Lobitos Solar Energy (PV) Feasibility Study

Transcription

Lobitos Solar Energy (PV)
Feasibility Study
Technical Summary
Mark Hazelton
MSc. Renewable Energy (Newcastle University UK)
EcoSwell
2015
1.
Introduction
1.1.
Project background
1.2.
Aims and objective
2.
Structure of report
3.
Solar energy development
4.
5.
6.
3.1.
Worldwide deployment trends
3.2.
Solar PV in Peru
3.2.1.
Overview of energy policy
3.2.2.
Rural Electrification
How solar energy works
4.1.
Solar cells
4.2.
Solar panels and arrays
4.3.
Current and Voltage of electrical systems
4.4.
Standard operating conditions and panel specifications
4.5.
Solar Irradiance
4.6.
Batteries and Charge controllers
4.6.1.
Types of battery
4.6.2.
Charging and charge controllers
4.7.
Inverters
4.8.
Configurations of Solar installations
4.8.1.
Stand-alone systems
4.8.2.
Grid-tie
4.8.3.
Grid-tie with power backup
4.8.4.
Grid fall back
Stakeholder Analysis
5.1.
Government structure
5.2.
Energy
Assessment of applications
6.1.
Introduction to the approach
6.2.
Outline design methodology
6.3.
Application scoping sheets of each application considered
6.3.1.
Fishermen- Vessel recovery winch
6.3.2.
Fishermen- Jib crane/winch
6.3.3.
Fishermen- Lighting of fish quay
6.3.4.
Fishermen- Pumping water for use in water tower
6.3.5.
Residents/small businesses- Use of solar to offset electricity bills
6.3.6.
Municipality- Lighting of football court
6.3.7.
School- Use of solar to offset bills for the schools/for education
6.3.8.
Municipality- Desalination of water to use in gardens/parks
6.4.
Applications not considered
6.5.
Discussion
6.6.
Recommendation for application to take forward to detailed design
APPENDICES
A
. Applications not carried forward
1. Introduction
1.1.Project background
Lobitos is a small town on the north coast of Peru with a population of approximately 1,200
permanent inhabitants. It was formerly an affluent English port and oil extraction facility from
1
1903-1968
. Following military takeover of the government in 1968, the Peruvian government
nationalised oil extraction operations in addition to developing the area as a training base. The
area was a strategic position due to the proximity to Ecuador (there was an active dispute over the
area in 1990) and in order to protect oil interests. In recent years following de-escalation in
tensions between Peru and Ecuador the military presence in the area has been scaled back with
Lobitos become an increasingly popular tourist destination.
The Central Government is keen to attract developers
to fulfil Lobitos’ potential as a tourist resort. There are
a number of buildings that are unoccupied but in the
possession of the Peruvian army that are available to
rent that could be turned into hostels. There has also
been numerous new structures custom built to
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accommodate tourists mainly along the beach front
.
Ecoswell are the non-governmental organisation
facilitating this project. The organisation is a
collaboration between 5 Peruvian school friends with
a range of skills from social research, environmental
engineering to graphic design and sales. They have
formed with the aim of promoting sustainable
development in Lobitos through bringing in expert
teams to design and bid for funding to enable projects
that benefit the local community and economy. Tourism developments in nearby towns have been
environmentally and socially disastrous, something that Ecoswell hope that their actions will
avoid.
Ecoswell have completed a baseline social assessment in Autumn 2013 in order to assess the
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primary needs of the community and test the feasibility of Ecoswells mission statement
.
1.2.Aims and objective
The aims and objectives of this project have been developed in partnership with Ecoswell and field
data capture has been completed in partnership with them. This overall aim of this project is to
1
https://surfinglobitos.wordpress.com/about/context/
2
http://surfinglobitos.wordpress.com/about/context/
3
http://www.ecoswell.org/home.html
gather relevant information and analysis in order to scope the potential for solar electricity
applications in Lobitos. Detailed design and financial analysis will then be developed for the most
promising application to sufficient detail to underpin an application for funding. Specific objectives
are:
1. Investigate current power supply arrangements, consumer usage, perceptions and issues
over power supply;
2. Assess the ability of current electricity services to complement integration of micro
renewable energy sources;
3. Establish the feasibility of using solar energy as either a supplementary source to
complement existing power systems or as a sole source for a variety of potential
applications;
4. Develop one potential application in detail to a level appropriate for a funding application.
The fieldwork and research required to achieve each of these objectives is described in greater
detail below.
Objective 1
: Investigate current power supply arrangements, consumer usage, perceptions and
issues over power supply. Assess the ability of current electricity services to complement
integration of micro renewable energy sources.
●
●
●
●
●
Review the EcoSwell social assessment
Complete visual surveys of infrastructure
Interview stakeholders from power generation and distribution companies to understand
the systems that are in place and any future investment plans for infrastructure in Lobitos
Interview consumers to find out what appliances they have, their usage and expectations
of power.
Collate, summarise and present evidence base
Objective 2
: Establish the feasibility of using solar energy for a variety of potential applications in
Lobitos:
●
●
Describe components that make up a solar PV system and considerations required in
design of such systems
Using primary and secondary evidence, explore through factsheets the feasibility of
different solar electricity applications. These should include:
o Descriptions of the applications
o Stakeholders who would benefit from the application
o Findings from the fieldwork and interviews
o Any equivalent case studies and literature
o Analysis of the application using the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and
Threats (SWAT) assessment model
Objective 3
: Develop one potential application in detail to a level appropriate for a funding
application
●
●
Provided a detailed description of an optimised design
Research and cost for appropriate equipment
●
●
●
Complete financial analysis to calculate payback period on application
Make the case for implementation of the application
Provide maintenance and operation guidelines to allow Ecoswell and beneficiaries of the
application to understand maintenance requirements and the operating principals of
potential equipment
Fieldwork will be carried out over 2 weeks based in Lobitos in Spring 2014.
2. Structure of report
The report has been structure with the following main sections:
3) Solar energy development:
to give a background to the global development of solar
energy in recent years.
4) Solar energy theory:
detailing the operation and factors in designing solar energy systems
5) Stakeholder engagement:
detailing relevant overarching issues from the stakeholder
engagement that was completed on site.
6) Assessment of applications:
detailing and appraising the shortlist of applications that
were defined from stakeholder engagement including outline designs of solar systems to
meet each requirement.
3. Solar energy development
3.1.Worldwide deployment trends
The solar PV sector has seen large scale growth in installed capacity globally since the early 1990s
with a particularly strong growth since 2008. Figure 1 demonstrates this growth from a grid tied
installation perspective. This large scale growth has come about as a result of market mechanisms
being introduced to increase deployment in line with decarbonisation objectives, countries like
China investing heavily in both manufacturing and utilisation of solar PV as well as increased
4
efficiency and reliability of panels and components. (IEA, 2013)
. Installed capacities of off grid
systems are much smaller approximately 2-4GW.
4
http://www.iea-pvps.org/fileadmin/dam/public/report/statistics/PVPS_report_-_A_Snapshot_of_
Global_PV_-_1992-2013_-_final_3.pdf
Figure 1:
Worldwide installed capacity of grid connected solar PV (dark blue signifies capacity in
the International Energy Agency’s Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme and light blue other
5
countries)
Figure 2 demonstrates the falling cost of solar PV units that has been a factor in the wide scale
growth in installed capacity of solar PV modules. The price drop that this Figure demonstrates can
be attributed to advanced production techniques as well as oversupply of solar PV units to the
market as demonstrated in Figure 3.
6
Rüther (2011) identified the selling points of small scale solar PV in areas where grid connection is
unavailable, costly or near to capacity as:
●
●
●
5
Reduced strain on grid infrastructure at peak load times through self-consumption of
locally generated electricity.
Saving on expansion and reinforcement of grid systems where solar can be used as
primary energy source.
The energy generated by PV modules in the daytime could save on other grid connected
generation capacity.
IBID
6
Rüther R, Roberto Zilles (2011), Making the case for grid-connected photovoltaics in Brazil,
Energy Policy, Volume 39, Issue 3, March 2011, Pages 1027-1030, ISSN 0301-4215.
Keywords: Solar energy; Grid-connected photovoltaics; Value of photovoltaic (PV) electricity
7
Figure 2:
Indicative prices for small scale systems in two indicative IEA PVPS countries
Figure 3:
MW of solar PV units produced against installations
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7
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3.2.Solar PV in Peru
Overview of energy policy
Peru has seen high rates of economic growth driven by increased energy intensive mining of
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copper, silver, lead and zinc
. This has led to the country's energy demand being the 4th
highest in
Latin America.
52% of Peru’s electricity is generated from renewable with large scale hydro making up the
majority of this capacity (43% of the total). Other technologies that are utilised include biomass
10
and waste, solar and small hydro. Natural gas, oil and diesel account for the remaining capacity
.
In order to support the development of renewable technologies (excluding large scale hydro), the
Ministry for Energy and Mines (MEM) has introduces and number of incentives such as technology
specific auctions, giving fixed prices for 20 years, and incentives to support investment in
infrastructure to support renewable energy development. However these incentives are aimed at
utility scale developments with capacities of MWs rather that small scale feed in generation.
The renewable energy auctions have been carried out since 2009 and have succeeded in funding
approximately 2,200GWh/year of renewable energy from small hydro, solar PV, wind and Biomass
11
. These auctions target utility scale generation rather than the small micro scale generation
under consideration in this project
12
Overall electricity prices are directly subsidised by the Peruvian government but anecdotally still
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are the single greatest household expenditure for customers in communities such as Lobitos
.
New connections can also be costly with electricity distribution companies focussed on urban
centres (less than 100 homes), with no obligations to meet demands over 100 meters from the
existing network.
Rural Electrification
From 2007-2015 the Peruvian government implemented a rural electrification programme with a
strong emphasis on solar PV. The programme was funded by the World Bank and targeted the
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connection of 160,000 rural properties where grid connections were not feasible
. Due to
significant cost increases on estimates, the project fell 34% short of meeting its target but has
demonstrated that the potential for wide scale deployment of solar PV for powering off grid
9
http://www.kpmg.com/PE/es/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/Country-MiningGuide-Peru.pdf
10
http://export.gov/reee/eg_main_074747.asp
11
http://www.irena.org/DocumentDownloads/Publications/IRENA_Renewable_energy_auctions_in
_developing_countries.pdf
12
http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/78f59b00493a76e18cc0ac849537832d/SEF-Market+Assess
ment+Peru-Final+Report.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
13
Need a link to appendix interviews on the price of electricity
14
http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2014/01/27/0004
42464_20140127095748/Rendered/PDF/ICR23580P090110C0disclosed010230140.pdf
applications. The project has also had the benefit of raising awareness and technical capacity in
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Peru
.
There was limited take-up of the project in the Talara Province and a nil response from the Lobitos
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local government to the scheme
. This was due to the good levels of grid availability in the area
but also the belief of those residents who do not have access to grid supplied electricity that
inclusion in the scheme would harm future chances to access grid electricity.
4. How solar energy works
4.1.Solar cells
PV panels generate electric current from photons of energy emitted by the sun and by utilising the
properties of semiconductor materials, most commonly silicon.
Materials have two energy bands that describe the energy state of electrons in a material and
associated properties. These are the conduction band and a valence band. Electrons in the
valence band do not have sufficient energy to break the attraction to their associated protons in
the atom. Electrons in the conduction band have sufficient energy to break these bonds and
therefore can move to other atoms in the material. The energy taken to move between these two
bands is termed the bandgap which varies with each material. When an electron moves from the
valence band into the conduction band breaking the bond with its atom, an associated hole is
produced which other electrons can move into. This allows the passage of electrons through the
material forming and electric current.
Conductive materials generally have many electrons in the conduction band meaning that
electrons can move freely through the material. Insulators and semi-conductors generally have a
full valence band and no electrons in the conduction band. This means that no electrons can pass
through the material. In semi-conductor materials the bandgap is sufficiently small to allow the
elevation of electrons to the conduction band and associated holes to be produced by the addition
of heat or light. This then allows electric current to pass through the material.
When a semiconductor material has an electron hole pair, the electron is negatively charged and
the hole is positively charged. In order to increase the electrical carrying capacity of the
semi-conductor, the two substances are introduced to different parts of the solar cell. To provide
more electrons, one side of the silicon cell is doped with prosperous forming n-type material.
Boron is added to the other side of the cell to provide more holes to form p-type material. When
the two materials are joined the extra electrons from the n-type material move to the p-type
material and vice versa until the negative charge created by the electrons in the p-type material
and corresponding positive charge in the n-type material form a barrier to other electrons crossing
between the two. This is termed the p-n boundary and is described in Figure 4. The p-n boundary
is essential to allow the electron hole pairs that are created by the introduction of light to be
separated long enough to allow electrons to through an external circuit.
15
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=709IhPbvf00C&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=FOSE+cross+sub
sidy&source=bl&ots=XWcjJACQGe&sig=yyYBdNTjinY4z1RiIRhZuVrU6dA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Xe8rVaje
DMLZarv3gYgG&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=FOSE%20cross%20subsidy&f=false
16
Appendix the Mem guy interview
4.2.Solar panels and arrays
To provide sufficient electricity at an appropriate voltage to allow the effective supply to power a
variety or multiple loads, panels are usually installed in conjunction forming an array. Connecting
multiple panels in an array will always increase the system wattage however the layout of
connection will change the characteristics of the system and is an important consideration in
designing a solar system.
Connecting solar panels in series as shown in Figure 5 generates electricity at a higher voltage
whereas connecting panels in parallel as in Figure 5 generates the same voltage as a single panel
but increases the current of the system. For example if you connect three 12 volt 12 watt panels in
series you would get a 36V 36W array with 1amp current. Connection in parallel this would
produce 12V and 36W with a 3amp current.
Figure 5:
Series and parallel connection diagrams
4.3.Current and Voltage of electrical systems
Alternating Current (AC) and Direct Current (DC) are the two formats of current that can be
supplied. AC is generally the format used in grid systems in order to reduce losses over long
distances. DC is the format supplied by both solar panels and batteries. Converting DC into AC
causes losses of power and therefore should be considered carefully when designing solar
systems, especially small installations. Differing loads are designed to work on either AC or DC and
many appliances are available as either DC or AC compatible.
The relationship between voltage and current is described as:
P ower = V oltage * C urrent W atts = V olts * Amps This means that both the current and the voltage contribute to the overall power. If a system is
running from a 12V battery and is powering a 60W light bulb a current of 5 amps would be
required (60/12=5). Similarly if the same lightbulb was running from a grid supply at 240V then a
0.25amp current would be required (60/240=0.25).
The relationship between power and resistance can be calculated as:
P ower = Current2 * Resistance
W atts = Amps2 * Ohms This explains why grid systems run at a high voltage as the lower the current the lower the
resistance and therefore fewer losses that would occur when transporting electricity through
transmission lines. Using the same example above, a 60W light bulb running from a 12V source
would require 5amps to run. This would result in a resistance of 0.417ohms (52/60=0.417)
whereas the higher voltage setup would produce 0.001ohms (0.252/60=0.001). Although there
are advantages to running at very high voltages most appliances, batteries and controllers
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designed to for use in solar systems run at either 12V or 24V
.
4.4.Standard operating conditions and panel specifications
Solar panels offer varying levels of power dependant on conditions. As such the rated wattage of a
solar panel is defined under a series of Standard Operating Conditions. These criteria are:
1. Temperature of the cell – 25°C. The temperature of the solar cell itself, not the
temperature of the surrounding.
2. Solar Irradiance – 1000 Watts per square meter. This number refers to the amount of light
energy falling on a given area at a given time.
3. Mass of the air – 1.5. This term is misleading as it refers to the amount of light that has to
pass through Earth’s atmosphere before it can hit Earth’s surface, and has to do mostly
with the angle of the sun relative to a reference point on the earth.
The rated wattage that is supplied is termed the peak Watts (pW) that would be supplied under
the conditions listed above. Oversizing of the system is essential to allow for the variable
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conditions and component inefficiencies. For example, the solar handbook (2015) notes that if
an inverter is utilised the system would need to be oversized by 10% and for 5% if batteries are
used.
Other data that is often supplied in panel specifications are open circuit voltage (Voc) and short
circuit current (Isc). In addition maximum power point voltage and current (Vmp and Imp) are also
generally advertised. Voc shows the operating voltage with an open circuit (i.e. no load) with Isc
showing a complete short circuit (see Figure 6). These figures are important when sizing other
components in the installation. For example:
● The Voc and Isc of the installation cannot exceed the stated input current and voltage of
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the charge controller or PV-inverter.
● Isc is maximum amperage that could be generated by a panel. This number should inform
the wiring size and circuit protection like fuses. PV shop recommends that a charge
controller should be rated at 125% above the Isc. For example a 50A controller should
have a system Isc of no more than 40A (50/1.25 = 40A).
● The Vmp should not be higher than (but optimally close to) the maximum battery voltage
20
.
17
82+83+24
18
Solar handbook
19
http://pvshop.eu/offgrid
http://www.operatingtech.com/lib/pdf/A%20Guide%20to%20battery%20Charging.pdf
20
Figure 6:
Relationship between current and voltage and the maximum power point
4.5.Solar Irradiance
Solar irradiance describes the amount of solar energy that can be gathered by a panel at a certain
location. The amount of solar irradiance is affected by:
●
●
●
the latitude of the location; both through the amount of sunlight that is experienced in the
location and the amount of atmosphere that the photons of light have to travel through
the local meteorological conditions; general levels of cloud cover and precipitation
the specifics of the site; shading through any relief, vegetation or buildings that could
block out more of the sun at certain parts of the day or year.
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Lobitos is situated at -4.460 latitude and -81.279 longitude
. The National Renewable Energy
22
Laboratory’s (NERL) Climatological Solar Radiation (CSR) Model estimates that the amount of

