Optimal Sizing of Stand-Alone Photovoltaic Systems for Rural Electrification

Abstract

Solar system became very important sector in these days and expected to play a very significant role in the future especially in developing countries. The paper is considering off-grid solar system to cover the required load for rural area during the day hours. This study is taken in one of the rural villages which located in Vhembe District Municipality, Limpopo, South Africa. Sizing of stand-alone photovoltaic system to electrify rural areas is a suitable alternative source to power the rural households. The study presents a sizing of PV system to cover the required load during the day for the selected village. The load and solar radiation data of the typical household in the target village has been used to size the stand-alone photovoltaic system. Due to the high cost of batteries, the batteries will not be considered in this study; the viability of a batterryless system is facilitated by the high solar radiation at the selected site and long daily average insulation duration. MATLAB software being used to size the PV system. This software can be implemented to any site with different weather conditions.

Keywords: Rural Electrification, Stand-alone Photovoltaic system