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,EEE 4th International Conference on Knowledge-Based Engineering and Innovation (KBEI)

Dec. 22QG, 2017
,ran University of Science and Technology) – Tehran, Iran
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Moien mohamadi Emad Roshandel
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Research and Development Sayed Mokhtar Gheasaryan
Engineering University Department Dept. of Electrical and Computer
Isfahan, Iran Eram Sanat Mooj Gostar Company, Engineering University
Email: moien.mohamadi@ec.iut.ac.ir Shiraz, Iran Isfahan, Iran
Email: e.roshandel@ec.iut.ac.ir Email: m.gheasaryan@ec.iut.ac.ir

Abstract— Rapid grows of solar energy systems in recent years with low population it is not economically preferable to extend
makes the application of photovoltaic panels as energy source a the power grid for their use.
prominent option. This is due to its sustainability, decreasing On the other hand, diesel generators can be considered as an
cost, very low pollution of the atmosphere. Pioneering research in option but high price of gasoline and its aptitude to pollute the
the field that makes it the fastest growing energy source in the
air makes diesel generators not appealing for many
world. In Iran there is a lot of potential places for use of solar
energy. On the other hand, a lot of these places are far from governments and privet companies which try to be eco-
power grid and for their power they depend on diesel generators. friendlier and save the planet.
In this paper we evaluated the implementation of solar energy In this paper a case study has been done on a small village in
with proposing a photovoltaic (PV) system. A case study was Bushehr province, Iran. This village which has the smallest
done on a small village in Bushehr province, Iran to assess school in the world has 7 households [3]. A photovoltaic
alternative energy sources in comparison with solar energy. The power generation system has been proposed for this village
two other options for power source beside solar panels which was and The proposed system has been compared with diesel
considered in this paper is connecting the village to the power generator and installing a distribution line.
grid with a distribution line or installing diesel generators to
This village ‘Kalloo’ is located in southern Iran which has a
power the village. It has been shown that the solar power can
compete with its old rivals. favorable condition for solar power according to annual
insolation maps for Iran which has been illustrated in Fig. 1
Keywords-component; photovoltaic energy, solar systems, [4].
renewable energy, photovoltaic panel, diesel generator, charge As it is shown in Fig. 1 south of Iran has a good condition for
controller, distribution line installing PV systems. A system with its multiple operating
parts has been considered for this village, a cost analysis has
I. INTRODUCTION been done on the proposed system and results has been
Photovoltaic (PV) power generation has become an evaluated in contrast with other energy sources.
inseparable part of today’s power system. Gird connected PV
systems contribute to power generation around the world.
Power plants up to 550Mw (Topaz, California) [1] has been
constructed and the technology is growing every day, leaping
toward even bigger solar power plants.
Only in 2014 alone 38.7Gw PV systems has been installed
around the world. China with 10.6Gw has the most installed
PV panels in the world After china, japan with 9.7Gw and
united states of America with 6.2Gw PV panels installed in
2014 has second and third places respectively. Total capacity
installed until the end of 2014 is 177Gw which is ten times
higher than 2008[2]. This Statistics shows that PV systems is
one of the pioneering technologies of our age.
Standalone PV power generation systems are also doing their
part in excelling solar energy. Standalone PV systems can be
utilized for independent power generation in industrial
factories, houses and even villages which are looking to
supply their own power. This system also can be implemented
in remote areas which are far from power grid. In such cases
Figure 1. Power irradiation in Iran [4]

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 II. CASE STUDY
In a stand-alone PV system special attention must be paid to
the loads. In fact, the bulk of the problems encountered with
the system operation can be traced back to inefficient
appliances and processes or unmatched loads [5]. So though
this importance the loads has been classified and examined
one by one. The daily energy consumption for this case study tĂƚĞƌWƵŵƉ