solar energy intensity in the area around Lobitos 5kWh/m2
. The CSR model uses a 40 km
resolution and includes parameters on cloud cover, atmospheric water vapor and trace gases, and
the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere.
Table 1:
Average monthly solar energy intensity in Wh/m2
Jan
4111
Jul
Feb
3684
Aug
Mar
4445
Sep
Apr
4731
Oct
May
5243
Nov
Jun
5505
Dec
21
http://www.distancesfrom.com/Lobitos-latitude-longitude-Lobitos-latitude-Lobitos-longitude/LatL
ongHistory/3513492.aspx?IsHistory=1&LocationID=3513492
22
http://en.openei.org/datasets/dataset/solar-monthly-and-annual-average-direct-normal-dni-glob
al-horizontal-ghi-latitude-tilt-and-2
Figure 7:
Solar irradiance in Latin America

Table 1 shows the variation in intensity is from 3684 to 5844 Wh/m2
which would have to be taken
into account in the design of a solar system with the lower power intensity used to size the system
if there is no seasonal variation in load.

The irradiance value requires combination with a time value to create Wh/m2
/day or peak sun
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hours. This is roughly 5.5 for the Lobitos area .
4.6.Batteries and Charge controllers
A key component of stand-alone solar PV system is the battery bank. This stores excess energy and
allows the delivery of power to loads in a consistent and balanced way. The size of the battery
bank for any application has the potential to dramatically increase cost and certain loads are not
suited to being serviced by batteries (i.e. large intense loads that require a lot of power over a
short period of time).
Types of battery
Batteries operate by utilising elements with large differences in affinity submerged in an
electrolyte. Affinity is the amount of energy that is release when an electron is added to an
element to form a negative ion with differences in affinity being created by electrons moving from
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http://www.oynot.com/solar-insolation-map.html
one atom to another to be at a lower energy level. An electrolyte is a liquid with positive and
negatively charge ions that can transfer a current.
A material with electrons at a high energy state forms the negative terminal of the battery, the
anode. The cathode forms the positive terminal of the battery and is made from material with
electrons at a low energy state (see Figure 8). When the circuit is connected the electrons from
the anode transfer around the circuit to the cathode leaving positively charged ions in the anode
material. These ions then transfer to the cathode material through the electrolyte forming a
current. When recharging a battery the process is reversed with electrons effectively forced back
into the anode material.
The majority of large scale batteries use lead acid as the electrolyte and the material of the anode
and cathode varying depending on the voltage requirements of the battery. Conventional flooded
lead acid batteries contain aqueous lead acid which can spill if the battery casing is damaged. As a
byproduct of the electrolysis reaction that takes place in a lead acid battery, hydrogen gas is
produced. This has possess a potential safety hazard if the batteries are not situated in a
well-ventilated location. This also leads to the requirement of battery maintenance to top up the
levels of electrolyte in the cell.
There are two types of battery suitable for use in conjunction with solar systems. These are Gelled
Electrolyte Sealed Lead Acid (GEL) batteries and Sealed Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) type batteries.
Both have different characteristics and which can be utilised to power different load profiles.
Sealed Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM)
AMG batteries are a version of lead acid batteries where the acid is absorbed in a fine fiberglass
matt between the anode and cathode. This means that the battery is spill proof and maintenance
free. The internal resistance of AGM batteries is low with the result that relatively high currents
can be delivered over a shorter period of time that gel batteries. Even with these characteristics
AGM cells can still offer a depth of discharge of around 80% The negatives are slightly lower
specific energy and higher manufacturing costs that the conventional flooded lead acid units. AGM
cells are best suited to cell sizes from 30 to 100Ah.
Advantages of AGM cells are:
● Spill-proof as the acid is absorbed in a fiberglass matt
● Low internal resistance and therefore can power more challenging loads
● Up to 5 times faster charge than with conventional flooded lead acid batteries with good
depth of discharge properties
● Electrolyte retention is good meaning less hydrogen is produced through gassing
Limitations are:
● Higher manufacturing cost than conventional flooded lead acid batteries but cheaper than
gel
● Sensitive to overcharging (gel has tighter tolerances than AGM)
● Capacity gradually declines over the life of the battery
Gel Batteries
Gel batteries work on exactly the same principle as lead acid batteries by the electrolyte is
suspended in a paste induced by adding silica. Gel batteries have strong performance with
repetitive cycling and age with the original capacity of the cell being maintained before steeply
dropping off with age. The gelled electrolyte also reduces the amount of hydrogen emitted by the
cell during discharge meaning low maintenance and increased safety. The internal resistance of
gel batteries is greater than that of AGM cells meaning that gel batteries are more suited to a
longer constant discharge and recharge which is suitable for many applications e.g. lighting.
Advantages of Gel cells are:
● Spill-proof as the acid electrolyte is absorbed in gel form
● The performance over the lifetime of the battery is much better than conventional lead
acid and AGM cells
● Electrolyte retention is good meaning less hydrogen is produced and less maintenance is
required
Limitations are:
● Higher manufacturing cost than conventional flooded lead acid batteries and AGM cells
● Higher internal resistance than AGM batteries and therefore requires discharge and
recharge to be performed over a longer time
Charging and charge controllers
The amount of energy that a battery can store is rated in Amp hours (Ah) and refers the
theoretical chemical energy inside a battery that can be converted to electricity however this
rating varies with the time taken to discharge the battery. The C rating describes the amp hour
output at a constant current over a period of discharge. For example, if a 5Ah battery is discharged
over 1 hour, the battery would output 5A for an hour. An hour discharge is termed C1, a half hour
discharge 2C and a two hour discharge 0.5C. Lead Acid batteries provide more Ah per discharge
when run at a lower C-rating with advertised battery ratings supplied at 0.05C (20 hour discharge).
The life cycle of a battery reduces with the depth of discharge of each discharge cycle. As an
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example an 84Ah load can be serviced by the 8G24 12V 84Ah battery
. At 100% discharge, the
battery will last for 500 cycles but 1100 cycles if 50% discharged. Assuming 84Ahs are used at
100% discharge every day the battery would last 1.4 years whereas at 50% depth of discharge the
same battery would last 3.0 years although 2 batteries would be required to power the load. The
cost of battery units and depth of discharge levels are important when factors to consider when
assessing a stand-alone PV installation. Appropriate levels of depth of discharge will be
investigated and optimized in the detailed design using equipment data sheets supplied by the
manufacturer.
Charge controllers are required to manage the division of electricity between the battery bank and
the load. The charge controller can also manage charging and draw down of electricity from an
array of batteries equalizing the inputs and output to ensure not battery is under unnecessary
stress. Maximum power point trackers are available with some charge controllers which ensures
the efficient generation of electricity from the panel array by modifying the voltage of the circuit
to ensure that the panel is operating at the maximum power point (see section 4.3). Ground fault
protection to protect the battery bank and panel array in the event of a short circuit is also often
included in in the charge controller. Selection of a charge controller should depend on the system
voltage, the current of the system and the maximum current of the load.
4.7.Inverters
An inverter is a device that converts DC current to AC as well as modifying the voltage on a circuit.
Inverters are often used to power loads that have been designed to run on grid specified
electricity (see section 5.2 for the grid design in Lobitos) with solar PV systems that generally work
at lower voltage DC currents.
Grid tie inverters work in tandem with the panel installation, electrical loads and the utility grid.
Power is sent to loads preferentially with any excess being exported to the grid through a meter.
Grid tie inverters incorporate harmonising features to ensure electricity is exported in phase with
the grid and also safety features to cease exportation during utility power cuts.
24
http://www.mrsolar.com/content/pdf/MKBattery/8G24.pdf
There are two ways that inverters modify DC current to AC: modified sine wave signals and pure
sine wave signals. The difference between the two approaches are that modified sine wave
inverters produce a block of current with some time spent at zero current as demonstrated in
Figure 9. Pure sine wave inverters produce a smooth output which is the same as utility grid
electricity. Modified sine wave inverters are generally cheaper but some electrical appliances do
not operate with modified sine wave inverters and others produce a humming noise. This is
generally the case when an appliance uses the zero crossing point of the AC current to measure
time or a where a microprocessor in an appliance is used causing interference (e.g. electric
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blankets and coffee makers)
.
4.8.Configurations of Solar installations
There are four different operational modes for solar PV systems. These are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Stand-alone systems
Grid tie systems
Grid tie power backup systems
Grid fall back systems
Each mode of operation is suitable for different applications depending on factors such as: the size
of the load, the criticality of the loads operation, availability of grid and the grid operators policy
for accepting excess locally generated electricity onto the grid.
Stand-alone systems
Stand-alone PV systems are suitable for applications where a source of grid power is not readily
available or when it is not cost effective to extend the grid to a load. The PV system is designed to
be the sole source of power for a load. If the load is required to be powered on demand or
throughout the night then a battery bank is required to enable the correct wattage to be supplied
regardless of the atmospheric conditions and irradiance landing on the panels. The loads that are
powered by these systems are generally comparatively small, around a kilowatt, as large loads
would require an extensive array of photovoltaic panels and a large battery bank.
The components of this system setup include: panels, a solar controller, a battery bank and could
also include an AC inverter depending on the load.
Grid-tie
In grid-tie systems, solar and grid electricity are designed to work together to supply cheaper
power when it is available from the PV system and export excess to the grid. When there is
insufficient power supplied by the PV system, the load can be powered using grid power. In many
countries there is often a feed-in-tariff incentive where the grid operator will pay for power to be
exported to the grid. This is not currently available in Peru.
This type of system includes: panels, a grid tie inverter, a grid tie meter and a distribution panel.
25
http://www.xantrex.com/documents/tech-doctor/universal/tech1-universal.pdf
The control panel is use as a hub for circuit breakers and safety systems similar to the control
panel used in most domestic electricity systems. This is due required due to the high voltage of
electricity that is supplied to get it to grid voltage.
Grid-tie with power backup
The grid tie with power backup solution is very similar to the standard grid tie setup but also
incorporates a bank of batteries. These systems are used for applications where grid power is
unreliable or where continuous supply of electricity to the load is essential. The batteries are
charge using electricity supplied by the panels in preference to exporting to the grid. Once the
battery bank is fully charged excess power is then exported to the grid and would be eligible for a
feed-in-tariff payment if applicable.
The setup of the system is similar to the grid-tie system but with the addition of a battery bank
and a charge controller upstream of the inverter. If power is being drawn down from the batteries,
this will need to pass through the inverter to allow conversion to AC and stepping up to the
appropriate voltage to power the load.
Grid fall back
The grid fall back system is suitable for applications where no feed-in-tariff incentive system is in
place, where users are looking to reduce bills and/or reduce the impact on the environment. The
system works by incorporating a design setup similar to a stand-alone system but maintains a link
to the grid. The system uses the solar power as a preference but as the batteries run flat will
switch back to the grid to supply power allowing the batteries to recharge.
The components of the system are similar to the stand-alone system but there is a difference in
the two types of power source. Grid electricity is usually supplied at high voltage and low current
in AC. Batteries on the other hand work best at low voltages and supply in DC. Accordingly, the
load and system has to be designed to work with one or the other formats of electricity supply.
Generally in this case grid power run through an inverter to convert it to DC and lower voltage as
the batteries will generally be the main source of power and, especially for small systems (under a
kilowatt), the efficiency losses in converting low voltage DC to high voltage AC would be too great.
5. Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholder analysis was undertaken based on the interviews that were conducted during
fieldwork in Peru and forms the primary evidence for this study.
Information taken has been used from each of these interviews has been utilised in the
application assessments and referenced accordingly. Sections 5.1 and 5.2 describe evidence on
government structure and electricity arrangements that are relevant across applications listed in
section 6.
5.1.Government structure
There are 3 levels of government in Peru: Central, Regional and District municipality. The Peruvian
government has been implementing a process of decentralisation of responsibilities and funding
26
since 2002
. Table 2 outlines the differing responsibilities of each tier.
Central government manages overall policy direction and large scale projects and is therefore not
a particularly strong stakeholder in this study.
The Regional government in this area covers the whole of Piura region with a sub level covering
the Talara District within which Lobitos sits. This level is responsible for planning of regional
development, executing public investment projects, promoting economic activities, and managing
27
public property
.
The District Municipalities are responsible for providing local services and infrastructure,
regulating building construction and granting businesses licenses. They are responsible of
construction and maintenance of roads, bridges, schools, health centres, irrigation projects, water
and sanitation, parks, markets, etc. The District Municipalities have relatively close ties to the
central government due to their main sources of funding for infrastructure works being through
the central CANON funding. The overlaps and relationship with regional government in practice
are not well established.
Sector
National
Regional
Environment
✓ ✓ Industrial Policy
✓ ✓ Roads and telecoms
✓ ✓ Energy
✓ ✓ Local economic
✓ development
Parks and recreation
Water, sewage and
sanitation
28
Table 2: Areas of responsibility for all government tiers
Local
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ National Government
No interviews were undertaken with the National Government however through interviews with
the fishermen it was established that the Ministry of Production (responsible for fisheries
management) had previously invested in solar lighting in Lobitos. This and other departments such
as the Department for Energy and Mining may provide a potential funding source if projects
overlap with their remit/policies.
26
http://www.caf.com/media/3124/algovernmentscapacityandperformanceevidencefromPeruvian
municipalitiesdeFernandoArag%C3%B3nyCarlosCasas.pdf
27
planning regional development, executing public investment projects, promoting economic
activities, and managing public property
28
http://www.cepal.org/ofilac/noticias/paginas/9/49309/Neyra_EN.pdf
Regional Government
Meetings were carried out with the Natural Resources and Environment Officer and Renewable
Energy Officer from the regional government. These departments have managed the delivery of
numerous projects including the central government’s Programme for Rural Electrification which
is funded by the World Bank (see section 3.2.2). The goals of this project are to supply power
through solar systems to properties where extension of the national grid is too expensive or
technically unfeasible. Eligible properties are supplied with Solar panels, batteries and all other
equipment free of charge. Nationally, approximately 500,000 properties are eligible with 10,000
located in Piura region (so far 2,000 systems have been supplied). These numbers were from the
first year of the 4 year scheme which represents a relatively strong take-up however there was a
nil response from Lobitos.
District municipality
Numerous interviews were undertaken with the District Municipality. It was established that they
have some capacity in engineering, infrastructure and environmental disciplines.
Selected recent and current projects include:

