Electrification by microgrids in rural areas of the Azuay province, Ecuador

Abstract

The electrification of rural areas is an increasingly relevant issue, since in some cases they do not have access to the traditional electricity grid. For this reason, the use of renewable energy microgrids applied to these areas is being studied. It is important to consider the available energy resource in order to adequately size the microgrid system, since certain systems may not be viable. In this study, two renewable energy generation microgrid systems are proposed: the first is a wind/photovoltaic system that works with the indirect radiation of the sun [kWh/m^2/day] and the average wind speed [m/s]; the second is a purely photovoltaic system that uses the indirect radiation and the temperature of the sun, both systems are isolated and have an energy storage system (battery bank), also have as load a rural residential consumer of 160 kWh/month. The systems are simulated and modeled in HOMER Pro software. The results indicate that the photovoltaic microgrid system is the most viable, since the site has low wind speeds and therefore a wind system is not viable.