Standalone Photovoltaic (PV) Systems for Disaster Relief and Remote Areas

Salahuddin Qazi

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9780128030417
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Renewable Power Resources
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Standalone Photovoltaic (PV) Systems for Disaster Relief and Remote Areas explores the increased demand for energy, including clean energy alternatives and the ways that solar energy is fast becoming a vital source for meeting peak demand, a solution for energy demand in disaster and remote areas, and a viable source to meet emerging energy security needs.

The book provides a detailed overview of PV systems and applications for disaster and remote areas, and includes a guide on how to provide electricity during outages, along with important discussions on the need for increasing the resilience of the grid. The differences and requirements for standalone, mobile, and portable PV systems are discussed, along with how systems can be deployed, transported, and used in remote areas. In addition, the book discusses the use of solar PV systems to create environmentally friendly power systems for remote communities that can be operated independently, also comparing the costs, emissions, and practical applications of other technologies.

• Types of natural disasters, their effect on peoples' lives, on world economy, impact on electric grid and costs of power outages
• Energy Needs in the aftermath of disasters and remote areas both in developed and developing Countries, including how PV systems can provide electricity affordably, with resilience and reducing grid impact by way of community solar and solar microgrid
• Detailed description of the types and components of standalone photovoltaic systems, modeling and simulation and performance analysis
• New initiatives, programs and case studies for providing solar-generated electricity to low-income people both in the United States and the developing world at low cost
• Examples of assembling one's own PV module and dye-sensitized solar cells, results, databases and industry standards

Chapter 1

Photovoltaics for Disaster Relief and Remote Areas

Abstract

This chapter introduces the readers to types of natural disasters, their impact on electrical grid, causes, and cost of outages to the world and US economy. The need of energy in the aftermath of disasters both in developed and developing countries is discussed. Energy need in remote and off grid areas is also discussed. The chapter also discusses using photovoltaic energy for disaster relief and remote areas. The chapter concludes by describing the increased use of photovoltaic in the world, and the growth and forecast of photovoltaic markets.

Keywords

Natural disasters; causes of power outages; disaster relief; impact of disasters on power systems; energy need in the aftermath of disasters; photovoltaic for disaster relief and remote area; photovoltaic around the world; growth and forecast of photovoltaic markets

1.1 Introduction

Disasters are part of everyday life, impacting every region of the United States, and the world, in increasing number and severity. These often unpredictable events not only shatter the lives of a few people very quickly, but cause lingering problems in the aftermath for many. When a serious disaster strikes, local electrical power in most cases is the first utility to be affected, at least temporarily. Disruption of electricity can last for weeks on end as transmission lines are repaired, causing deaths from failed medical equipment, heat or cold, and lack of amenities for sustaining everyday living. For assisted living facilities and nursing homes, life safety is at risk and is critical to maintain. Many businesses and financial institutions suffer economic losses from the interruption and downtime of highly sensitive loads such as data centers and related services. Disruption of electricity also affects malfunctioning of gas stations, cell towers, and emergency call centers with far-reaching social impacts. In populated areas, after a small disaster, sagging electrical lines can affect large regions by triggering burning of utility poles, creating power outages and disrupting power to millions of people by a chain reaction.

In the aftermath of any disaster, photovoltaics (PV) has the potential to help bring natural, reliable power to places devastated by these events. The use of diesel-powered engines commonly used to provide emergency power can unfortunately be dangerous in the hands of untrained users and is reported to result in incidents of fire, fuel explosion, burns and problems of noise. Generating electricity from solar energy through the process of photovoltaics can be used to heat, cool, and light our homes and businesses. Photovoltaic power systems provide emission-free electricity fueled by the sun which is reliable, secure, noise free, and does not need refueling. It also helps to reduce consumption of fossil fuels in power plants, decreasing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

Photovoltaic systems in an off-grid mode can also be used for more than a billion people living in remote areas with no access to electricity. According to one statistic, roughly one out of every four people (about 1.6 billion) in the world do not have regular access to electricity. Because of the lack of electricity, billions of people use wood, biomass, or dung for cooking and heating their homes. Such traditional methods of generating energy results in serious environmental and health problems, including massive deforestation, sickness, and death. Photovoltaics can generate clean and sustainable electricity in remote areas that can improve health, provide cleaner environment and help in boosting agriculture, starting new businesses, and creating jobs that lead to greener economic development.