Programme to collect litter on Mon, Weds, Fri;
Tarmac road construction in last 3 months;
Improvements to the docks, provision of moorings;
Management and action on land invasions. There have been issues with
developers, land bankers (taking advantage of ownership through occupation) and
Illegal hostels developing too close to the sea and reducing access to the beach for
the locals.
They also recently funded drainage channels to handle extreme flows in storms.
29
There are three sources of income for the municipality
:

Renta Aduana, which is a percentage of customs duties paid to the municipality;
FONCOMUN, the municipal compensation fund which provides funding to
municipalities based on a number of deprivation indicators;
Canon funding, administered by Ministry of Economics and Finance using a
mechanism called SNIP.
The first two sources pay for the overheads and revenue costs of the municipality. The Canon
funding is made up of levies charged on the oil companies and geographically linked to Lobitos so
there is a budget set aside for Lobitos to bid into.
29
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCQQFjA
B&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inicam.org.pe%2F2006%2Fdescargar%2Fsubstitution%2520effect.do
c&ei=0BCJVazzG46R7Abp7YO4BQ&usg=AFQjCNE0rnDUN1f3PujEO5mYlVqIKh6Uzg&sig2=AqOt31y
x1vrWg8avE5_NUg
In order to affect this strategy the municipality aims to make Lobitos an attractive place to come
for hostel owners and customers. Due to the type of tourism the municipality want to attract
sustainability is high on the agenda with recycling, litter picking and waste management a key
part. They are also planning to make Lobitos green with trees and grass being planted in New
Lobitos and further when possible.
5.2.Energy
Interviews were undertaken with a local electricity generation facility, EEPSA, and the regional
transmission system.
Generation
EEPSA are an electricity generation company, generating electricity to feed into the Peruvian
national grid. They are one of many privately owned electricity generation companies that operate
in Peru and are owned by the ENDESA who are a Spanish power company.
The Piedritas plant consists of 3 turbines fuelled by natural gas with a combined generation
capacity of 250MW. The parent company ENDESA operations in Peru include hydro-electric and
thermo-electric facilities (coal, gas and some diesel).
EEPSA have an active corporate responsibility scheme with projects including the construction of a
school in the nearby town of Piedritas. EEPSA also funded a grid connection programme for a poor
area on the outskirts of Talara and a pig farm through their corporate responsibility funds.
In order to fund corporate responsibility projects, clearance is needed from the parent company
(ENDESA) communications department. This is based in Lima but there is no scope to what EEPSA
would be willing to fund and confirmed that projects in Lobitos would be considered.
Transmission
ENOSA are 100% government owned and run but with the aim of making a profit. Regulation and
policy is defined by the Ministry of Energy and Mining. ENOSA control the purchase of electricity
from generators, balancing the lowest cost of energy with fluctuating demand, as well as
managing distribution, local connections, metering and billing of customers.
The ENOSA office in Talara manages the area from Tumbles in the North to Piura in the South
which includes Lobitos.
Electricity is supplied to Lobitos by an 8 km line from the main grid. This is currently mono-phase
however the growing demand for power from Lobitos means that ENOSA are currently scoping the
need for upgrading this area to tri-phase electricity.
When discussing the potential for local energy generated to alleviate some of the need for
upgrading the system, ENSOA did not believe this would be a viable option. There is potential to
feed solar generated electricity into the grid but ENOSA will only negotiate for generators with a
minimum capacity of 1MW. If the system were to supply MW into the grid ENOSA would pay for
the infrastructure to do so and negotiate a buying price and estimated power demand.
For smaller scale systems ENOSA presented two options for export to the grid:
1. The project is designed, financed and constructed by EcoSwell. The ownership, operation
and monetisation of the system would then be sold to ENOSA who will make profit from
the system.
2. Electrify areas that do not currently have electricity and when/if grid is extended to these
areas negotiations could take place to agree a price for electricity.
If the project were to disconnect a building or facility that was currently connected to the grid
there would be a very small charge. To reconnect them to the grid (for example if the solar system
failed) there would be a large reconnection charge.
The grid operates on 13.2Kv mid tension and 220v at low tension. The frequency is 60hz
6. Assessment of applications
6.1.Introduction to the approach
Applications have been assessed through a series of factsheets outlining the issue and rough costs
of a potential solution using solar PV. These factsheets are to give a quick assessment of the
feasibility of a potential application with one solution being taken forward for detailed design and
financial analysis.
6.2.Outline design methodology
For each application that was investigated in Lobitos, an outline appraisal of the suitability of the
system, site and a rough design will be conducted to give a general idea of feasibility and how the
application could work. This assessment will consider the following factors:
● Visual site survey
● Estimation of load
● Outline design of solar system
● Outline cost
The visual survey will include photographs and a description of the site for each application.
Commentary on the shading and exposure of the site throughout the day will be commented on. A
description of the grid availability will also be supplied for each site.
The estimation of load will be completed using the template in figure 1. Where possible, real data
will be supplied based on site investigations but where this is unavailable, the power requirements
of new equipment will be used or the estimation of general power usage of appliances listed in
30
the Solar Energy Handbook 2015.
The outline design will consider the following variables:
● Mode of operation
● Load assessment
● Battery bank required
● Panel array requirements
● System sizing including efficiencies
30
Estimation of load 32
Efficiencies will be accounted for in the calculations for each application. Fixed values will be used
31
for panel array efficiencies (75%) and battery efficiencies (85%)
. Panel array efficiencies account
for the fact that the panel will be generating power outside of standard operating conditions with
temperature, irradiance and potential fouling of the panels all reducing theoretical output of the
panels. Battery efficiencies take account of the fact that batteries cannot fully deliver 100% of
power input back as power output.
Variable efficiencies include inverter efficiencies, battery temperature compensation and shading
efficiencies. Inverter efficiencies are defined by the manufacturer and account for the fact that
inverters cannot transform 100% of input power to output power. The battery temperature
compensation is applied to account for the variability in performance of the battery relative to
average temperature and will be based on manufacturer defined data. Shading efficiencies will be
applied to account for the potential loss of irradiance due to obstructions around the site. Other
variables include the depth of discharge appropriate to a battery bank and the number of days of
autonomy that batteries would have to supply the system for in the event of a power supply
outage. These variables have been explained for each application.
6.3.Application scoping sheets of each application considered
6.3.1 Fishermen- Vessel recovery winch
Application title
Winch for fishing vessel haul out
Stakeholder
group
Association Gremio de Pescadores Artesanales ARPA (Association of local
fishermen)
Application description
There are approximately 61 vessels that use Lobitos as a home quay. Facilities include a
production building that is largely disused, a concrete quay, moorings and area on the beach for
storing vessels when they are brought onshore for maintenance. There are usually 7 vessels
onshore at any time.
Rope and timber sliders are used to drag the vessels ashore manually (Photograph 3), This is
completed biennially per vessel. There are a variety of vessel sizes with the biggest vessel that
uses the quay able to carry a capacity of 12 tonnes (see Photograph 1). The actual vessel weights
that are required for calculations were not available.
The ARPA previously had a bollard/runner system to aid in hauling boats up the beach but this has
been abandoned after an accident when the rope snapped causing serious injuries. This incident
has made the fishermen cautious about tools such as winches and pulleys however properly
designed and maintained equipment could make this activity a lot safer and easier.
The ARPA are not a cash rich organisation with a very modest turnover from subsidies paid by
fishermen. This means that any application should require very low maintenance and running
31
Mayfield,Photovoltaic design and installation, pg 218
costs. The ARPA are able to apply for funding from a variety of sources including the Municipality
and the Ministry of Production. This could support the initial capital costs of the project.
The skills available in the ARPR are also minimal when it comes to non-fishing activity. This was
demonstrated by the case study of the solar lighting project that was abandoned and removed
(see application scoping sheet 6.3.3). This means that simple systems should be preferred and
budget allocated for adequate training and maintenance plans.
Photograph 1:
Example of the largest class of
boat that docks in Lobitos
Photograph 2:
Large vessel at mooring around
the fish quay
Photograph 3:
Example of current method of
bringing vessels ashore
Photograph 4:
Vessel on the beach and
moorings in the background
Case studies
32
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) report highlights that beach
clearways are appropriate for launching and recovering vessels of approximately 5 tonnes
assuming vessels have the necessary modifications made to the hulls. This has the benefit of not
requiring a concrete slipway structure to be built with associated geomorphology impacts and
maintenance requirements. In Lobitos wooden skids are used to aid the manual recovery of
32
http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1883e/i1883e08.pdf

vessels up the beach and reduce friction on the sand. Any winch design would have to take into
account the extra pulling power required to pull vessels up the variable gradient of the beach.
Possible types of winch that are available include a small tractor, manual winch, electric winch or
hydraulic winch (generally powered by diesel engine). The FAO report notes that for smaller
artisanal fleets, a the hand operated 1 - 2-tonne winch is usually sufficient with the winch
requiring concrete plinth at least 500 mm thick as an anchor.
There are no readily available examples of solar winches available however a unit capable of
33
pulling 4.5tonnes available at a power rating of 3.8kW at 12V
.
Outline design
Visual site survey and mode of operation
For a PV array of the size potentially required for this application, the production facility roof
would be an appropriate mounting point. The only potential shading obstructions in the area are
from the water tower situated to the north and an area of relief to the east however these are
minimal.
Due to the very large potential load, a hybrid PV and diesel generator system would be most
suitable for this application however the cost of maintaining and fuelling a generator would be
extra expenditure to the ARPA. A grid fall back system with an electric winch would also be
appropriate however this would also lead to extra expenditure every time the winch was used as
metered electricity would be used to part power the load. For these reasons a stand-alone solar
system has been investigated.
Load assessment vessel recovery winch
34
To work out the power of the winch required the following equation will be used
:
p = w(s + c) Where:
p = pull on the hauling rope in tonnes w = weight of the vessel s = tanθ (θ = angle of slope of the slipway) c = coefficient of friction 0.25 33
http://www.innovation-engineering.co.uk/LP8500_recovery_winch.htm

34
http://www.civil.iitm.ac.in/people/faculty/srgandhi/International%20%20Conferences/paper34.p
df

Using the largest gradient of the beach (15o
) and an estimate of the unladen weight of the largest
vessels that are brought ashore (8 tonnes) this would mean:
p = 8(tan15 + 0.25) p≅
4 tonnes 35
Using the example winch which can pull 4.5tonnes at a power rating of 3.8kw at 12V this system
would need to run at a current of:
I = Wv
I = 3800
12
I = 316.6amps
Taking the information on general haul out practices, the winch would be used to haul out a
vessel approximately 31 times a year (61/2). It is also assumed that the haul out time would be 1
hour for each vessel. This would lead to an hourly usage of 31 hours per year or 0.0849hours per
24 hours.
This is misleading however as for every use the battery bank will have to supply 3800W of electric
charge to allow the recovery of a vessel. This will require a very large battery bank although the
number of panels required will be less due the large amount of time the battery bank can be
recharged over.
Voltage
Power
(V)
(W)
Superwinch LP 10000
12
3800
Table 3:
Average load for a vessel recovery winch
Device
Length of use
(hours/day)
0.0849
Power use over 24
hours (Wh/day)
322.74
Outline design
The limiting factor in this application will be the size and cost of the battery bank. AGM batteries
have been selected for this application as they are protected from leakage and can manage the
rapid discharge rates required by this application.
As this application is to power an intermittent and intense load, the battery bank has to be sized
in order to allow the winch to operate for one hour at full capacity I.e. the battery bank is
required to supply 3800Wh. This is the rating that should be carried forward to size the battery
bank.
The temperature compensation and depth of discharge values in table below are taken from the
36
UPG UB8D unit datasheet
35
http://www.innovation-engineering.co.uk/LP8500_recovery_winch.htm
36
http://upgi.com/Themes/leanandgreen/images/UPG/ProductDownloads/45964.pdf

