Location-Based Intelligent Power Generation and Management Algorithms for Physically Challenging Rural Areas

Abstract

Climatic change is one of the driving forcesbehind a new wave of energy management systems beingpracticed in different parts of the world today. Powergeneration and Management in disconnected rural villages ischallenging. The situation is even more challenging whenlandscape structures in such environment are irregular. Thispaper describes the implementation of two algorithms used inpower generation and management of rural energy supplies:Location-based Solar Energy Potential Prediction Algorithm(LOSEPPA) and Intelligent Fuzzy-controlled PowerGeneration and Management Algorithm (IFPGMA).LOSEPPA takes as input, the geographic latitude of thelocation to compute the solar irradiance factor. IFPGMAintelligently manages the utilization of the generated solarenergy. Geographic latitude plays an important role in theavailability of sufficient solar radiation as well as the state ofthe atmosphere. Therefore, the value of solar irradiance factorserves as a guide to the state of the atmosphere in terms ofdegree of cloud cover, temperature, humidity and landscapestructure; which determines the feasibility of the solar energyimplementation. With the solar irradiance factor, solar panelcan be mounted along specific angle of inclination to the sun.The implemented design is based on solar PV modulesarranged in array, integrated with rechargeable batteries andconverter models to drive solar energy generation for poweringnetworking equipments. The proposed system was simulatedusing Homer energy software, C++ and MATLAB-Simulink.Result show that the more irregular the landscape is, thelower the solar irradiance factor. Solar irradiance factor valueof 400 and above predicts well enough sunshine for solar PVimplementation. Set point values for batterycharging/discharging and the charge controller, maintainscircuit voltage supplies at 130V maximum and 2KWh/day at$0.735/KWh with an initial investment cost of $3,090 for thesolar implementation