ϭϯZŽǁ
ŚĂƌŐĞ
has been considered according to Table 1. This information ŽŶƚƌŽůůĞƌ
/ŶǀĞƌƚĞƌ

must be available in order to design the proper PV power

generation system this information has been drained for the ŝĚŝƌĞĐƚŝŽŶĂů
ĐŽŶǀĞƌƚĞƌ
highest demand of each rural household. ZĞƐŝĚĞŶƚŝĂů>ŽĂĚ
This village also has a school and a water pomp hence for
evaluating a complete load analysis, the utility consumption
has been shown in Table 2. ĂƚƚĞƌLJĂŶŬ

The residential energy consumption of this village is 1900Wh, ϭϵϱƐƋƵĂƌĞŵĞƚĞƌ

ϭϬƐƋƵĂƌĞŵĞƚĞƌ
assuming there are 7 households in the village this houses
consume 13300Wh and the utility consumption is 4605Wh
Figure 2. Line diagram of the proposed system
hence the overall energy consumption of this village is
17905Wh. For calculating the maximum power consumption, maximum power required for this village will be 7411W. The
we must assume that the water pomp always works at the Single line diagram of the proposed system has been shown in
mornings and this is never contemporary with the lights which Fig. 2.
are on at nights so for gaining the maximum Power
consumption, the lights has not been considered, so maximum A. Battery
power consumption of this village is: A Battery has two main characteristic: voltage and Ampere-
Pmax=5790w per day Hour which has to be consider in the design. In the ideal case
Crystalline silicon cells have been chosen for this case study
which has default loss of 14%. The optimal installation angle both of this characteristics are high in order to reduce number
for this application is 26 degrees. Losses due to heat is 14.1% of the batteries. They will be arranged in a network of parallel
and assuming the other losses in the system to be 2.4% the and series branches for achieving the desired voltage and
overall losses of the PV system will be 28% [6]- [7]. So, the current level. To calculate Ampere-Hour several approaches
can be used, in this case (1) has been chosen:
Table 1. Consumption information for one household in the village
Active Ahd uTC u DA u DM
Consume Average Aha
period DOD (1)
d daily
load in a Usage time
power(W consumpti
day
) on (Wh) Which in (1), Aha is the capacity of the battery, Ahd is the
(H)
3 lamps 10 6 180 6pm-12 pm capacity of the system loads, TC Temperature correction
factor, DA is the number of cloudy days, DOD is discharge
A TV 80 4 320 6pm-12 pm
depth. The batteries have been designed for average power
refrigerator 50 4 200 always consumption of the village because performance of batteries
Other will be evaluated based on this factor. Selection of the
electrical batteries is based in the following factors:
150 8 1200 8am-4pm
products -voltage level
-cost
Table 2. Utility power consumption for the village
-life durability
Active
After a survey on different kind of batteries, lead-acid battery
Consumed period Average daily Usage
load was chosen. lead-acid batteries have low initial cost but it
power (W) in a day consumption(Wh) time
(H) needs constant maintenance and acid changing. However, it
343 (daily 8am-12 was chosen because of its low cost which is a key factor for
school 100 4
average) am our purpose. Another characteristic in the process of choosing
Water 4262 (daily 8am-10 the batteries is the voltage level of the battery. Between
746 2
pomp average) am common voltage levels for batteries 48V was chosen. 48V has

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a relative higher voltage rate comparing to others which Table 4. PV panels specifications
results in lower losses due to lower current level. Hereupon component value
cables with smaller diameters can be used, subsequently Pmp(w) 140
power loss will be reduced significantly. In addition, Lead- Vmp(v) 17.7
acid batteries are durable, provide dependable service and Imp(A) 7.91
capable of high discharge rates. Voc(V) 22.1
Isc(A) 8.68
Table 3. Battery specifications
Price($) 295
characteristic value
Dimensions (mm) 1500 × 668 × 46
type Lead-acid
voltage 12v
Ampere-hour 250ah
diameter 520 × 270 × 220
Weight 73kg
cost 487$

The average daily consumption for the village is 17.9 Kwh.

Ampere-hour of the loads is 373 Ah hence Aha will be 1377
Ah. The specifications of the chosen battery have been shown
in the Table 3 [8]. With choosing this battery number of the
parallel branches was calculated to be 5.5. So the number of
manipulated parallel branches will be the next higher integer
which is 6. For creating 48V DC link 4 batteries must be put Figure 3. PV operation over 24 hours
together in series hence 24 batteries will be needed.