The number of days of autonomy has been set to 3 to account for variations in irradiance and
maintenance downtime.
AC loads
0
Wh/day 0
Wh/day
Inverter efficiency
0
%
0
Wh/day
DC loads
3800
Wh/day 3800
Wh/day
Number of days of autonomy
3
days
11400
Wh
Temperature compensation
98%
%
11633
Wh
Depth of discharge
75%
%
15510
Wh
Voltage
12
V
1293
Ah
Battery bank requirements:
1.29
kAh
Table 4:
Battery bank requirements for the vessel recovery winch running at 3800W for 31 days
per year
The UPG UB8D provides 150Ah over a 1 hour but after 12 months this would reduce to 96Ah. In
addition, at 75% discharge, the battery would reduce to 60% of original Ah capability after 350
cycles. To allow a years’ worth of usage for this application it is estimated that a bank of 14 UPG
UB8D batteries would be required. This would provide 1344Ah after a year’s operation
(96Ah*14units).
The panel system will be specified to allow for full charging of the battery bank every 0.0849 a
day. Note this number will be higher than the average consumption calculated in Table 4 as the
battery bank has been oversized.
W = (V * I ) * Electricity use per day W = (12 * 3800)* 0.0849
W = 3871W h/day This can now be inputted into the standard calculation table.
Total solar resource
3871
Wh/day
Battery efficiency
85%
%
PV array efficiency
75%
%
System efficiencies
64%
%
Shading efficiencies
90%
%
Overall efficiencies
57%
%
PV system - efficiency losses
6747
Wh/day
Peak sun hours
5.50
Hours/day
PV system sized to available energy
1227
W
Table 5:
Panel array assessment for the vessel recovery winch running at 3800W for 244 days per
year
Shading efficiency has been set to 90% to account for shading from the water tower and
surrounding relief with other efficiencies being standard across applications.
This calculation estimates that 1630W would be required to power the battery bank and load.
37
This could be supplied by 17
SolarTech SPM100P-TS-F panels. There are higher wattage panels
available but these generally operate at 24V rather than the 12V required by the winch.
Outline cost estimates
Component
Number of units
Cost per
unit
38
Superwinch LP 10000
1
$481.99
39
UB8D Universal 12V
14
$483.83
40
SolarTech SPM100P-TS-F
17
$263.00
Total cost:
Table 6:
Indicative costs for the main pieces of equipment required
Total cost
$481.99
$6773.62
$4471.00
$11,726.50
The costs of this application are extremely large especially as the battery bank, the largest cost
component of the system, will need to be replaced or augmented every 12 months.
Other elements have not been considered in this outline cost calculation include wiring, panel
mountings, charge controllers, a concrete plinth for the winch, caballing for the winch and
maintenance.
Strengths
●
●
Improved health and safety as
fishermen will not be required to pull
ropes manually, there would be no
requirement to stand close to the cable
as it hauls vessels and reduced risk of
snapping of winch cable due to
consistent load applied and
appropriate design
Reduce the number of people required
to haul vessels out
Opportunities
●
There is an opportunity to develop a
system that could be applied across the
region and in other developing
countries
Weaknesses
●
●
●
●
The prohibitively high capital cost of
the system
Maintenance of the winch cable will be
required
The requirements for the battery bank
to be replaced every 12 months
There is no contingency for if there are
a number of boat haul outs required
over a short period of time.
Threats
●
●
The negative perception of winches
and haul out aids due to past accidents
threatens the acceptance of the idea
No current evidence or case studies to
draw on to prove the concept
37
http://www.mrsolar.com/content/pdf/Solartech/SPM100P-TS-F.pdf
38
http://www.superwinch.com/p/lp10000-%E2%80%93-10-000-lbs-12v
39
40
http://www.batteriesasap.com/ub-8d.html
http://www.mrsolar.com/solartech-spm100p-ts-f-100w-12v-solar-panel/
●
Winch technology is very well
established and widely available as is
solar technology
●
There is currently no appetite to
change the method of boat haul out
6.3.2 Fishermen- Jib crane/winch
Application title
Jib crane/winch for vessel unloading
Stakeholder
group
fishermen)
The fish quay in Lobitos services approximately 61 vessels but is equipped with minimal facilities.
The quay does not have a handrail and there is no fresh water supply or power supply (other than
to the lights) on the quay.
The installation of a solar powered jib winch for lifting fish boxes from the decks of boats and
tender vessels up onto the fish quay would provide a solution to the current practice of using
nylon ropes. Water for cleaning the fish and keeping them cool is also collected using ropes.
The current method has many potential dangers exacerbated by the fact that there is no hand rail
and there are no aids/ pulleys to a) reduce the load that is being hauled to quay level and b)
protect the rope from rubbing on the quay edge potentially forming weaknesses and potential
snapping risk. There are many examples of electric winches being used for lifting boxes of fish
with the power required lift these loads appropriately low to be serviced by a solar installation.
The ARPA are not a cash rich organisation with a very modest turnover from subsidies paid by
fishermen. This means that any application should require very low maintenance and running
costs. The ARPA are able to apply for funding from a variety of sources including the Municipality
and the Ministry of Production so larger capital investments are possible if there is a strong case
to support them.
Photograph 5:
Sorting of catch and gutting of
fish in the working area at the end of the pier
Photograph 6:
Sorting of commercial fish. The
concrete tub is filled with water (by hand) to
clean the fish and sort them
Photograph 7:
Tender boat landing fish boxes
Photograph 8:
Sorting of commercial fish
Case studies
There are no readily available case studies of using solar power to power a jib winch. This could be
for several reasons including that the wattage required to power such a system would necessitate
a very large and costly solar installation. This may also be due to the fish quays generally having
ready access to conventional electrical supply (e.g. grid connection and diesel generators) that are
utilised over renewable energy systems. For smaller loads there are a number of hand winches on
the market that are cheaper, easier to operate and easier to maintain than electrical winches that
may be powered by solar energy.
An example of a manual winch that could lift fish boxes and water canisters is the
41
Lifting safety 125kg CDA-3131 manual jib crane
.
Outline design
41
http://www.liftingsafety.co.uk/product/counterbalance-davit-arm-3131.html
The area at the seaward end of the quay where this application is situated is very open with the
sea to the north west, open beach north east and south west. There is an area of relief to the east
that would restrict the early morning sun but would cause little issue if the panels were mounted
high enough. The most obvious location to mount the system is at the end of the fish quay which
is particularly open. There is potential to mount the panels on top the ARPA production building
(6-7m high) however this would require a cable run of approximately 300m increasing cost and
electrical losses. Accordingly the PV system should be situated at the end of the fish quay, close to
the jib winch.
Mountings are required for the panels and battery bank. There are numerous solar panel mounts
42
such as the IronRidge SP/01 Universal Side of Pole Mount which offers a durable option at low
cost. Battery cabinets are required to protect the battery bank. These should be secure, weather
tight and incorporate good ventilation to minimise gas build up. A suitable cabinet for the size and
43
number of batteries in this application is the Midnite Solar - MNBE-DR3 Battery Enclosure
.
This application is suited to a flexible stand-alone solar system as there is no readily available
alternative source of grid power. A conservative approach will be taken when assessing the load
profile as the crane may not be used in a regular predictable manner.
Load characterisation
The concept of a jib winch is similar to the vessel recovery winch explored in 6.3.1 but with the
addition of a frame to allow the handling of loads in the vertical plane. Jib frames are usually
articulated and can be extended to allow the handling of varied loads from platforms at one level
to another.
44
The winch that has been specified in this example is the Superwinch C1000
. This has a lifting
capacity of 454kg running a 1.3hp motor at 12V DC. The datasheet for this winch states that the
motor requires 80 Amps when running at 100% capacity (454kg) and 50 Amps when running at
half capacity (227kg). The loads carried in this application will be much lower than the capacity of
the winch (e.g. fish boxes weighing approximately 20kg water containers weighing approximately
30kg) however there are few other winch options that run at 12V DC.
The system will be used periodically by the fishermen to retrieve water and fish boxes as boats
land their catch. It is assumed that 1-2 boats land per day and that the winch will be used steadily
for a period of 1.5 hour per vessel. The hours of use per day have been stated as 2 hours as the
winch will not be in constant use throughout unloading of the vessel (accounting for shuttling of
tender vessel and loading/unloading).
The wattage of the winch at 50% lifting capacity is calculated as:
P = V *I
42
IronRidge SP/01 Universal Side of Pole Mount
43
http://www.solarpenny.com/Midnite-Solar-MNBE-DR3-Battery-Enclosure-716109.htm
44
http://www.innovation-engineering.co.uk/crane.htm

P = 12 * 50 P = 600 Watts
Device
Superwinch C1000
Voltage
(V)
12
Power
(W)
600
Length of use
(hours/day)
2
Power use over 24
hours (Wh/day)
1200.00
Table 7:
Average load for a job winch
A frame is also required to mount the winch onto. This has been requested from Lifting Safety
with description and quote supplied in Appendix E. The frame is capable of handling 50kg and has

a 90o
left/right swing with 1m reach. The frame is freestanding on a counter balanced base to
allow it to be moved around the quay.
Outline design
Temperature conversion data and depth of discharge have been taken from the Universal UB8D
45
230Ah battery
. This is an AGM battery that can handle a rapid discharge over a short period of
time. At 0.2C (5 hours discharge) this is stated as 212.5Ah. The battery has been over specified to
a high degree due to the short shelf life of AGM batteries. After 12 months of operation, the
battery is predicted to only operate at 64% of its original capacity. With this in mind, 3 batteries
would be required for this system which after a year would still be outputting 637.5Ah at 0.2C.
The specified battery would be able to supply the application at calculated power usage for 18
months, at which point a new battery system should be considered. In addition, after
approximately 400 charge cycles, the battery system would only be operating at 45% of the
original capacity. For this reason the depth of discharge has been set reasonably high at 70%.
The number of days of autonomy has been set to 3 to account for any reduction in irradiance or
maintenance down time for the panels.
AC loads
Inverter efficiency
DC loads
Depth of discharge
Voltage
0
Wh/day
0
0
%
0
1200 Wh/day
1200
3
Days
3600
98% %
3673
70% %
5248
12
V
437
0.437
Table 8:
Battery bank requirements for a jib winch running for 2 hours per day
Wh/day
Wh/day
Wh/day
Wh
Wh
Wh
Ah
kAh
The panel array required for this application has been calculated at approximately 350W. The
46
SolarLand SLP140-12 produces 140 at 12V under standard test conditions. 3 of these panels
45
http://www.mrsolar.com/content/pdf/Universal/UB8D.pdf

46
http://www.mrsolar.com/content/pdf/SolarLand/Panels/SLP140-12.pdf
connected in parallel would create 420W at 12V and would be sufficient to power this application
and battery bank.
Shading efficiency has been set to 98% as there are very few obstructions at the end of the fish
quay where this system will be placed.
Total solar resource
Battery efficiency
PV array efficiency
System efficiencies
1200
85%
75%
64%
98%
Wh/day
%
%
%
%
62%
1921
Peak sun hours
5.50
349
Table 9:
Panel array assessment for a jib winch running for 2 hours per day
%
Wh/day
Hours/day
W
Component
Number of units
Superwinch C1000
Wire Rope 15.2m
CMU lifting davit
IronRidge SP/01 Universal Side of
Pole Mount
Midnite Solar - MNBE-DR3 Battery
Enclosure
Universal UB8D battery
SolarLand SLP140-12 panel
1
1
1
3
Cost per
unit
47
$601.87
48
$86.89
49
$5693.53
$80.73
1
$845.00
3
3
50
51
$478.00
52
$314.65
Total cost:
Table 10:
Total cost
$601.87
$86.89
$5693.53
$242.19
$845.00
$1434.00
$943.95
$9847.43
The costs of the battery bank are the largest component of the overall cost and would have to be
replaced or augmented approximately every 18 months. Other elements to consider would be the
47
http://www.superwinch.com/p/c1000-remote-solenoid-1-000-lbs-12v?pp=12
48
http://www.superwinch.com/p/wire-rope-1-4-x-50-6-4mm-x-15-2m-for-s5000/industrial_craneseries
49
See quote in appendix folder. Note converted from £ to $ on 23/06/2015 at exchange rate of
1.57 dollars to the pound
50
http://www.solarpenny.com/Midnite-Solar-MNBE-DR3-Battery-Enclosure-716109.htm
51
http://www.mrsolar.com/universal-power-12v-230ah-agm-battery/
52
http://www.mrsolar.com/solarland-slp140-12-140w-12v-solar-panel/
maintenance requirements of all components as they will be exposed to salty conditions and
could be susceptible to corrosion.
Cabling, charge controllers, auxiliary works and maintenance have not been considered in this
cost calculation.
Strengths
●
●
Weaknesses
Improved health and safety with
reduces risk of people falling off the
quay and ropes breaking causing injury
Could improve productivity of the
fishermen requiring less people to
unload and allowing quicker
turnaround times
Opportunities
●
●
●
●
There are no ready-made systems or
case studies that can be drawn on to
prove the concept
Careful managem
e
nt of usage in line
with the battery charge state will be
required to ensure the longevity of the
battery (this is due to there being no
obvious schedule for use of the
application).
Threats
There is an opportunity to develop a
system that could be applied across the
region and in other developing
countries
Winch technology is very well
established and widely available as is
solar technology
●
●
The negative perception of winches
and haul out aids due to past accidents
threatens the acceptance of the idea
Maintenance of the all components
would be required as the area is
exposed and could be susceptible to
corrosion
6.3.3 Fishermen- Lighting of fish quay
Application title
Lighting of the fishing quay
Stakeholder
group
fishermen)
There are several facilities to support the operations of the Lobitos artisanal fishing fleet. These
include a car parking, processing building, a quay and road access to connect these facilities.
Street lighting is used to illuminate these areas during the hours of darkness to allow safe
operations. The usual pattern for day boats is to launch very early in the morning, while in
darkness, and return around mid-morning. Lighting is also seen to increase security of the
facilities.
The ARPA pays for the electricity that is used in the processing building and lighting. The
approximate monthly bill is 150s/ per month. There are 12 outside lights in total using 80 watt
bulbs which run from the hours of 7pm to 5am daily.
The lights were installed in mid 1990s and are grid connected through agreement with Enosa.
Through initial usage the ARPA noted that the bill was more expensive than they could afford (no
details given on what the cost was). As a result the Ministry of Production scoped, designed and
installed 6 solar panels, two charge controllers and two batteries (see photos) in 1995. This
system was tested after installation but failed after 2 days of use. The fishermen had been
supplied with no instructions and no contact at the Ministry of Production to repair the PV
installation.
The lights were reconnected to the grid system but have been wire so that only 4 lights are used
in order to reduce the electricity bill. The PV installation was removed after the panels were
vandalised and two of the panels were stolen.
While in Lobitos I tried to do some tests on the panels to see if the problem could be diagnosed. I
wired the panels to a charge controller and batteries to see if any of the indicator lights came on
(the battery and charge controller both had indicator lights to signify the status of the
installation). The system showed no lights when wired straight to the battery or through the
charge controller. I checked to see if there were any fuses in the panels or charge controller that
could be replaced. Without a multi-meter/volt-meter it is not possible to accurately diagnose the
problem.
A new system utilising more up to date technology will be scoped under this application use of
the full lighting system. This project may also involve changing the bulbs in the lamps to energy
saving bulbs or LEDs.
This application would require careful training of the fishermen into the operation and
maintenance of equipment to build trust and allow appropriate maintenance to be done. Capital
costs may be available through grant funding from the Municipality or Ministry of Production.
Photograph 9:
View down the fish quay to the
fish production facility
Photograph 10: Working area at the end of
the fish quay. Lighting in the background
Photograph 11:
View down the fish quay from
the production building
Photograph 12:
View down the fish quay back
to the production building
Literature review
53
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United states have produced a technical paper on
the planning, construction and management considerations required for small and medium scale
fishing ports. There is a section detailing considerations of using PV for lighting of fishing port
facilities. The document notes that outdoor lighting systems are usually stand-alone systems
noting the use of gel batteries and recommend those fittings are aluminium and stainless steel to
avoid corrosion.
In this application the lighting will be external and illuminate an area that accommodates both
vehicular and pedestrian traffic. As such it is appropriate to look at standards and examples of
street lighting.
With the advances made in cost reduction of LED lighting, the energy requirements of outdoor
lighting systems have reduced dramatically. LEDs have a significantly longer life of approximately
54
50,000 hours, well over twice that of conventional street lights
. In addition power usage can be
up to 50W less than conventional lighting systems whilst providing a similar lighting performance
55
53
http://www.fao.org/publications/card/en/c/994c5499-4a04-525e-81f5-3d6268675699/
54
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/alliances/outdoor_area_lighting.pdf
55
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/alliances/outdoor_area_lighting.pdf
There are several integrated PV and LED luminaire units available on the market from as little as
56
57
$600
. In addition, companies such as Philips offer tailor made lighting systems based on:
● Application (road, residential, area, security etc.)
● Geographical location
● Required light levels
● Required uptime (number of hours of light)
● Possibility of dimming the light (during off-peak hours)
Outline design
In the current installation, 12 lights cover the pier (which is 314m long by 7-12m wide) and the car
park area. There are existing poles which are approximately 5 high.
For a PV array of the size potentially required for this application, the production facility roof
would be an appropriate mounting point. The only potential shading obstructions in the area are
from the water tower situated to the north and an area of relief to the east. These obstructions
should be taken into account in the panel sizing calculations.
The system will run as a stand-alone system to allow 12V LED units to be utilised. The lights will be
connected in a string to minimise the amount of equipment required to light the area. A grid
fallback system would be a potential option that could be investigated however the load is of a
scale and predictable for an optimised stand-alone solution to be utilised.
Outline design
In order to reduce the number of LED units and overall costs of the installation, a wide angle
58
luminaire has been specified, the 27W-LED-Street-12VDC-120-BA
. This covers a wider footprint
from a single source than many other LED lights on the market.
The units use 2.3 amps at 12V of DC. The unit provides 2800 lumens with the area inside the
beam angle providing enough light to read.

