Development Of 5Kva Solar Micro Grid System

ABSTRACT

Energetic isolation is one of the most wide-spread problems amongst rural communities in many regions  of the planet. Solar off-grid installations stand out as one of the best solutions to help these communities obtain access to electricity. The project consists in the design of a solar micro-grid for Kwara State University. The aim has been to design and dimension a viable project that considers all the phases and factors involved in the planning, development and operation of a solar energy system in a remote area. These combine social, economic, infrastructural, logistical and technical considerations and requirements.

The first section of the thesis consisted in the study of the community with the aim of understanding its energy needs. These included researching on its location, access, number of appliances in the university, facilities, infrastructure, solar resources, etc.

A load profile has been determined based on the devices and loads present in Kwara State University. For the design and dimensioning of the electrical installation, the general structure of the circuit has first been determined, only to proceed to the election of each electrical component based on cost- effectiveness and performance indicators. Several energy-system optimizers have been useful to carry out the dimensioning of several components in the site. However, this study is aimed at upgrading an existing 2kva solar micro grid system present in Kwara State University to 5kva.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0                                                        INTRODUCTION

1.1                                           BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

A Microgrid is a group of energy sources located in the same local area that is in turn connected into the national grid while also being able to disconnect from it and operate independently, for example in the event of an electricity outage. Microgrids usually consist of distributed generation sources, particularly renewable energy generators such as solar panels and wind turbines, usually accompanied by some form of energy storage device, invariably a battery or bank of batteries. While it can function by exporting energy into the national grid it is controlled locally by the community, for example by a local community energy group or cooperative (Juaidi et al., 2016).

Microgrids are usually established in one of two distinct forms. The first of these is a microgrid that is located entirely one specific site, probably controlled by a utility customer (hence the term customer microgrid) and the second type is a microgrid formed from a segment of the regulated grid, incorporating a number of technologies situated at different locations.

This study presented a design of a micro-grid solar PV system for electrification systems in kwara state technology (KWASU) in Nigeria since this technology is reliable and feasible for KWASU. The solar PV systems minimize the dependence on diesel as well as conventional electricity sources, which may help solve the problems related to the lack of energy supply KWASU. This study points out the cost of upgrading the existed solar PV systems, including fixed, running and replacement costs are lower than those of diesel engines.

The implementation of solar micro-grid systems in rural areas suggests a diversity of approaches that address many objectives, such as KWASU electrification, solar PV dissemination.

In addition, micro-grid solar PV systems do not pollute the environment, unlike the use of diesel generators (Juaidi et al., 2016)..

As the world moves towards renewable energy generation and acts to counter climate change, microgrids offer a range of benefits which can provide assistance both locally and nationally in terms of the environmental benefits, economic advantages and increased efficiency. In fact, some countries are helping this process by establishing organizations that act as an interface between communities and businesses interested in establishing microgrids and related government departments. Here are seven ways in which microgrids can help deliver the clean and reliable energy we need in the future.

Most microgrids are developed using an initial design or plan that sets out how local energy is going to be delivered to the community. The organization0 developing the plan could be a city administration, an academic institution, a business park or a community energy group. The plan will set a number of objectives and identify which locations are best suited to realizing those objectives. It will also set out how to assess the suitability of these locations and what may be needed in terms of financing and resources in order to construct and/or install the necessary infrastructure.

The microgrid acts as a way in which the local community or organization becomes actively involved with energy generation and involves the installation of a particular technology or set of technologies in a building or range of buildings. Very often these will be renewable energy technologies such as solar panels, perhaps a roof-mounted wind turbine, a biomass boiler, various energy efficiency devices or ground or air source heat pumps. This, in turn, brings economic and environmental benefits such as reduced carbon emissions or increased savings on energy bills.

Local control of the microgrid means that there is more choice with regard to what energy generating technologies are used. This means there is more opportunity to improve the energy efficiency of buildings included in the microgrid, reducing carbon emissions and lowering costs.

According to the US Department of Energy (DOE), the US suffers more power outages than any other nation in the developed world. Microgrids can help a community to prepare for such situations by providing a source of backup power should the main grid go down. The details of how the microgrid can reliably achieve this should be set out in a reliability plan that details how the microgrid will be constructed in terms of the technologies involved, energy storage, system management and other components. For example, the management system will often incorporate management system software and smart energy devices such as smart switches and sensors. These will help the system to operate independently of the national grid when necessary (Juaidi et al., 2016).

Another advantage of microgrids is that they help communities, businesses, and nations to become more energy secure by reducing the need to import energy from abroad, particularly when the source of that energy may be in a country with some degree of political or social instability.

