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Photo-Voltaic Microgrid Plant at Mendil
Microgrid is a small generation unit/plant placed near the consumer premises to provide
reliable power supply to the consumers. It has the capability to balance demand-supply gap to
provide grid stability and reliability. Basically, microgrid consists of distributed energy
resources (DER) like wind, solar, fuel cells, battery storage, biomass, small hydro etc
connected to form the whole system. The capacity of the microgrid may vary from 1 KW to 62
MW approximately.
Now due to advent of technology and connectivity in the market microgrid has been enhanced
with necessary modern features which increases the dependability/ reliability on the system.
Conventionally when the Microgrid was installed in remote place a designated technician had
to be stationed to cater the maintainence or problem incurred during operations. Due to which
the generating cost of the Microgrid had increased substantially. Above figure shows the
modern of the AC Solar PV Microgrid plant with remote monitoring system and energy data
logger. By introducing a Smart Energy Management System (SEMS) with communication
unit the reliability is increased. The basic function of the unit is to remotely to keep a track on
the system health, performance and other parameters. The communication unit consists of a
RF module to facilitate remote data communication to the energy data logger present inside
the module and in cases where long distance transmission of data has to be done GPRS
communication is opted.
Location:
This is a case study of a PV microgrid at a vilage called Mendil, located in North Karnataka
inside Bhimgad Reserve Forest area. Due to the dense forest the penetration of electric grid
was not a viable option; the village has never been electrified. This hamlet contains only 15
people. People up till now have been using diesel sets for basic amenities like getting drinking
water from the forest, but since getting fuel is not economically feasible people have not using
it on regular basis and have resorted to manually transporting water via pots. Without lights
during the night people refrain from going outside their houses in fear of wild animals or
snakes.
Appliances such as bulbs, TV etc are available in AC power in the market whereas getting
these in DC power is difficult. The cost of DC systems are expensive than AC systems
2.
A diesel generator (AC power source) can be connected to the system to ensure the
consumers are not deprived of electric power during some maintenance or emergency
situations.
Table 1 provides the detailed survey report of the AC solar PV microgrid plant in Mendil
village
Sl.No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
DETAILS
Village
District
State
Co-ordinates
No. of households
Total number of people
Village approachable by road (Y/N)
Drinker water facility available
(Y/N)
& MIG/HIG group
Source of Income
Type of grid
DESCRIPTION
MENDIL
UTTARA KANNADA
KARNATAKA
1531'58.3"N 7419'22.5"E
4
20
Y Rough terrain
Y One 1000L tank
100% MIG
Paddy Farming
AC microgrid
12
SPV
13
14
15
Plant capacity
Construction starting date/time
Construction ending date/time
2kWp
2003
2004
16
Panel Used
17
No. of Modules
18
Charge controller
19
Inverter
20
Battery
21
ACDB/DCDB Details
22
Loads per HH
23
Tariff Mechanism
24
25
Distribution mechanism
26
Metering
27
28
29
O&M by
Elmeasure
1, 40W tungsten bulb + 2, 5W LED + ~25W LCD
TV + DTH dish all powered by solar.
Free from the beginning
24
Simple pole wire system
ACDB, Wh meter at every home with MCB
12
Water is pumped to 1000L tank by a simple motor,
Solar lamp at every home Rs. 3000 kit containing
lamp + 2 3W panels.
Monthly, unknown