The LED unit has lighting angle of 120o
in both lateral and longitudinal planes. The footprint
covered by the stated 2800 lumens is calculated as:
tan(x) = oa
56
http://ledcent.en.made-in-china.com/product/AbcnFdsJlypj/China-15W-160W-Solar-Street-Lightwith-Solar-Panel-Controller-and-Battery.html
57
http://www.lighting.philips.com/pwc_li/main/application_areas/assets/pdf/Philips_solar_road_lig
hting_solutions.pdf
58
http://www.led-cfl-lighthouse.com/page/1449301
tan (60) = o5 o = tan (60) * 5 o = 8.7m This means that a footprint of 17.3m by 17.3m will be illuminated from this light source. To fully
illuminate the whole pier 18 of these units will be required to full highway specification. In order
to reduce power requirements, fit in with the pattern of lighting poles available and to account
for spill-over from the fully flooded footprint, a string of 8 LED units will be calculated. This will be
sufficient to light the pier and if appropriate, a duplicate system could be used to light the car
park and production buildings.
Length of use has been set to 10 hours per day to replicate original system.
Device
Voltage
(V)
Power
(W)
27W-LED-Street-12VDC-120
12
27
-BA
Table 11:
Average load for a single LED light
Length of use
(hours/day)
Power use over 24
hours (Wh/day)
10
270.00
Outline design
59
The full string of 8 lighting units requires 2160 Wh/day.
A bank of 8 Universal UB-30H 93Ah (at

C10) Gel batteries would be sufficient in this case. These batteries operate at 100% temperature

compensation efficiency at 250
C. As the batteries will be housed in the production facility, the
temperature can be moderated to allow full performance of the battery and hence the
temperature compensation has been set to 100%. The depth of discharge has been set to 75% to
allow approximately 450 cycles.
The number of days of autonomy in this system has been set to 3 to account for any outages of
the PV array or prolonged spells of limited irradiance.
AC loads
Inverter efficiency
DC loads
Number of days of
autonomy
Depth of discharge
Voltage
59
0
0
2160
Wh/day
%
Wh/day
0
0
2160
Wh/day
Wh/day
Wh/day
3
Days
6480
Wh
100%
%
6480
75%
%
8640
12
V
720
Wh
Wh
Ah
kAh
http://www.mrsolar.com/content/pdf/Universal/UB30H.pdf
0.72
Table 12:
Battery bank requirements for a string of 8 luminaires
The panel array has been calculated needing to be a 684W system in order to meet the
generation requirements of the battery bank and load. The shading efficiencies have been set at
90% to account for the shading effect of the water tower assuming that the panels will be
60
mounted on the roof of the production building. Seven 100W Solartech SPM100P-TS-F 100W
panels connected in parallel would generate 700W and therefore be sufficient to supply this
application.
Total solar resource required
Battery efficiency
PV array efficiency
System efficiencies
Peak sun hours
Table 13:
Panel array assessment for a string of 8 luminaires
2160
85%
75%
64%
90%
57%
3765
5.50
684
Wh/day
%
%
%
%
%
Wh/day
Hours/day
W
Component
Number of units
27W-LED-Street-12VDC-120-BA
luminaire
Universal UB-30H battery
SolarTech SPM100P-TS-F panel
8
8
7
Cost per
unit
61
$375.00
62
$225.00
63
$263.00
Total cost:
Table 14:
Total cost
$3000
$1800
$1841
$6641
Table 12 summarises the main costs of this application. Items that have not been included are
battery cabinets (the batteries may be stored inside the production building), panel fixings, light
fixings and wiring runs. These elements will be considered in more detail if taken through to
detailed design.
Another element that could be investigated is lighting sensors that may only turn the lights on
when movement or presence is sensed and dim the lights when there is no presence. This would
60
http://www.mrsolar.com/content/pdf/SolarLand/Panels/SLP085-12U.pdf
61
62
http://www.mrsolar.com/universal-power-12v-98ah-gel-battery/?page_context=category&facete
d_search=0
63
http://www.mrsolar.com/solartech-spm100p-ts-f-100w-12v-solar-panel/
have the effect of reducing the amount of time that the system is in operation and hence the PV
system size
Strengths
●
●
●
Weaknesses
Improves health and safety as well as
security around the fish quay and
production building
Has potential to reduce the electricity
costs to the ARPA
There is a predictable and regular load
that would could be well serviced by a
PV system
Opportunities
●
●
●
●
High capital costs
The batteries will need to be replaced
after approximately 450 cycles
If the PV system failed, the LEDs would
not operate with grid electricity unless
a step down inverter was installed
Threats
Could be designed as a stand-alone
system to be used for other
applications e.g. as street lighting.
●
●
The lighting would have to be
disconnected from the grid to allow
the system to operate (without supply
of an inverter) which would mean no
contingency and inhibitive costs to
reconnect to the grid.
Would have to build trust with the
fishermen as they may distrust the
technology after the previous system
failed
6.3.4 Fishermen- Pumping water for use in water tower
Application title
Pumping water for ARPA production building water tower
Stakeholder
group
fishermen)
Water is supplied to the production facility via a water tower. This was built to service the
planned processing plant but it currently just supplies water for toilet facilities in the ARPA offices.
Water is delivered by truck once a month and pumped up to the water tower using a small 370W
hydro-pump (see Photograph 13). The tank takes approximately an hour to fill. The pump used for
this activity currently runs off the mains but solar energy could be used to charge a battery to
supply the pump, reducing the electricity bill that the ARPA have to pay.
Photograph 13:
Pump shown during meeting
with the fishermen
Photograph 14:
Specifications of the pump
used for pumping water into the water tower
Photograph 15:
The ARPA production building
with water tower to the left of the photo
Photograph 16:
Water tower in the
background
Case studies and literature review
Practical Action has produced guidance on solutions for water pumping including utilising PV as a
64
power source
. The benefits of using solar PV to perform this pumping activity include:
● no fuel costs
● low maintenance
● easy installation
● long life (20 year)
Negatives include
● high capital costs
● water storage is required for cloudy/non sunny periods
● repairs often require skilled technicians
64
http://practicalaction.org/pumping-water-by-solar-power

The report highlights that the any PV system should be sized relative to the pump specifications
and characteristics to ensure efficiency. In this application the pump runs on single phase AC
meaning that an inverter is required to convert the DC current supplied by a solar system to AC.
Inverters can also modify the output frequency from the PV system to optimise the power output
to the load on the pump.
The Practical Action guidance states that it is important to supply the most efficient pump
available as the difference in cost between the poor pump and a very efficient pump is much less
that the additional cost required for a larger PV panel.
In this case, as the water is being delivered
monthly and pumped over a short time, more efficient pumps would potentially increase the
length of time for deliveries to take place and increase delivery costs. Therefore a PV system using
the existing pump working under a similar timeframe has been investigated.
Outline design
There area that this application will be set in is very open with the sea to the north west, open
beach north east and south west. There is an area of relief to the east that would restrict the early
morning sun but would cause little issue if the panels were mounted high enough. There are two
potential mounting points for the panels: on top of the ARPA production building (6-7m) or on top
of the water tower (approximately 10m). The water tower is preferable in this case to keep the
panels closer to the rest of the system and also to avoid shading that the water tower would cast
onto the production building roof.
This application is suited to a stand-alone solar system due to the long length of time available for
batteries to recharge (reducing risk of solar irradiance fluctuations having a large effect of power
output) and the ease with which the pump could be switched back to the grid supplied electricity
in the event of PV system downtime
.
The specifications of the current pump are listed in the table below. The length of use in hours per
day is based on the interview with the ARPA in which they stated that the water tower was filled
once every month and takes approximately an hour to fill. This gives the average power required
per day for the application at current usage levels. The pump operates at 220V AC on single phase
so a single phase inverter is required.
Load Characterisation
Voltage
Power
Length of use
(V)
(W)
(hours/day)
Existing pump
220
370
0.0329
Table 15:
Load characterisation for existing water pump
Device
Power use over 24
hours (Wh/day)
12.16
As this application is to power a very intermittent and intense load, the battery bank has to be
sized to allow the pump to operate for one hour at full capacity. Over a single 1 hour use of the
pump, the battery bank is required to supply 370Wh of power. This is the rating that should be
carried forward to size the battery bank.
Outline design
Temperature conversion data and depth of discharge have been taken from the Universal UB4D65
66
200Ah battery
. This is an AGM battery that can handle a rapid discharge over an hour operating
at 120Ah at 1C. The battery has been over specified to a high degree due to the short shelf life of
AGM batteries. After 12 months of operation, the battery is predicted to only operate at 64% of
its original capacity. The specified the battery would be able to supply the application at
calculated power usage for 12 months only at which point a new battery system would be
required.
As the pump operates on single phase AC current, an inverter is required to link the battery to the
67
load. The inverter selected is the Solar Power Maker SPM-MC1000
. This has the flexibility to
output at 220V at 60Hz to a power rating of 1000W. The inverter efficiencies are stated as >93%
which has been included in the table below.
The number of days of autonomy has been set to 0 due to the very long period available for
charging the battery. This would negate the need to account for variations in solar irradiance or
small scale maintenance.
370.0
Wh/day
370 Wh/day
0
Inverter efficiency
93% %
398 Wh/day
DC loads
0 Wh/day
398 Wh/day
0 days
398 Wh
98% %
406 Wh
Depth of discharge
70% %
580 Wh
Voltage
12 V
48 Ah
48 Ah
Table 16:
Battery bank requirements for the water pump running for 1 hour once a month
AC loads
The panel system should now be specified to allow for full charging of the battery bank every
month (assumed as 30 days). Note this number will be higher than the average consumption
calculated in Table 16 as the battery bank has been oversized.
W = V * I (Ah of the battery bank) W = (12 * 200)/30
W = 80W h/day This can now be inputted into the standard calculation table.
Battery efficiency
PV array efficiency
80
85%
75%
Wh/day
%
%
65
66
67
http://www.solarpowermaker.com/phase-inverter?search=single phase inverter
System efficiencies
Peak sun hours
64%
90%
57%
139
5.50
%
%
%
Wh/day
Hours/day
25
W
Table 17:
Panel array assessment for the water pump running for 1 hour once a month
The shading efficiencies for this application have been set at 98% assuming that the panels will be
68
mounted on top of the water tower. The 25W Solarland SLP025-12U would be an appropriate
panel to use for this application.
Component
Number of units
Cost per
Total cost
unit
69
Universal UB4D battery
1
$325
$325
70
Solar Power Maker SPM-MC1000
1
~$84.50
$30
71
25W Solarland SLP025-12U panel
1
$103.04
$103.04
Total cost:
$458.04
Table 18:
Indicative costs for the main pieces of equipment required to supply water pump
Estimated costs of the main equipment for this application is approximately $460 not including
shipping, cables, mounting or maintenance. The largest cost component is the battery which will
have to be replaced annually.
Strengths
●
●
The system is relatively cheap
The application can be run using single
components rather than arrays
meaning less cabling and maintenance
Weaknesses
●
●
Opportunities
●
●
There is a good local solar resource with
numerous secure and unobstructed
areas to mount panels.
The pump will be able to be
reconnected to grid power if the solar
system fails
The requirement to purchase a new
battery every year mean that there
savings will be modest if any over using
grid supplied electricity
The high discharge rate is not suited to
stand alone solar PV systems
Threats
●
●
The application would be reliant on the
users knowing how to use the
equipment and replacing the battery
after a year
The application would push the
equipment to the limit of its
68
http://www.mrsolar.com/content/pdf/SolarLand/Panels/SLP025-12U.pdf
69
http://www.mrsolar.com/universal-power-12v-200ah-agm-battery/
70
http://www.solarpowermaker.com/phase-inverter?search=single phase inverter
71
http://www.pvpower.com/Solarland-25w-Multi-solar-panel-SLP030-12U-1-1.aspx
operational range meaning that faults
may be more common
6.3.5 Residents/small businesses- Use of solar to offset electricity bills
Application title
Use of solar to offset electricity bills for residents or small businesses
Stakeholder
group
Residents/small businesses
This application is proposed to raise awareness and highlight the opportunity to residents and
small business owners in Lobitos of the potential savings on electricity bills. In order to
demonstrate potential costs/benefits, an example has been selected based on a typical
household/small business.
Jesus Vite Taume- owner of a small shop and catering business
Jesus owns and runs a convenience store from his property in the residential area of Bellavista.
On occasion he will cater for municipality meetings and events but this is very small scale.
The main electrical loads are 3 fridges, a TV, lights, charging of 2 mobile phones and cooking
appliances. He is very aware of his energy use as this is his main business outgoing. He tries to
manage electricity use by consolidating stock and switching off fridges.
He has family who live in Talara and stated that electricity is more expensive in Lobitos due to the
distance from the main grid and the relatively small usage (no industry or large scale users other
than hostel owners). All electricity is metered and managed by ENOSA. There is also a charge
proportionate to the energy bill that pays for street lights and taxes.
The unit price of electricity is gradually rising and all parts of the bill are increasing including taxes
and street light payments. If a bill is not paid for 2 months the electricity is cut off with
reconnections being charged on top of the outstanding balance.
He has a good perception of solar applications because the phone boxes used to be powered
using solar electricity and he tapped into electricity generated by these illegally to offset his own
electricity usage.
Literature review
The IEA PVPS Task 9 aims to “increase the deployment of PV services for regional development”.
This initiative has produced a report exploring issues in “Pico Solar PV Systems for Remote
72
Homes”
. This report draws on experiences to date and provides examples of pico solar systems.
The design of the solar PV system detailed in this report are smaller than this application however
a lot of the lessons are still valid especially in respect to the importance of demand assessment,
client buy in and financing models for PV equipment.
Key lessons in this report include:
●
●
72
The project and the long-term commitment of the stakeholders are vital for the success of
73
the PV project
The size of system installations needs to be determined based on demand—which in turn
74
needs to balance three often conflicting viewpoints from
:
http://www.iea.org/media/openbulletin/Pico_Solar_PV_System.pdf

