purchased, annual utility bill savings, net present cost (NPC) and cost of energy (COE). It is established from the study that Cape Town is the most suitable location for installation of the WT by utilizing the same load profile and system configuration. The output of this research work can be used by the renewable energy development agencies as inputs to harness the potential of wind resources for strategic planning of the power sector reform and industrial development.
Summary The utilization of renewable energy resources (RERs) in the traditional power system has gained a global recognition owing to their technical, economic and environmental benefits. The techno‐economic analysis of a microgrid system that consists of diesel generator (DG), methanol generator (MG), photovoltaic (PV) and battery system (BS) is implemented in this study to evaluate the performance of the power system. The feasibility study of the power system is implemented by using HOMER application tool and meteorological data provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The analysis indicates that PV‐DG‐MG‐BS microgrid system is the most optimized configuration based on the net present cost (NPC) of $213 405.4, cost of energy (COE) of $0.256/kWh, renewable fraction of 88.6%, diesel fuel of 3055 L/y and DG operating hours of 1037 h/y. The results obtained from the optimized configuration translate to a substantial reduction in NPC, COE, diesel fuel and operating hours of DG when compared to the base case study. This indicates that the combination of DG, PV, MG and BS in a microgrid system is the most economical configuration to achieve a feasible result. Moreover, sensitivity analysis is carried out to investigate the impacts of solar radiation, load demand, fuel cost and inflation rate on the performance of the power system. The results obtained from the study clearly prove the effectiveness of using RERs to increase the sustainability and performance of the power system. This improves the standard of living and economic activities in areas where the microgrid systems are sited.
The rapid growth of the global economy has led to a high demand of electric energy and utilization of fossil fuels to meet the power demand. This has motivated the utilities or independent power providers to incorporate renewable energy resources (RERs) into their power systems. Moreover, with the increasing concerns of environmental protection and fossil fuel depletion, RERS are universally accepted as the potential alternative to fossil fuels. Consequently, this work aims at exploring the application of the photovoltaic (PV), electric storage system (ESS) and wind turbine generator (WTG) in a microgrid (MG) system to reduce the total annual cost (TAC) and environmental impact reduction index (EIR) while maintaining the power system constraints and load requirements. The problem is formulated by using the fmincon optimization solver in the MATLAB environment to assess the environmental and economic effects of utilizing RERs in a MG system. The values of TAC and EIR obtained in the study are compared with the base case study where a reciprocating engine is only utilized to meet the same power demand without using RERs and ESS. The results obtained from the study indicate that a WTG/PV/ ESS/ diesel generator MG system has achieved good results. The outcomes of the study demonstrate that utilization of green technologies is suitable for achieving global sustainable energy development.
This research describes a complete fuel-level monitoring system. The research started with the design and construction of a fuel-level sensor and then was followed by configuration of a remote Aplicom 12 GSM module in order to interface the connected sensor. After the module configuration, monitoring of remote fuel is possible by sending control messages from a compatible mobile phone in order to query the status of the remote fuel sensor (and hence the volume of fuel in the tank). The status message from the module will be sent back via a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network to the mobile phone that sent the query (or control) message.
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