B. solar panel
Similar to the batteries in the process of choosing photovoltaic
panels average consumed power of the village must be taken
in to consideration. The process of selecting the panel has
been based on cost, minimum number of panels and reliability
in remote areas. Mono crystalline, Poly crystalline and thin
film panels where considered for this case. Mono crystalline
cells due to its high cost is not an option on the other hand thin
film cells has low efficiency (15-20%). A compromise Figure 4. Energy per hours, received each day on an optimally titled surface
between efficiency and the cost of the cells must be made, during the worst month of the year
therefore poly crystalline cells, which has appropriate price
range and an acceptable efficiency has been chosen for the Required power for the panel as calculated previously is
system. A market research has been done among some 17.9Kwh.
commercially available products and the panel with Fig. 5 which shows the amount of energy per hours, received
specifications shown in Table 4 was chosen [9]. each day on an optimally titled surface during the worst month
As it is shown in the Fig. 3 based on load profile and solar of the year. According to Fig. 5 in central Iran which
insolation of the region, in some limited time intervals, specifically the case study applies to, the irradiation is 4 hours
consumption may exceed the generation limit of the proposed a day. [12]
PV cells. Although the battery storage banks will compensate For determining the number of panels needed we must
the lake of power generation in this times of day [10]-[11]. examine the system from two aspects.

1) The power consumption limit:

According to calculations previously in this section the

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average energy consumption for a day in the village is
17.9Kwh. According to Table 4 output power of the chosen
panel is 140W and with 4 hours’ insolation a day the total
number of panels is:
required power from the panels each hour = 4475w
Number of the panels= ≅ 32
So if the average power will be the limiting factor, 32 panels
will be needed in the system.
2) Voltage and current limitation of the devices:
According to Table 4 the output power of each panel is 140w.
The voltage of dc link is 48V, hence the current for
transmitting the required power from the panels in each hour
is:
Required current of the system= = 93A
From Table 4 maximum current of the panels (I mp) is 7.91A:
The number of parallel branches= = 13
. high power consumption makes the application of the 3-phase
On the other hand, since maximum power voltage (vmp) of the
panel is 17.7V, to reach the rated voltage of the batteries (48V)
number of series connected panels should be:
The number of parallel series= =3
.
If voltage and current ratings will be considered as limiting
factor, 39 panels will be needed.
So 39 panels is needed to satisfy the current and voltage limits
of the system in contrast with 32 panels which was calculated
according to average consumed power. If the expansion of the
system will be considered in the future and dominance of the
voltage and current limits in number of panels 39 panels must
be acquired to satisfy both limiting factors for this system.
In order to avoid shadow effect there must be a span between
the panels in the magnitude of 2.5-3 times of the heights of the
panels. Average area of each panel is:
Area of each panel= 1.0022m
Assuming 1m for heights of each panel the area of 5 m2 is
needed for each panel (the distant of each panel from the
adjacent one has been considered). The total area needed for
the panels is:
Area needed for installation of the panels= 5 × 39 = 195m
We also must consider an area of 10m2 for battery bank,
inverter and other parts of PV system which gives:
total area needed for installation of the panels = 205m
In this region of Iran which the case study has been conducted
there are vast desert area which can be utilize to this system.
So The cost of real state has not been take in to the
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consideration. But in metropolis regions due to high cost of
real state this calculation become very important and the
system must be designed to occupy minimum land area.
C. inverter
The inverter had to be off-grid and capable of providing the
maximum power for the proposed PV system. Its output
voltage according to Iran’s voltage regulation must be 220V
(it can be 110V but most of the electric product that are
commercially available in Iran has 220V input). Inverter’s
limiting parameter is maximum power although the time
interval of maximum power consumption is trivial (3 hours a
week) but in order to protect the inverter from damage, the
maximum power ratings must be taken into consideration in
the process of selecting the inverter. Single phase inverter is
preferable here because all of the villages loads are single
phase and cost of single phase inverter is much lower than 3-
phase ones in same VA rating. But main obstacle in way of
using single phase type is the water pump which due to its
inverter inevitable. The inverter with specifications shown in
Table 5 has been chosen [13].
It can be seen from Table 5 that the inverter has high cost.
Also single phase residential loads, have to be distributed
equally among its three phases to have a balanced system.
Because of the location of the village which is in the desert
areas of Iran and there is imminent need for water high power
pumps is required for pumping and distributing water between
houses from deep wells or Aqueducts. The rated power of the
inverter is 7.5Kw and has the capability of supplying 8Kw
power for 60 minutes. 10% switching losses has been
considered for the inverter.
D. charge controller
Main purpose of charge controller is to protect the battery
from over-charge or over-discharge, controlling the input
current and voltage of the battery. There is two kind of charge
controller:
-PWM
-MPPT
PWM charge controller can charge the battery further than the
rated value without demanding much stress on the battery. In
the case of MPPT charge controllers working in overcharge
mode the extra voltage will be transformed to extra current.
The increased current will be the cause of higher rating of the
devices and extra copper losses in the system which will be
translated to more expense in the operation of the PV system.
With this arrangement a safety factor due to change of current
most be considered. Variation of current can be the result of
the following: temperature variation of the panels, light construct distribution line for this village. However, we
reflections, cloud shadows and etc. After sufficient consider Installing distribution line for comparing it with the
considerations and market research the charge controller with proposed system. Cost per kilometer for a 72.5 KV: 0-38
specifications shown in Table 6 has been chosen [14]. MVA, 1-Duck [15] distribution line has been shown in Fig. 6.
From Fig. 6 average cost for the distribution line is
III. COST ESTIMATION
200000€/Km which equals to 224000 $/Km. According to
In this part of the paper comparison of the PV system with two section III the cost of PV power generation system for time
other alternative choices to provide the electric energy needed period of 25 years is 114292$/Km. For the solar system to be
for the village has been done also economic aspects of
economically justifiable in this case study minimum distant between
alternatives has been examined.
the village and power grid must be:
A) PV power generation system 114292
Price of every component which was mentioned in the
= 0.510
224000
specification table of each component is gathered together in
Table 7 Total cost of the system is 33939$. In Fig. 5 a pie
So considering high cost of distribution system and low
diagram for further stipulations has been illustrated. Assuming
that the implementation cost will be 100% the overall cost of consumption of the village, minimum distant from the power
the system will be 67878$. Viability of the project has been grid for the solar panel to be feasible is 510M.
estimated 25 years and batteries must be changed every 7 The cost of every kilowatt-hour will be 1.959$/Kwh.
years so the batteries must be changed 3 times in the life time
of the system and the cost for every change will be 14340$ Table 7. PV system costs
which for the hole period this cost will be 43020$. In practice Unite Overall
maintenance and Depreciation must be taken in to account as component amount
price($) cost($)
well which has been estimated 3394$. battery 478 24 11472
The overall cost of the system then will be 96557$. According PV panels 295 39 11505
to discussions in section II generated energy by the system in inverter 7500 1 7500
25 years will be: Charge
17.9 KWh/day × 365 day × 25 year = 163337.5 KWh 594 1 594
controller
So the cost of every kilowatt-hour will be 0.591$/KWh Total cost 31071

Table 5. Inverter specifications

component value
Dc voltage(VDC) 8v
Input voltage(VDC) 48
Ac voltage(VAC) 210-240
Steady state power(KW) 7.5
Efficiency (%) 93
Frequency(HZ) 50
Cost($) 7500 Figure 5. Cost diagram of the PV system

Table 6. Charge controller specifications

Component Value
Nominal voltage level(VDC) 12,24,36,48,60
Weight(KG) 7.1
Relatable voltage(VDC) 10-80
Dimensions(CM) 41.3 × 14 × 10
Cost($) 594

B) construction of distribution line

This village is in a remote area and it is not cost effective to Figure 6. Cost per kilometer for distribution line