73
Finucane, Jim, & Purcell, Christopher, PV for Community Service Facilities: Guidance for
Sustainability, AFREA and World Bank, Washington D.C., 2010
74
World Bank, Rural electrification in Africa, Washington D.C., USA, April 2012
o
●
International financial institutions (funders), often oriented toward basic needs and
cost-benefit analyses;
o end-users, who often list TV viewing the highest priority; and
o engineers, who typically determine standardized need levels and system sizes.
The lack of lasting maintenance structures is a significant weakness of PV system service
delivery in many programmes.
75
In terms of financing models noted by the IEA
, these can be broken down into three categories:
1. Dealer Credit, where the client enters into credit with the PV system dealer. Upon paying
off the credit the client becomes the owner of the equipment. Under this model, analysis
of the life cycle of the PV system and potential maintenance/replacement component
such as batteries should be consider when determining the credit term
2. End-user Credit, where credit to by the PV equipment is obtained by the user from a third
party such as a bank. Usually the end-user becomes the owner of the system immediately,
but this can be delayed until all payments are made. The PV system can be used as
collateral against the loan.
3. Lease / Hire purchase, where the equipment is leased to the client for a term at the end of
which the client may or may not own the equipment depending on the agreement. During
the term of the lease the lessor is responsible for any maintenance or repairs
The IEA report also highlights some common appliances and estimates usual power usages.
●
●
A small TV (7 inch LCD) requires a power of less than 10 watts.
The energy consumption of a refrigerator depends size, efficiency, temperature setting
and the temperature of the room in which it is placed. In the literature, refrigerator
consumption values of 1000-1300 kWh/year (3-4 kWh/day) are quoted [Hagan, 2006].
The power demand of standard (compression type) refrigerator is between 50 and 100 W,
depending on size.
The IEA have reported on funding mechanisms to finance uptake of PV systems in developing
76
77
countries as well as real case studies of where these have been applied
.
75
http://www.iea.org/media/openbulletin/Pico_Solar_PV_System.pdf

76
https://energypedia.info/images/7/74/Financing_Mechanisms_for_Solar_Home_Systems_in_Dev
eloping_Countries.pdf
77
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCcQFjAA
&url=http%3A%2F%2Fiea-pvps.org%2Findex.php%3Fid%3D155%26eID%3Ddam_frontend_push%
26docID%3D206&ei=jJZTVdHZKoq1sQSB6oHYBg&usg=AFQjCNGS6BuQHtlSWSQ4vzE8IiKXK8_Cmw
&sig2=AI9XonlHW9Z_thmXCEZ9Lw&bvm=bv.93112503,d.cWc
Practical Action have produced numerous technical resources to support the installation of PV
78
installations at reduced cost
.
Outline design
The Bellavista area of Lobitos is relatively built up with single and 2 storey buildings. The buildings
are generally constructed of thin wooden walls with corrugated metal roofs. It would be possible
to mount solar panels on these roof structures but extreme care is required to ensure that the
roof can take the weight of workers during installation and maintenance. Specific fixings are
required that are compatible with roof mounted installations with rubber/plastic caps used
around fixings to ensure the roof remains watertight.

Approximately 50m2
of roof space is available on the roof of Jesus’s house and restaurant. The
roof is west north west facing and is not shaded by other trees or buildings. Space would need to
be found inside the building to house the battery bank (therefore Gel or AGM batteries would be
appropriate due to the reduced gas emissions) and connection to the main circuit board.
It is proposed that the system will run as a stand-alone system supplying a dedicated circuit to the
kitchen and living room/shop area to power the more power hungry appliances. A grid tied back
up system would also be an appropriate solution but this will be explored further if this case sudy
is taken forward for detailed design.
Load assessment
Using the information gain from a survey of the Jesus’ property the loading assessment has been
created below. The estimated power usages have been taken from Appendix C of the Solar
79
Electricity Handbook
.
It is estimated that the fridges will only be drawing power for 12 hours a day. This is due to the
fridge motor only operating to maintain a temperature rather than operating permanently which
(assuming efficient thermal insulation properties of the fridge casing).
Device
350 litre fridge
81
CRT TV 21"
Food mixer
80
Voltage
(V)
Power
(W)
220
220
220
125
100
130
Length of
use
(hours/day)
12
4
1
Number
of items
Power use over 24
hours (Wh/day)
3
1
1
4500
400
65
78
http://answers.practicalaction.org/our-resources/item/small-scale-off-grid-solar-pv-installation-m
anual
79
SEH
80
http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/refrigerators.html
81
http://energyusecalculator.com/electricity_lcdleddisplay.htm
Table 19:
Load profile for an example small business owner
Outline design
In order to minimise inverter inefficiencies the system has been designed at 24V. This can be
achieved by wiring two 12V batteries in series. An inverter will be required as the appliances all
currently run on AC current at 220V from the main grid system. The CTP-5000W inverter is
sufficient for this application taking 24V DC and converting to 220V AC at single phase and is rated
82
at 5000W
. 85% efficiencies have been applied to the calculations as stated in the specification of
this inverter.
The number of days autonomy has been set to 1 due to grid connection still being maintained. If
there is a break in supply then loads can be re-connected to the grid circuit. This reduces the
requirement of the battery bank significantly. Some level of storage is required however to power
loads at night and through overcast periods.
Temperature conversion data and depth of discharge have been taken from the MK 8G4D 183Ah
83
12V battery
. This is a Gel battery that at 75% depth of discharge, is capable of providing 750
cycles. 4 battery units would be required for this system with two groups of batteries wired in
series and then parallel to provide 24V at the required Ah.
AC loads
Inverter efficiency
DC loads
Number of days of
autonomy
Depth of discharge
Voltage
4965
85%
0
1
Wh/day
%
Wh/day
days
4965
5841
5841
5841
98% %
5960
75% %
7947
24 V
331
Battery bank requirements: 0.33
Table 20:
Battery bank requirements for an example small business owner
Wh/day
Wh/day
Wh/day
Wh
Wh
Wh
Ah
kAh
The shading efficiencies for this application have been set at 90% to account for potential shading
84
from surrounding buildings. The 120W SolarTECH SPM140P-S-F 12V panel would be an
appropriate panel to use for this application with 11 units required for this application. The panel

dimensions are 1466mm by 660mm meaning that approximately 11m2
of roof space is required.
Battery efficiency
PV array efficiency
System efficiencies
4965
85%
75%
64%
Wh/day
%
%
%
82
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Factory-straight-sell-5000W-24V-Inverter-Solar-for-off-grid-CTP5000W/951502775.html
83
http://www.mrsolar.com/content/pdf/MKBattery/8G4D.pdf
84
http://www.mrsolar.com/content/pdf/Solartech/SPM140P-S-F.pdf
Peak sun hours
90%
57%
8654
5.50
%
%
Wh/day
Hours/day
1573
W
Table 21:
Panel array assessment for an example small business owner
Component
Number of units
MK 8G4D 183Ah 12V Gel battery
CTP-5000Winverter
120W SolarTECH SPM140P-S-F 12V
panel
4
1
11
Cost per
unit
85
$515.00
86
$631.75
87
$ 275.00
Total cost
$2600.00
$631.75
$3025.00
Total cost:
$6256.75
Table 22:
Indicative costs for the main pieces of equipment required to reduce small business
electricity bill
Estimated costs of the main equipment for this application is approximately $6256.75 not
including shipping, cables, mounting, charge controllers or maintenance.
Strengths
●
●
●
Introduces solar technology to Lobitos
and demonstrates operation and
benefits to those that require solar
technologies
Reduces resident and small businesses
outgoings and alerts the community to
the potential of solar energy
The design of the system is such that a
grid connection would be maintained
meaning that autonomy times are
reduced and leave potential for grid fall
back design
Weaknesses
●
●
Excess electricity cannot be fed back
into the grid on the micro scale
currently which means that any cost
benefit analysis would have to be
based on savings on paying for grid
electricity
There may be residual charges for
staying connected to the grid that
would limit the savings made.
85
http://www.mrsolar.com/mk-8g4d-183ah-12v-gel-battery/?page_context=category&faceted_se
arch=0
86
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Factory-straight-sell-5000W-24V-Inverter-Solar-for-off-grid-CTP5000W/951502775.html
87
http://www.mrsolar.com/solartech-spm140p-s-f-140w-12v-solar-panel/?page_context=category
&faceted_search=0
Opportunities
●
●
Threats
There is an un tapped marked in
Lobitos for use of solar panels
The high price of electricity will lead to
interest in alternative forms of
generation
●
There is no conformation as to how
ENOSA will react if there is reduced
electricity demand from grid sources in
Lobitos
6.3.6 Municipality- Lighting of football court
Application title
Lighting of the community football courts
Stakeholder
group
Municipal government
The municipality run and maintain 2 football courts in Lobitos that are floodlit at night. Users of
the courts are not charged so the full costs are borne by the municipality. The municipality have
expressed an interest fitting a solar installation at the courts to reduce their electricity bills.
The benefit of this application would be to lower on-going running costs of the municipality
allowing funds to be spent in other areas such as employment schemes.
Literature review
This application draws on the same concepts and equipment as explored under section 6.3.3
which explores solar lighting of the fish quay.
Royal Philips Electronics have developed a solar lighting system designed specifically for lighting a
88
football court
. The equipment they specify consists of of 8 Fortimo LED module floodlights on
four portable poles. The system uses Fortimo LED luminaires with 2 mounted to each pole. A 25W
LED luminaire provides 1800 lumens providing an average of 15 lux, on football field 30x15m. The
system also specifies 2 batteries which power a 4 hour session for 2 nights without requiring
recharging and are estimated to have a lifetime of 5 years. The system is powered by an
unspecified number of 80W PV units.
Shell have created a novel system of using the kinetic energy that players exert through their feet
89
into electrical energy to power loads such as pitch lighting
. The tiles required to do this are not
readily available but further enquires can be made if this application is taken through to detailed
design.
Outline design
The football court is situated in the Bellavista area of Lobitos. The court is surrounded by 2
covered stands on the long sides, a changing facility on the east side and a wall on the west. The
stands are the same height or taller than the surrounding buildings. The roofs over the stands are
constructed of corrugated metal sheets and tubular steel frames. They are angler at

approximately 15o
to horizontal. The changing facility has a flat concrete roof. There is

approximately 140m2
on each of the stand roofs and 85m2
on the changing facility roof available
to mount panels.
88
http://www.mea.lighting.philips.com/pwc_li/me_en/application_areas/assets/pdf/solar_floodligh
t.pdf
89
http://www.pavegen.com/home
Storage space is available for a battery bank in the in the changing facility although ventilation
bricks may need to be added to prevent gas build-up. 5m poles that hold the existing lights are
available at the four corners of the pitch to mount new lighting units onto.
The system has been designed as a stand-alone system due to the predictable pattern of load and
ample storage and mounting space for equipment.
Figure 10:
Location plan of football court
Load Assessment
The court lighting is currently supplied by 8 street lights. This application proposes replacing these
with LED lights to reduce the overall system requirements
As with the application to light the fish quay (section 6.3.3), it would be preferable to replace the
conventional street bulbs with LED luminaires. This will reduce the PV system requirements and
the overall costs. In addition LED bulbs are very reliable meaning minimal maintenance or
changing of bulbs would be required.
The football court measures 10m by 20m with the furthest possible distance from a pole being
approximately 11.5m.
90
Utilising the wide angle luminaire 27W-LED-Street-12VDC-120-BA as specified under the
previous application, the coverage of each light is 17.3m by 17.3m assuming 5m poles. This means
that 2 lights could be used to light the area but 4 would provide a more comprehensive coverage.
90
Length of use has been set to 6 hours per day to provide light until midnight every night based on
the shortest day when the sun sets at approximately 6pm. The load calculation below is for a
single light.
Device
Voltage
(V)
Power
(W)
Length of
use
(hours/day)
27W-LED-Street12
27
12VDC-120-BA
Table 23:
Load profile for lighting of the football court
Number
of items
6
Power use over 24
hours (Wh/day)
4
162.00
Outline design
As the luminaires will be switch from AC conventional bulbs running at 220V to 12V DC LED bulbs,
the system has to be robust as it the lights would not work on grid power. Accordingly the
number of days of autonomy has been set to 3 to account for panel downtime or reduced
irradiance.
Temperature conversion data and depth of discharge have been taken from the UB27 86Ah GEL
91
12V battery
. This is a Gel battery that at 50% depth of discharge is capable of providing ~550
cycles. 4 battery units would be required for this system.
AC loads
Inverter efficiency
DC loads
Number of days of
autonomy
Depth of discharge
Voltage
0
0
648
3
Wh/day
%
Wh/day
days
100%
%
50%
%
12
V
Table 24:
Battery bank requirements for lighting of the football court
0
0
648
1944
Wh/day
Wh/day
Wh/day
Wh
1944
3888
324
0.32
Wh
Wh
Ah
kAh
The shading efficiencies for this application have been set at 90% to account for potential shading
92
from surrounding buildings. The 110W SolarTECH SPM110P-FSW 12V panel would be an
appropriate panel to use for this application with 2 units required to service the load and battery
bank.
Battery efficiency
PV array efficiency
System efficiencies
91
http://www.mrsolar.com/content/pdf/Universal/UB27.pdf
92
http://www.mrsolar.com/content/pdf/Solartech/SPM110P-FSW.pdf
648
85%
75%
64%
90%
57%
1129
Wh/day
%
%
%
%
%
Wh/day
Peak sun hours
5.50
Hours/day
Table 25:
Panel array assessment for lighting of the football court
205
W
Component
Number of units
UB27 86Ah GEL 12V Gel battery
27W-LED-Street-12VDC-120-BA
lumiaire
120W SolarTECH SPM140P-S-F 12V
panel
4
4
Cost per
unit
93
$219.00
94
$375.00
2
$ 250.00
95
Total cost
$876.00
$1500.00
$500.00
Total cost:
$2876.00
Table 26:
Indicative costs for the main pieces of equipment required for lighting of the football
court
Strengths
●
●
●
●
This application is a relatively cheap
way of demonstrating the capabilities
of solar PV alongside LED bulbs for
lighting of public areas.
Reduces municipality outgoings and
frees up revenue for funding other
schemes that could benefit the local
community
Opportunities
●
Weaknesses
●
There is no option for grid backup
without purchasing an inverter to
convert 220V AC to 12V DC
The batteries would only last
approximately 550 cycles at close to
full capacity. After two years
replacements may need to be
considered.
Threats
The municipality can easily access
capital funding through the Canon
scheme to fund this scheme
The high price of electricity will lead to
interest in alternative forms of
●
●
ENOSA will charge for reconnection of
supply if the solar system fails.
There is no confirmation as to how
ENOSA will react if there is reduced
electricity demand from grid sources in
Lobitos
93
http://www.mrsolar.com/universal-power-12v-86ah-gel-battery/?page_context=category&facet
ed_search=0
94
95
http://www.mrsolar.com/solartech-spm140p-s-f-140w-12v-solar-panel/?page_context=category
&faceted_search=0
generation from the municipality and
public of Lobitos
●
The success or failure of the system
could be used for political purposes
which could affect other work planned
by EcoSwell
6.3.7 School- Use of solar to offset bills for the schools/for education
Application title
Use of solar PV in the school
Stakeholder
group
Secondary school
This application is based on two factors:
1. to reduce electricity bills of the school through generating power using solar electricity,
2. to provide a practical example of solar PV that could be incorporated into the curriculum
to support education on electricity generation, renewable energy and wider sustainability
issues
.
In addition to this, implementation of a PV system at the school would be a good way to introduce
the technology to the town of Lobitos as there are links from the school to all parts of the
community.
The secondary school has 55 12-18 year old students who are all from Lobitos. The schools
opening hours are from 7.30 till 1pm. There are 8 teachers in the secondary school with 6 paid for
by the Ministry for Education (national department) and 2 paid for by the municipality. The school
teaches sciences, technology and environmental classes (amongst other subjects). The school
running costs are covered by charges the parents a fee of 35 soles per child per year. This income
stream is unreliable as most parents do not pay it leading to issues regarding bill payments.
The secondary school, primary and nursery schools are all situated on the same plot with total
electricity used metered and charged as a single bill. There have been disputes over the amount
each institution should pay based on the number of pupils at each school and the activities that
are undertaken in each building (e.g. primary school has a kitchen with microwaves and a kettle).
The electricity bill is paid for solely by the parents charge. Last October the electricity was cut off
from grid electricity due to unpaid bills. This incurred a reconnection fee when outstanding
parent’s payments were collected. Details of the primary and nursery schools that are based at
the same site are not available as they could not be reached for an interview.
The secondary school has several appliances that utilise electricity but the main ones are: 13
computers with LCD monitors (see
Photograph 20
) and 3 flat screen TVs (see
Photograph 17
) that
are used in some lessons. They have a science lab with numerous dynamos and electric motors
(see
Photograph 18
).
Photograph 17:
Example TV in a classroom
Photograph 18:
Electrical teaching equipment
Photograph 19:
Side of secondary school
building with view of flat roof
Photograph 20:
Computer room
Literature review
American School and University website published an article on the use of PV to offset running
96
costs whilst as enriching the school curricula
. The article highlights the added benefit of
providing tailored education for students who may wish to enter the growing green employment
sector, something which has parallels with Lobitos.
The suitability criteria of a school or educational facility for installation and operation of PVs
systems has also been explored in the article. Topics for consideration include:
● Space. Do the facilities have unused and available land or well-oriented roofs with
minimal obstructions?
● Assessment of Solar resources. For the geographical location of the proposed installation
● Electricity pricing and reliability.
96
http://asumag.com/energy/going-solar-green-schools