Energy demand continues to increase with the need for new and clean energy sources. Solar photovoltaic will definitely become a vital source of energy, particularly for meeting demand after disasters and in remote areas. On the industrial and business side, the price of PV systems has decreased by more than 50% and the global PV market has grown at a compound annual growth rate of about 40% for the past 10 years. In 2013, PV developers installed 37.5 GW of new panels, increasing to 38.4 GW in 2014. The cumulative worldwide capacity increased to 138.9 GW in 2013 despite the recent economic crisis. In 2014, the United States installed 1330 MW of solar PV, which was 79% more than 2013. There are now over 175,000 MW of cumulative solar electricity capacity with nearly 600,000 individual online systems; this sum is expected to reach 1,000,000 in 2015. China surpassed Germany to become the world’s largest solar market in 2013, and is predicted to install approximately 19.5 GW in 2016.

According to the NPD Solarbuzz Marketbuzz report, the global solar PV industry is headed to a 5 year growth in the cumulative installed capacity of 500 GW by 2018. The report also predicts 100 GW of solar deployment in 2018 with annual projected revenue of $50 billion.

1.2 Type of Natural Disasters

A disaster can be defined as a sudden, calamitous event that disrupts the functioning of a community and causes economic, environmental, human and material losses that exceeds the community’s ability to cope using its own resources. In term of human losses, an event is categorized as natural disaster if more than 10 people are killed or at least 100 people are injured, displaced, evacuated, and made homeless. The event is also classified as a natural disaster, if a particular country declares it as such or if a country declares it a natural disaster and asks for international assistance. The disasters can be divided in two broad categories: natural disasters and man-made disasters. Natural disasters include avalanches, earthquakes, forest fires, floods, hurricanes, landslides, tornadoes and others. Man-made disasters include airplane crashes, fires, nuclear power plant accidents, terrorism, and wars. Both categories of disasters are unexpected, sudden, and uncontrollable. The effect of natural disasters lasts much longer and is accompanied by disruptions to critical infrastructure systems including electrical power systems, transportation, and water. Natural disasters are naturally-occurring physical phenomena caused either by rapid or slow onset events which can include the following:

Geophysical: Originating from solid earth and includes earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, landslides, dry rock falls, avalanche.

Metrological: caused by short-lived/small to meso scale atmospheric processes (in the spectrum from minutes to days). This includes storms, tropical cyclones (hurricane), snow storms, heat/cold waves, drought and wildfires.

Hydrological: caused by deviations in normal water cycle and/or overflow of bodies of water caused by wind set up such as floods and avalanches.

Climatological: caused by long-lived/meso to macro scale processes (in the spectrum from intraseasonal to multidecadal climate variability). This includes extreme temperatures, droughts and wildfires.

Biological: caused by the exposure of living organisms to germs and toxic substances. Include disease epidemic, insect/animal plagues.

Climate-related disasters include metrological events—these have greatly increased while the number of geophysical disasters has remained fairly stable since the 1970s. Tropical storms or hurricanes are among the most powerful natural disasters by virtue of their size and destructive potential. Tornadoes, on the other hand, are relatively short-lived but violent and can cause winds more than 200 miles/hour. Flooding is the most common natural hazard while tornadoes and earthquakes strike suddenly without warning. Wildfires are more prevalent in areas experiencing drought.