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 C) Gasoline So the cost of every kilowatt-hour energy with diesel
Another option for supporting the energy of the village is a generator will be 0.821$/Kwh.
diesel generator. Considering peak and average load of the IV. CONCLUSION
village and predicting load growth for the village a 5Kva
It is shown in this case study, utilizing solar power generation
diesel generator has been examined for this application. An
system in the mentioned village is practical especially for
approximation used to estimate the fuel consumption of the remote areas far from power grid. Although other factors such
diesel generator based on daily load profile. The load rating of as village population, real state, lifestyle and connecting roads
the generator has been shown in Fig. 7. This approximation are effective in justification of the system. In Table 10, PV
was done with respect to Table 8 which shown generator fuel power generation has been compared with two other
consumption with load changes [16]. alternatives. It has been shown that solar power generation
system has the lowest cost per Kwh for this case study. For
This case study is on a small village with potential of fast
regular Applications such as domestic, industrial and etc.
grows in the coming years. Assuming that the load demand which have higher power demand and distribution lines are in
grows 10 % every year, Fig. 8 shows the fuel consumption per their door step utilizing of distribution line is the more logical
day for the generator over the 25 year lifetime of the generator choice. But considering low consumption of rural areas, lack
(average daily load is 1215Kwh which grows 10% every of high power consuming products and low price of real state
year). solar system is more desirable.
The cost estimation for the diesel generator has been shown in
Table 10. Comparison between PV system, diesel generator and distribution
Table 9 [11]. This estimation has been effected by considering line costs
maintenance cost to be 15% of total operation cost and Energy source Cost($/Kwh)
installation to be 5% of initial generator cost. PV power generation 0.67
Distribution line 1.959
Table 8. Approximate diesel fuel consumption
Approximate Diesel Fuel Consumption Diesel generation 0.821
1/4 Load 1/2 Load 3/4 Load Full Load
(liters/hr) (liters/hr) (liters/hr) (liters/hr)
0.9 1.2 1.7 2.1 REFERENCES
[1] "Topaz Solar Farm". First Solar. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
[2] 2014 Snapshot of Global PV Markets, IEA PVPS T1-26:2015.
[3] http://dayyertashbad.blogfa.com
[4] http://solargis.info/doc/pics/freemaps/1000px/ghi/So-lar/GIS-Solar-map-
Iran-en.png.
[5] Use of appliances in Stand-Alone PV Power supply systems: problems
and solutions, IEA PVPS T3-09: 2002.
[6] W.Heywang, K.H.Zaininger, Silicon: the semiconductor material, in
Silicon: evolution and future of a technology, P.Siffert, E.F.Krimmel
eds., Springer Verlag,
[7] Photovoltaic Report, Fraunhofer ISE, July 28, 2014
Figure 7. Diesel generator fuel consumption per day over its life time [8] Datasheet of sealed lead-acid battery, wholesalesolar ,model " #UB-4".
[9] Datasheet of high efficiency multicrystal photovoltaic module,
KYOCERA, model " KD135GX-LFBS".
Table 9. cost estimation of the diesel generator [10] http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/
Price [11] El Mnassri, Maher, and A. St Leger. "Stand alone photovoltaic solar
component quantity Total price power generation system: A case study for a remote location in Tunisia."
each
Power and Energy Society General Meeting, 2010 IEEE. IEEE, 2010
Diesel [12] http://www.solardirect.com/outdoor-lighting/solar/street/area-light/solar-
750 1 750
generating insolation-map.html.
installation 112 1 112 [13] Datasheet of 3-phase inverter, Selectronic, model "SPMC482".
maintenance 100 25 2500 [14] Datasheet of MPPT charge controller, Out Back Power, model
"FLEXMAX 80".
Fuel(liters) 0.39[17] 335508 130848 [15] Juho Yli-Hannuksela ,The Transmission Line Cost Calculation, Vaasan
Total 30 year cost 134210 Ammattikorkeakoulu University Of Applied Sciences
[16] http://www.ablesales.com/
[17] http://www.globalpetrolprices.com/gasoline_prices

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