●
Available rebates and subsidy.
An example of a successful educational institution adopting PV to offset energy costs is the
Pioneer Middle School in the USA. Aside from generating electricity the teachers have integrated
the PV systems into their curriculum using the Web-based monitoring system used as part of the
power purchase agreements (contracts between a third party owner of the PV system and the
school). This allows the demonstration of the quantities of electricity provided by the system at
any time as well as the variation in this generation. The district has seen significant savings on its
utility bills, and the students are growing up with the awareness that their schools are doing
something good for the environment.
The Practical Action report ‘Schools and Safe and Healthy Housing. Practical Solutions for Rural
and Semi-Urban Areas’ highlights the potential for PV for use in education in Peru (document
translated from Spanish).
The report highlights a number of uses for solar energy including use in schools for powering
appliances, educational equipment (Audiovisual and multimedia) and for lighting.
The report also highlights a number of projects that Practical Action have completed related to
solar energy in Peru including:
● rural electrification schemes,
● Providing support to the District Municipalities to allocate budgets to finance
hydroelectric, photovoltaic systems,
● Providing resources for maintenance of equipment across 9 solar installations which have
been developed to allow access to Internet and use of ICT resources.
These projects were fund by organisations such as: Lutheran World Relief, Christadelphian
Meal-a-Day Fund of the Americas,
Government of Aragón, Provincial de Zaragoza, the Spanish

Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID) and the APC Embassy Program
Japan.
D:\Useful docs\Energy Schools, Practicle action (english)_files\Energy Schools, Practicle action
(english).htm
Outline design
The school is situated in Nuevo Lobitos in a secure compound. The 3 school buildings are on the
same site with this primary and secondary schools consisting of 2 floor blocks (see Photograph
19). The kindergarten is a 1 story building at the back of the site. The roof of the secondary school
building is flat whereas the primary school roof is pitched with one face orientated in a north
easterly direction. If panels were roof mounted then there would be minimal shading.
A rough load assessment was undertaken for the secondary school but access was not obtained to
survey the kindergarten and primary school. Accordingly this application only relates to the
secondary school loads but if carried forward to detailed design then assessment of other loads to
form and integrated system for all loads would be appropriate.
The system has been designed as a stand-alone system with the loads listed envisaged to be
attached via a separate circuit. This will diminish reliability on grid electricity while acting as an
educational tool to support lessons about energy and sustainability issues. There is scope for this
application be powered by a grid fall back system with either without or with a small scale battery
bank. The information required for this system setup would be broadly similar to the stand alone
design so a stand-alone system will be specified in this case with grid fall back option looked at in
more detail if this application is taken through to detailed design.
Figure 15:
School site
Outline design
The load that will be drawn by the computer towers will vary with the tasks that the computer is
performing. An estimate of 150W has been calculated as an average of several brands of
97
computer tower energy usage
. The length of use has been estimated at 4 hours per day and
assumes that the computers will be turned off when not in use.
98
The computer monitors have been estimated to be 19” and operating at 22W
. The time in use
has been estimated at 4 hours to match the use of the computers. This assumes that the monitors
are turned off when not in use.
97
http://www.letheonline.net/consumption.htm
98
99
The TVs have been estimated as 24” and have an associated power usage of 120W
. The time in
use has been set very low to account for the fact that the 3 TVs will unlikely that all will be in use
at the same time.
Device
Voltage
(V)
Power
(W)
Computer tower
220
150
Computer LCD
220
22
monitor 19"
Flat screen TV
220
120
24"
Table 27:
Load profile for the secondary school
Length of
use
(hours/day)
4
Number
of items
Power use over 24
hours (Wh/day)
13
7800
4
13
1144
0.5
3
180
Outline design
An inverter is required to run the equipment at grid supply conditions. If all loads were operating
simultaneously then there would be a 2596W load on the inverter. In order to service this, the
100
Power Inverter 3000W 12V Pure Sine Wave Inverter would be sufficient. The unit offers 85%
efficiency at full load which has been carried through to the battery assessment.
The number of days of autonomy has been set to 1 as grid connection will be maintained to the
secondary school building. If there is panel downtime or reduced levels of irradiance then 1 days
contingency will be available before transferring loads back to the conventional grid supply. In
addition it is likely that the loads will be in operation during the hours of daylight reducing the size
requirements of the battery bank as electricity with be routed straight from the panel array to the
loads (via the inverter) if sufficient irradiation is available.
Temperature conversion data and depth of discharge have been taken from the MK 8G27 86Ah
101
12V Gel Battery
. This is a Gel battery that at 75% depth of discharge is capable of providing 750
cycles. 7 battery units would be required for this system.
AC loads
Inverter efficiency
DC loads
Number of days of
autonomy
Depth of discharge
Voltage
99
9124
88%
0
Wh/day
%
Wh/day
9124
10368
10368
days
10368
98% %
75% %
24 V
10580
14106
588
0.59
1
Wh/day
Wh/day
Wh/day
Wh
Wh
Wh
Ah
kAh
100
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Best-quality-3000w-3kw-DC-to-AC-Pure-Sine-Wave-12
V-110V-120V-60Hz-3000W-Power/216570_1255163485.html
101
http://www.mrsolar.com/content/pdf/MKBattery/8G27.pdf
Table 28:
Battery bank requirements for secondary school loads
The shading efficiencies for this application have been set at 95% to due to the low probability of
102
shading from other buildings. The 130W SolarTech SPM130P-S-F 130W 12V Solar Panel would
be an appropriate panel to use for this application with 21 units required to service the load and
battery bank.
Battery efficiency
PV array efficiency
System efficiencies
Peak sun hours
9124
85%
75%
64%
95%
61%
15065
5.50
2739
Wh/day
%
%
%
%
%
Wh/day
Hours/day
W
Table 29:
Panel array assessment for secondary school loads
Component
Number of units
Power Inverter 3000W 12V Pure Sine
Wave Inverter
MK 8G27 86Ah 12V Gel Battery
SolarTech SPM130P-S-F 130W 12V
Solar Panel
1
Cost per
unit
103
$390.00
7
21
$208.00
105
$263.00
104
Total cost
$390.00
$1456.00
$5523.00
Total cost:
$7369.00
Table 30:
Indicative costs for the main pieces of equipment required for lighting of the football
court
Strengths
●
102
Provides cost reduction for the schools
and may alleviate the financial
Weaknesses
●
Excess electricity cannot be fed back
into the grid so the school would be
unable to make money from the
http://www.mrsolar.com/content/pdf/Solartech/SPM130P-S-F.pdf
103
http://www.aliexpress.com/item-img/Best-quality-3000w-3kw-DC-to-AC-Pure-Sine-Wave-12V-1
10V-120V-60Hz-3000W-Power/1255163485.html
104
105
http://www.mrsolar.com/mk-8g27-86ah-12v-gel-battery/
http://www.mrsolar.com/solartech-spm130p-s-f-130w-12v-solar-panel/?page_context=categor
y&faceted_search=0
●
pressures that are currently being
experienced.
The system could also act as a valuable
teaching aid that will allow the children
to understand how solar electricity
works and the potential benefits and
drawbacks of the technology. This
could lead to wider take up of the
technology throughout Lobitos.
Opportunities
●
electricity they generate. This means
that financing the installation of the
equipment may be challenging
●
Threats
There is a secure site compound
surrounding the school and space
where the panels could be placed.
●
The distribution of the benefits of
reducing electricity bills through use of
solar electricity could lead to more
disagreements between the 3
academic institutions.
6.3.8 Municipality- Desalination of water to use in gardens/parks
Application title
Solar desalination in order to produce water for communal gardening
projects
Stakeholder
group
Municipal government
The municipality requested that an application to desalinate water for use on communal green
spaces was investigated. During the time that the British Oil company was managing the Lobitos
area there were many well managed parks and gardens (see appendix A). There is a lot of
nostalgia for this era as well as strong political will to implement projects that will improve the
appearance of the area. Communal green spaces are seen as central to this aspiration although
there is large pressure on water resources throughout the Piura region. One solution would be to
desalinate sea water for use in these gardens, fulfilling the community aims while not adding
pressure onto existing water resources.
There are two filter desalination plants in the area, in Talara and El Alto. The Talara desalination
plant was constructed by the British oil company but when the military took over they
decommissioned it as it was too expensive to run due to maintenance of filters and power
requirements (see appendix A). The plant at El Alto was built recently by a municipality but the
mayor overseeing the project was removed from office. The new mayor tried to run the plant but
ran into constitutional issues as the municipality cannot take an income/profit from the public
outside of current funding arrangements. This meant that the plant has been mothballed.
This application investigates the possibility of constructing solar sill to desalinate water for use in
gardening. The PV powered pumps will be scoped to feed the sills with sea water.
Photograph 21:
Potential green area in front of
the municipal palace
Photograph 22:
View of potential area for solar
sills
Figure
Figure
Figure
Figure
Literature review
Solar sills are a highly efficient and effective method of distilling brackish water, removing salts,
microbes and nitrogen compounds. There are numerous examples of solar sills that use
evaporation to desalinate water rather than electric pumps and filters to remover the salt. Solar
sills also have the advantage of being a passive system with minimal maintenance.
106
Practical Action has produced guidance on both irrigation systems
and desalination techniques
107
offering advice on how to design a sill to efficiently create fresh water and how to use that
water to maximise impact.
106
http://cdn1.practicalaction.org/m/i/53f3632d506849908ac16ff40a000075.pdf
.
107
http://practicalaction.org/media/preview/10523
An example of a distillation sill is described in
Figure 16
. The solar radiation enters the sill through
the glass plate evaporating the clean water while impurities and salts are left behind. This pure
water then condenses on the underside of the plate and is collected in the runoff channel. The
brackish water would either be manually entered into the sill or a pump could be used. The
Practical action guide suggest that the saline solution is kept to a depth of no more than 20mm to
allow more efficient uses of solar energy to be converted into evaporation action.
Figure 16: Cross section of a solar sill
In order to maximise the operational efficiency of the solar sill, three elements should play into
the design:
1. A high water temperature in the saline solution reservoir through maintain a shallow
water level in the reservoir and ensuring low heat leakage through walls and floor
2. Maintaining a large temperature differential between the reservoir and the condensing
surface (achieved through using a low heat absorption condensing surface and quick
removal of condensed water through use of secondary air or water flow across the
condensing surface).
3. Ensuring low levels of leakage of evaporated vapour from the sill.
Glass is preferable for the condensing surface as plastics degrade after prolonged exposure to
ultra violet light.
Irrigation
To ensure efficient use of limited fresh water resource, micro irrigation methods are
recommended by Practical Action. Drip irrigation systems and pipe irrigation systems are both low
cost, efficient methods of irrigation.
Drip irrigation utilises a header tank to feed a network of pipes with small holes in to deliver
water to plants and crops over time. Benefits of this system include reduced manual labour
requirements with saving on watering time and reduced growth of weeds as the water can be
specifically targeted in specific areas.
108
DecRen Water Consult list the benefits of sub surface drip irrigation as:
● 50% reduction in plant watering requirements
108
http://www.dwc-water.com/technologies/irrigation/index.html
●
●
●
Reduced soil compaction and aeration leading to less labour requirements
Reduced soil erosion and water runoff
Increases yield of agricultural products and seedlings
Pumps to supply the sill
There are several potential pump and panel configurations that can supply the sill system. One of
the most reliable is a stand-alone, direct power, submersible, brushless DC pump that only
109
operates when the solar irradiance is sufficient to power the pump motor
. This system is cheap,
reliable and maintenance free. A mounting point will be required to mount the inlet to ensure
permanent submersion. The system does not require batteries and can feed water into a header
tank which then supplies the sills.
Practical Action has a technical guide to the different methods of operating a solar pump with the
110
recommended system being a surface suction pump set
. They warn that this type of application
is only suitable for low heads of less than 8m.
Outline design
Visual site survey operation
There is a large degree of flexibility in the siting of the sill. The main requirements are for it to be
close to a source of water (the sea) and be accessible by water truck so that the water generated
can be transported to where it is required.
The area of land in front of the ARPA building would be an appropriate location for construction

of the sill infrastructure. The red area marked in red in
Figure 17
measures 400m2
which should
provide sufficient area to design an appropriate sill.
This site is free from obstruction, is 110m from the sea but far enough to not be damaged or
flooded by storms or high tides. The area is free from obstructions that would potentially shade
the sill and is on flat ground so would not require extensive earthworks to construct. The pump
system to supply water for the sill could be mounted on one of the pier legs allowing secure and
consistent access to water for the system.
109
http://ilri.org/infoserv/Webpub/fulldocs/IWMI_IPMSmodules/Module_4.pdf
110
http://practicalaction.org/downloads/success/10552/lng:en
Figure 17:
Potential area for locating desalination sills
In this application the PV pump system can be operated without use of a battery backup. This is
due to the operational efficiency of pump and sill both being dictated by the solar irradiance (i.e.
there would be no need to operate the pump at night as the sill will not be operating). There are
many benefits to this:
1. The sills will not be over supplied with brackish water (although overflows will still be
required)
2. the system costs will be significantly reduced as a battery bank will not be required
3. maintenance requirements will be reduced the main maintenance requirement being on
the pump
Design assessment for the solar sill
The Practical Action report contains a formula for estimating the output of a solar sill as:
Q=
E*G*A
L
Where:
Q = daily output of distilled water (litres/day) E = overall efficiency G = daily global solar irradiation (MJ/m²) L = T he latent heat of vaportisation of water = 2.26 MJ/kg A = aperture area of the still ie, the plan areas for a simple basin still (m²)
As stated in section 4.5, the average solar irradiation in Lobitos is 5kWh/m2
which equates to
18.0MJ/m². The report states that an efficiency of approximately 30% should be expected.