The microgrid can help to achieve cost savings in a number of ways. One of these is limiting the amount of energy consumed, through a smart energy system which makes energy consumption far more efficient. It will also help to make the system more reliable, thereby preventing power outages. Currently, consumers and business in the US pay at least $150 billion per year in costs as a result of power outages. The initial plan may also identify alternative financing sources and modernization opportunities that act in turn to reduce the costs usually associated with long-term infrastructure improvement. Finally, local generation improves energy generation by reducing the distance that energy has to travel from the generator to the point of need.

Microgrids can generate revenue by helping communities and businesses to provide energy services to the wider grid. An example of this is the Feed-in Tariff that many countries have introduced in which a payment is paid for excess electricity exported to the national grid.

The major advantage here is that microgrids are helping job creation, particularly at local level, as well as creating new business opportunities. More investment can be brought into the community and development of microgrids also stimulates innovation through research into more effective renewable energy technologies or smart power systems.

Because microgrids are established using local, distributed, sources of generation, they also act to make communities and businesses more resilient to future, unforeseen, circumstances, which could include major storms or an interruption in the supply of power imported from abroad. This is because the component energy generation technologies can supply power efficiently and quickly when it is needed rather than being sourced from a large centralized power station. This, in turn, means there is more price stability.

Given that microgrids often use renewable energy generation technologies, as well as energy storage, energy efficiency, and smart grid technology, this, in turn, helps a community or business to cut its carbon emissions and therefore help to counter climate change.

1.2      MOTIVATION

The world as a whole is on a trajectory towards the exhaustion of fossil fuels. When that unavoidable exhaustion has been accomplished, possibly around the end of this century, whatever electrical energy is consumed by the civilization must be derived from renewable resources, which means that the sophisticated electricity-on-demand to which we have been accustomed, will be lost. Numerous researches have been accomplished in the field of renewable energy. Especially, research regarding renewable energy potential in a geographical location is much needed to promote renewable energy penetration.

For instance, studies such as focusing on Nigeria’s renewable mix, renewable harnessing potential, political aspects are highly needed to drive the decisions towards renewables. Apart from it, due to seasonal variations and intermittency characteristics of renewable energy, accurate predictions of various renewable energy resources are pivotal. Distributed generation systems have been gaining importance and renewable energies are getting a bigger ratio within energy production.

This promoted the usage of renewable energy microgrid with supporting various hybrid energy configurations and energy storage systems. When considering all the renewables, Solar PV has been considered to be a vital renewable source

1.3      PROBLEM STATEMENT

The unavailability as well as the lack of sufficient electricity is still one of the main issues hindering socio-economic development in Nigeria, especially in its rural areas. The electricity is typically used for potable water pumping, lighting and cooking (Imad, 2019).

In some remote areas located in the Nigerian territories such as Kwara State University, diesel generators are still used to power homes and pump water for a limited period of time during a day. Therefore, a solar photovoltaic

(PV) powered system can be a practical choice for power supply by utilizing solar PV systems.

Such a system can be employed as an alternative so as to provide university with energy, especially given that Nigeria has a daily mean of 5.6 kWh/m2 of solar radiation and 3000 sunshine hours per year (Mason, 2019), that is to say the region is well-suited to PV installations.

This paper describes how a micro grid solar PV system with lead-acid storage batteries may be utilized for KWASU electrification. The upgrade of the existing system was carried out to provide more electricity access to the university.

Electricity access and pump water. In this paper, a solar PV system design for electrification presented, along with the techno-economic feasibility of substituting the existing diesel engines for solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Solar PV systems were found to be more economic in comparison with diesel use in the university.

Therefore, the main goal of this paper is to illustrate the real feasibility of using micro-grid solar PV systems instead of diesel generators in the university.

• AIM AND OBJECTIVES

The main aim of this work is to carry out the design and optimization of an existing solar-powered microgrid for Kwara State University. The microgrid should help the University improve their daily life in a sustainable way, while at the same time reduce their actual or future carbon foot-print. Most of the technical study of this project will focus on the design and optimisation of the solar microgrid, and it would be technically possible to carry it out based on a virtual university with an estimated load distribution and energy needs. The objectives of the study are:

1. To upgrade an existing installation  of microgrid  at KWASU
2. To increase the rate of power supply at Kwara State university

• To ensure a safe, reliable and affordable energy supply thereby supplying energy to appliances and instrument at any point in time

1. study the impact of using micro-grid solar photovoltaic

1.5      SCOPE

Considering the photovoltaic power has the characteristic of stochastic waving, the microgrid composed of batteries storage energy and photovoltaic cells is adopted. A control system of three layers structure is designed, which are local layer, concentrating layer and center layer. The master-slave control mode is used for microgrid operation. The scheme has been used in the actual project; the whole system is operated well in terms of stability, reliability and economy. It provides an example of the photovoltaic cells used for electric power generation project.