According to recent reports, the number of natural disasters worldwide has steadily increased since 1970. It is also reported that the number of natural disasters is highest in North America such as hurricanes, floods, snow storms, severe heat, tornadoes, and even drought. There were three times more natural disasters between 2000 and 2009 than between 1980 and 1989. The number of people affected by natural disaster have increased to 217 million every year since 1990 and almost 300 million people now live around the world with insecurity. The New England Journal of Medicine has reported that the scale of disasters has expanded because of increased rates of urbanization, deforestation, and environmental degradation. In addition, intensifying climate variables such as higher temperatures, extreme precipitation, and more violent wind/water storms contribute to more disasters.

When a disaster strikes, the whole infrastructure, including electricity shuts down for days or longer depending on the nature of the disaster. In the absence of electricity, all human activities and businesses are either damaged or ruined. According to a recent report by the World Bank, natural disasters have cost the world US$3.8 trillion during the 1980–2012 period. It is also estimated that the annual cost from these damages has increased from US$50 billion a year in 1980 to US$200 billion a year in the last decade including the era of Hurricane Katrina (2015) and Superstorm Sandy (2012) in the United States. The cost of natural disasters in 3 of the last 4 years in the last decade exceeded US$200 million. The majority of these losses (almost 75%) are related to extreme climate events.

Weather-related disasters affect people the same way whether they occur in developed or developing countries. The poor, vulnerable, and less-prepared nations suffers the most from the disasters. According to an estimate, 70% of the world’s disaster hot spots are located in low income countries and 33% of world’s poor live in multihazard zones which makes them highly vulnerable to disasters. As a result, low-income countries have accounted for 48% of fatalities with only 9% of disaster events since 1980. This can have a devastating economic impact for the developing countries. The World Bank Group and Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery analysis shows that the disaster’s impact on gross domestic product is 20 times higher in developing countries than in developed countries. As global climate continues to change, developing countries are more vulnerable to the losses from increased activity of disasters such as floods, storms, and drought. It is estimated that there could be 325 million people vulnerable to weather-related events and prone to poverty in sub-Saharan and South Asian regions by 2030. Many large coastal cities in the growing middle-income countries could face combined annual losses approaching $1 trillion from weather-related disasters by the middle of the century.

Natural disasters can cause severe damage to electrical power systems and disrupt electricity for distribution to the customers in affected areas. The damage occurs as a result of vibration, fire, or floodwater due to hurricanes, storms, and tornadoes packed with high winds which can lead to the malfunction of electrical equipment and power lines.

1.3 Electrical Power System/Grid

An electric power system is defined as a network of electrical components used to supply (generate), transmit, and consume electric power. An electric power system that supplies power to homes and industries for a sizeable region is called an electric grid. Electric grids can be divided into three-layered complex interconnected networks consisting of generation, transmission, and distribution components. An electric grid also contains control software and associated equipment to transmit electricity from the place of generation to residential, industrial, or commercial users. This is achieved by transporting electrical power from generation buses to distribution substations through transmission buses interconnected by transmission lines. The point of generation is usually located in a centralized point which is far removed from the place where it is consumed. Electrical energy is generated in the power plant by transforming other sources of energy. These sources include chemical, heat, hydraulic, mechanical, geothermal, nuclear, solar, and wind which can be used to produce electrical energy. Electrical energy produced from this conversion is then transformed to high voltage which is more suitable for efficient long distance transportation to the consumption locations using high voltage power lines. The high voltage electrical energy is stepped down to lower voltage by transformers at the substations so that it is suitable to distribute for residential, commercial and...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1. Photovoltaics for Disaster Relief and Remote Areas
• Chapter 2. Fundamentals of Standalone Photovoltaic Systems
• Chapter 3. Mobile Photovoltaic Systems for Disaster Relief and Remote Areas
• Chapter 4. Portable Standalone PV Systems for Disaster Relief and Remote Areas
• Chapter 5. Fixed Standalone PV Systems for Disaster Relief and Remote Areas
• Chapter 6. PV Systems Affordability, Community Solar, and Solar Microgrids
• Chapter 7. Solar Thermal Electricity and Solar Insolation
• Appendix. Appendix on PV Systems for Disaster Relief and in Remote Areas
• Index