Therefore we can calculate an output per m2
as:
*18*1
Q = 0.302.26
Q = 2.39 litres/day per m2 of sill aperture
Using the Practical Action drip irrigation case study, 60m2
area can be watered using a 20 litre

water source that is filled twice a day (40 litres is required per day). Assuming two 30m2
gardens
were serviced that would give a total water requirement of 40 litres per day. Using the value of Q
above this would require an aperture area of:
A = Q * 40 A = 2.39 * 40 A = 96 m2 This could comfortably be supplied by a sill measuring 10m by 10m.
Load assessment
Assuming 5 hours a day operation (based on figures in section 4.5) and water requirements of 40l
per day the requirements of the pump are:
f low in litres per hour = 40
5 f low in litres per hour = 8 111
A suitable pump would be the LVM-114/12 Niagara 12V in line pump
. This can be permanently
submerged and is suitable for marine applications. The pump is rated at 38W and can pump a
maximum head on 10m. This pump can operate at a flow rate of 13l/min or 780l/hour. Trip
switches and overflow pipes should be installed to ensure the sill is not overfilled.
Device
Voltage
(V)
Power
(W)
Length of use
(hours/day)
Number
of items
Power use over 24
hours (Wh/day)
LVM-114/12
12
38
1
1
Niagara 12V in
line pump
Table 31:
Load assessment to supply the desalination sill with brackish water
Outline design
111
http://www.windandsun.co.uk/products/Pumps/Low-Voltage-Pumps

38
This application is non-critical and the load requirements coincide with peak irradiance so can
therefore be designed without battery backup. This will dramatically reduce costs and
maintenance requirements.
38
PV array efficiency
75%
System efficiencies
75%
95%
71%
53
Peak sun hours
5.50
10
Table 32:
Panel array requirements for the pump to supply the desalination sill
Wh/day
%
%
%
%
Wh/day
Hours/day
W
The shading efficiencies for this application have been set at 95% to due to the low probability of
112
shading from other buildings. The 10W SolarTech SPM010P-A 10W 12V Solar Panel would be an
appropriate panel to use for this application with only 1 unit required to service the load.
Component
Number of units
SolarTech SPM010P-A 10W 12V Solar
Panel
LVM-114/12 Niagara 12V in line
pump
Clear Cast Perspex Acrylic (price per

m2
)

Ready mix concrete (price per m3
)
1
Cost per
unit
113
$90
1
$£21.04
10
$49.27
114
30
115
Total cost
$90
$21.04
$490.27
116
$131.74
$3952.20
Total cost:
$4553.51
Table 33:
Indicative costs for the main pieces of equipment required for operating the
desalination
sill
including shipping, cables, mounting, fresh water tanks, hose or maintenance. Note that the cost
112
http://www.mrsolar.com/content/pdf/Solartech/SPM010P-A.pdf
113
http://www.mrsolar.com/solartech-spm010p-a-10w-12v-solar-panel/?page_context=category&fa
ceted_search=0
114
http://www.windandsun.co.uk/products/Pumps/Low-Voltage-Pumps
115
http://www.cutplasticsheeting.co.uk/clear-acrylic-sheeting/clear-cast-acrylic.html
116
http://www.lets-do-diy.com/Projects-and-advice/Concrete-work/Average-ready-mix-concrete-cos
t.aspx
of the acrylic screen and concrete are estimates and converted from Pounds to US Dollar on
11/06/2015 at an exchange rate of 1.55 US Dollars to 1 Pound.
Strengths
●
●
The solution will fulfil the political and
community aims of implementing
gardens and green spaces in Lobitos
without placing additional pressure on
current sources of water.
The design of the system is simple and
low cost. Maintenance is low and
replacement equipment is relatively
cheap.
Opportunities
●
●
The municipality already have access to
two bulk liquid carrying trucks
The maintenance of the sill and
gardens would create jobs that could
be carried out by the local population.
Weaknesses
●
●
Security of the water and equipment
will be hard to maintain
Efficient storage of the freshwater
would have to
be included in the

design
Threats
●
●
●
●
Pollution in seawater could still reside
after the desalination process leading
to contamination of bulk liquid
carrying trucks
Coastal land is under great pressure
from Hostel owners and land bankers
so finding a suitable site for this
installation may be difficult
Coastal erosion and careful positioning
of the installation and abstraction
points will be required to ensure that
environmental and social impacts are
minimised.
There may be negative PR about using
government funds for non-essential
work
6.4.Applications not considered
Data was collected and initial investigations were made to assess several applications that were
not carried forward to the outline design phase. The descriptions of these applications and the
reasons for not taking them forward are logged in Appendix A.
6.5.Discussion
There are a number of suitable applications that can be serviced by solar PV systems in the Lobitos
area. These could potentially improve safety, efficiency, cost savings and improvement to the lives
of the community.
The cost of purchasing, augmenting and replacing batteries over the life of the systems that have
been investigated is generally the biggest expense and will therefore act as a barrier to making a
sound financial case for installing many of the systems specified. This is exacerbated by the fact
that no income will be received for excess electricity as export of into the grid is not permitted. For
this reason the applications have been specified generally as stand-alone (6.3.1, 6.3.2, 6.3.3, 6.3.4,
6.3.5, 6.3.6, 6.3.7) with one exception (6.3.8) which operates purely off power produces by the PV
array. Investigation of grid fall back designs will be undertaken in the detailed design to see haw
costs may be affected as well as optimising the system to reduce battery bank costs.
The depth of discharge is also a factor in optimising the battery bank with lower depth of
discharge elongating battery bank life but increasing the upfront capital costs. Investigation of
where the best depth of discharge point is to supply value for money will be undertaken in the
detailed design.
6.6.Recommendation for application to take forward to detailed design
The full list of applications and costs are included in table 34 below with estimated costs included.
Number
6.3.1
6.3.2
6.3.3
6.3.4
6.3.5
Application
Winch for fishing vessel haul out
Jib crane/winch for vessel unloading
Lighting of the fishing quay
Pumping water for ARPA production building water tower
Use of solar to offset electricity bills for residents or small
businesses
6.3.6
Lighting of the community football courts
6.3.7
Use of solar PV in the school
6.3.8
Solar desalination in order to produce water for communal
gardening projects
Table 34:
List of applications and estimated costs
Cost estimate
$11,726.50
$9847.43
$6641.00
$458.04
$6256.75
$2876.00
$7369.00
$4553.51
The winch for vessel haul out (6.3.1) utilises 14 150Ah batteries discharging at 1C and then
recharging over a long period. It is estimated that the batteries augmented or replaced after a
year meaning that the cost estimate for this project is lower than a 10 year life span. At this rapid
a discharge the batteries will be under a lot of strain and may cause failure. In addition to supply
the required wattage, very thick cables are required and risk of injury may be high. From a user
perspective there are issues around the need for the equipment, safety concerns and reservations
regarding the reliability of solar PV equipment after the lighting system failed. These would have
to be overcome to gain acceptance of the system but there are significant costs and challenges
associated with doing this.
The jib crane/winch application (6.3.2) is similar in that this would be an application pushed on the
user rather than being a need requested. The same issue about full life cost due to battery
replacements, augmentations are true as 6.3.1 although not to the same scale. This would be
useful application to design a solution for as there could be wide applicability across Peru and
other fishing quays around the world. However the fact that there is not a ready-made system
already means that there is minimal demand or the challenges of developing the system are too
great.
The quay lighting (6.3.3) provides a challenge that is well within the capabilities of a solar system.
The load is predictable and will save the ARPA money. There is also a wide applicability for the
system around Lobitos for street and security lighting projects. There are issues with perception
due to the previous failure of technology however with training and technical support the system
should operate comfortably for 10 years if not longer. These points are also applicable to the
lighting of the football court (6.3.6).
The water pumping application (6.3.4) presents a challenge due to the discharge of a battery over
a short intermittent period of time. This is exacerbated by the pump operation on single phase AC
significantly restricting the choice and size of inverters available to use in the application. There
are several options which would make the system easier to design such as changing the pump to a
12V DC unit or holding water in a tank at the bottom of the tower and using a pump directly linked
to the panels to pump water to the upper holding tank to generate the head pressure required.
Both of these solutions would add to the initial capital costs but would pay back and have a longer
operational lifetime that the stand alone system option.
Both the residents/small businesses (6.3.5) and school (6.3.7) examples are not particularly suited
to using stand-alone PV systems. Large battery banks and inverters are required in both examples
to allow power to be supplied at a suitable voltage and AC. In addition, the loads in both
applications are relatively critical and so an over specified system is required in stand-alone mode.
A grid fall back option would be a more appropriate design in both these cases reducing the
requirement for a battery bank and associated capital costs. This would increase the on-going cost
in comparison to a stand-alone system as some electricity will still be required from the grid.
There is currently no policy from ENOSA as to if a grid fall back design is allowable however all the
modifications could be made on the customer side of the meter to ensure that there are no issues
with this.
The desalination application (6.3.8) is an elegant solution that minimises moving parts and
maintenance. The application is not a particularly high priority with other applications offering the
community a direct monetary, safety or physical benefit. This design could be presented to the
Municipality so that they could take it forward using their own funds.
Considering the points above application 6.3.3 to use solar PV to light the fishing quay will be
taken forward to detailed design. Clarification on Enosa policy for solar systems on the customer
side and associated billing should be undertaken to allow development of 6.3.5 and 6.3.7 in the
future as this applications would work significantly better in tandem with the grid than as
stand-alone systems.
APPENDICES
A. Applications not carried forward
Application name
Electric fish drying facility
There are currently no fish
drying or cold storage facilities
around the Lobitos fish quay.
The current practice is to sell
the fish that are landed
straight to distributers who
chill, transport, process and
sell it in the nearby town of
Talara. Some fish is retained
for personal consumption.
The interview also highlighted
that the fleet is currently
susceptible to large
fluctuations in catch and
therefore price as all catch has
to be sold immediately after
landing
Fishermen-powered freezing
of fish/ice production
There are currently no ice
making or refrigeration
facilities either on fishing
vessels or on the quayside at
Lobitos. The fishermen rely on
selling fresh fish straight to
distributers on the quayside
that have refrigerated trucks
to transport the produce to
Talara for processing and sale.
Ice machines or other
refrigeration facilities were
identified as being a valuable
asset for the fishermen of
Lobitos for the rare occasions
that the distributers cannot
make it to the quay in good
time.
Reasons for not carrying
forward
There are no ready-made
systems or case studies that
can be drawn on to prove the
concept
Maintenance and repair costs
of equipment should be kept
to a minimum as funds for
repair would be taken out of
fishermen’s increased profits
There would have to be strong
cooperation between the
fishermen to allow balancing
of supply of fish with demand
and pricing
There is no current market for
dried fish from Lobitos. This
means that the idea would
have to be sold to fish
distributers
Maintenance and repair costs
of equipment should be kept
to a minimum as funds for
repair would be taken out of
fishermen’s increased profits
The processing plan was left
unused due to diminishing fish
stocks and a similar issue may
occur here
Too power hungry
Hostel owners- use of solar
electricity to offset running
costs
Municipality- use of solar on
municipal palace (office)
These interviews that there is
a potential demand for solar
energy to offset energy costs
of hostels in the Lobitos area.
The main barriers currently
are cost of installation and
knowledge of the capabilities
or operation of solar systems.
The application could involve
setting up a pilot installation
on one of the hostels to
demonstrate the operation
and potential savings to hostel
owners of implementing a
solar system. This could
initially be for running one
appliance like a fridge to
demonstrate the technology
thus avoiding the complete
removal of costly grid
connections.
The municipality are
interested in the possibility of
fitting municipal buildings with
solar panels to lower their
ongoing revenue costs. The
largest municipal building is
the municipal palace situated
in New Lobitos which houses
all administrative staff,
managers and the mayor’s
office. In total are 45 people
work in this building with
electricity use mainly coming
from the use of computers
and IT equipment (no servers).
This application would be
unlikely to get funding in the
form of a grant as the
applications main purpose
would be to improve profits of
the hostel owners
Receipts
Loading assesment
The benefit of this application
would be to lower ongoing
running cost of the
municipality allowing this to
be spent in other areas that
could employ more of the
local community through the
cleaning and security schemes
that are currently ongoing.
There would also be the
added benefit of introducing
The technology demonstration
ill not be available to local
people in Lobitos and will
Excess electricity cannot be
fed back into the grid on the
micro scale currently which
means that the solar systems
will have to be stand alone
with grid backup
This application is not the best
in terms of providing an
example application for use by
others in Lobitos as the levels
and types of demand are
unique (i.e. high and stable
levels of demand though use
of IT equipment).
The use of solar electricity to
pump sewage to oxygenation
ponds
Municipality/bill payers- solar
street lighting
Health centre- solar for health
centre to enable setting up of
a laboratory
solar technology to the people
of Lobitos and demonstrate its
potential in the area.
As the oxygenation ponds are
outside of the town of Lobitos,
a series of 3 pumps are
required to transfer sewage.
The pumps that were
procured under the initial
funding were tri phase electric
pumps but the current grid
connection in Lobitos is only
monophase. New pumps are
on order that will operate on
monophase. Two of the
pumps are located close to
transmission wires but one
site would need an extension
to the grid in order to operate.
This location could be
powered by electricity
produced by solar energy.
Large parts of Lobitos are unlit
at night which is perceived to
be a security risk. The mayor
highlighted this in the initial
meeting as being one of the
areas where he would like us
to investigate how solar
electricity could help. The
current light systems run on
grid electricity and utilise 80
watt bulbs which run during
the hours of darkness. The
operation of these lights is
controlled by light sensors.
A new system utilising more
up to date technology could
be installed to allow the use of
the full lighting system. This
project may also involve
changing the bulbs in the
lamps to energy saving bulbs
or LEDs.
This application would involve
integrating solar panels onto
the health centre building to
power laboratory equipment.
This system would have to
either have grid backup or be
There would be no backup for
the solar system so reliability
is essential
There is no fixed demand so
the solar system would have
to be over specified to allow
for variations in supply and
demand
The demand from the pump
could be extremely high and
out of the capabilities of a
solar system
Any new lighting systems
would have no grid back up
meaning that the system
would have to be reliable
The equipment would have to
be secured to avoid damage,
theft or illegal siphoning or
electricity.
There is no real demand
currently to upgrade the
health post either from the
community or the Ministry of
Health
designed to power
non-essential equipment.
There are no details about
what equipment will be
required so the literature
review would need to inform
requirements based on similar
case studies.
There is no clear specifications
of the equipment required to
set up a laboratory function
meaning that it would be
difficult to create a
specification and cost for
implementing a solar system