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WREC 1996

THE ECONOMICS OF A SOLAR/DIESEL HYBRID - A CASE STUDY IiA van der Linde and A A M Sayigh Faculty of Electrical Engineering, PE Technikon Private Bag X6011,Port Elizabeth, 6000, South Africa. World Renewable Energy Network, 147 Hilmanton Lower Earley, Reading RG6 4HN, United Kingdom. ABSTRACT The energy system, discussed, was a typical hybrid where a farmer decided that with the escalating cost of diesel as well as the logistics attached to the supply of diesel to his farm, adding a photovoltaic array to his diesel based system would make economic sense. A study of the energy consumption in comparison with the cost input for different scenarios was carried out. KEYWORDS Photovoltaic, diesel, economics. BACKGROUND Diesel generators have been the main source of off-grid energy for many years. However photovoltaics is fast reputation as viable alternative to diesel generators supplementary energy source. electrical gaining a or as a

In this case the farmer already had a 4.5 kW diesel generator which supplied electricity directly to the load whenever something was switched on. This meant that the system was not an ideal one in that the diesel genset was over-sized for the application but once the results were analysed it was concluded that the impact of this was negligible. ENERGY SYSTEM The energy system consisted of the following components: 30 X 33W panel solar array 12 X 740 AHr traction cells 2 kW Inverter 4.5 kW Diesel generator a swimming pool pump

The load was a typical domestic dwelling-including and a light workshop.

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WREC 1996
OPERATIONAL SCENARIOS The data which was captured allowed for three scenarios to be studied. a) A diesel genset supplying the load directly b) A diesel genset with a battery bank c) A solar/diesel hybrid with a battery bank With the diesel genset supplied system the genset had to run an average of 8 hours per day unless very strict load management measures took place. This would have had to include some form of intervention with regard to the refrigerators and freezers as well. ECONOMICS The study was done in terms of South African cost structures and inflation rates. The purchase of the system was an outright cash deal so interest rates did not play a role although it could very easily have been included. The inclusion of interest would have had a more negative impact on the diesel/solar hybrid because of the higher initial capital outlay. On the other hand the higher O&M cost, on the diesel and diesel/ battery systems would have more than offset that in the initial low capital payback years. Also when Figure 1 is studied it will be noted that the savings achieved by the solar system only comes into effect after 6 and 10 years. If the solar system was purchased on hire DUrChaSe the hybrid g=.aph would have crossed the other graphs at a much-earlier stage.

-DiM?l

--w-m
Diesel R 22 000 R 00 000 R 00 000 R 38 149 R 237 824 58 400 2920 Diesel/Batt R 22 R I4 R 00 R 12 R IO6 26 1 000 395 000 739 762 231 311

Figure 1. Overall cost comparisons for a 20 year period. When comparing Table 1 and Figures 1 and 2 it will also be noted that the major savings is in terms of diesel fuel and not O&M costs. Description Generator Battery Solar Array Maintenance Diesel Diesel hrs Diesel ltrs Hybrid R R R R R 22 000 14 395 36 000 360 11 074 2730 136

Table 1. Total costs and other variables over a 20 year period.


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WREC 1996

YEARS

-Died

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Figure 2. Cost comparison in terms of diesel fuel for a 20 year period.

Modhs

-charge

-Load

-Die&

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Figure 3. Comparison in terms of energy received from the solar array and the diesel genset, the load and the solar radiation. With Figure 3 it can be noted, if the farmer did not already have a diesel genset, by adding a couple more panels he could have become totally independent from a diesel genset. The actual input from the solar array, denoted as llChargetl, was nearly the same as the load. In other words the input from the generator was merely to supplement a small shortfall from the array at times and to make up the losses in the system. CONCLUSION The strength of renewable energy devices are clearly illustrated. The initial capital outlay can be more and as is shown in this case more than double. On the other hand it does not suffer to the same extent from the impact of escalating costs of items such as fuel and O&M. It was also interesting to note that even by adding a battery bank to a diesel genset a significant cost saving can be achieved. Renewable energy systems can be cost effective as compared to diesel gensets. The margin is affected by a number of factors such as the economic situation prevalent in the country, the energy strategy/package and the type of purchase ie cash or credit. A noteworthy factor was the cost component represented by the diesel fuel. It also should be remembered that this study is based on South African conditions. The end result should not vary much from one country to the next although the actual diesel fuel cost component will not be as large in some areas. 886

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