Economic analysis of deployment of DC power and appliances along with solar in urban multi-storied buildings
07 Jun 2015-pp 32-37
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed a DC system, which provides a far more energy-efficient alternative using renewable power-source for backup, by eliminating the complex electronics embedded in the inversion process.
Abstract: Lighting, fans and electronic devices form a significant and growing portion of power-load at homes and need power back-up support in case there are frequent power-cuts. A Diesel generator is generally used today in multi-storied buildings to provide this backup. The DC system, proposed in this paper, provides a far more energy-efficient alternative using renewable power-source for backup. It creates a pull for a home to move towards far more energy efficient DC loads. The solution provides a GREEN option to the existing solution. This paper provides a fresh perspective on the problem of eliminating conversion losses for uninterrupted operation of DC appliances. A cost benefit analysis shows that this DC system can reduce costs to the consumer by eliminating the complex electronics embedded in the inversion process. A rough measurement of the conversion losses for commercially available inverters and battery chargers illustrates that gains of 30% to 45% are easily obtainable
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TL;DR: This paper presents an overview of the LVDC distribution systems used in residential applications, and different power architectures and topologies are discussed.
Abstract: The concept of a microgrid has drawn the interest of research community in recent years. The most interesting aspects are the integration of renewable energy sources and energy storage systems at the consumption level, aiming to increase power quality, reliability and efficiency. On top of this, the increasing of DC-based loads has re-open the discussion of DC vs AC distribution systems. As a consequence a lot of research has been done on DC distribution systems and its potential for residential applications. This paper presents an overview of the LVDC distribution systems used in residential applications. Several publications that study the potential energy savings and overall advantages of the LVDC distribution systems are analysed. Different power architectures and topologies are discussed. The existing demonstration facilities where LVDC distribution systems have been implemented are also shown.
77 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, an efficient and affordable solar DC solution for powering off-grid homes is presented. But, the proposed solution is not suitable for the use of the generated PV power efficiently.
Abstract: India is a power deficit country and one third of its homes are off grid or near off grid. This paper presents an efficient and affordable Solar DC solution for powering such homes. Though several solutions have emerged in the past for powering these homes, those have been expensive and energy inefficient. These solutions rely on several DC to AC and AC to DC conversions, to feed the widely used AC home loads, thus, wasting a large chunk of the expensive power. The proposed Solar DC solution for off-grid homes (OGH) is developed to use the generated PV power efficiently. With this solution, the panel and battery size is reduced by 2 to 2.5 times and the cost to power a house is reduced to nearly half the cost of the existing solutions. The paper also presents a techno-economic comparison between the proposed OGH solution with some existing solar systems.
29 citations
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TL;DR: A novel high gain high power (HGHP) DC-DC converter for DC microgrid, which is of one of the significant step forward in the development of DC microgrids, is proposed and compared with state of the art converter topologies demonstrating the superior capabilities of the proposed converter.
Abstract: The use of green energy sources to feed DC microgrids is gaining prominence over traditional centralised AC systems. DC microgrids are characterised by the use of intermediate DC-DC converter which acts as power conditioning units. Hence, the choice of an appropriate DC-DC converter becomes significant as the overall system efficiency is strongly dependent on the converter’s performance. This paper proposes a novel high gain high power (HGHP) DC-DC converter for DC microgrid, which is of one of the significant step forward in the development of DC microgrids. The suitability of the proposed HGHP DC-DC converter is demonstrated by experimental tests of the 60V/1.1kV, 3kW converter; test results validate the converter’s suitability for DC distribution. A significant number of performance parameters of the proposed converter is compared with state of the art converter topologies demonstrating the superior capabilities of the proposed converter. This paper also portrays the potential benefits that could be reaped by trending towards DC instead of existing AC system. The advantages and challenges to be confronted in the foreseeable future while implementing sustainable DC microgrids are also highlighted. Finally, this paper encapsulates renewable energy fed DC microgrid system as an appropriate, technically feasible, economically viable and competent solution for efficiently utilising the sustainable energy sources.
15 citations
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TL;DR: A nanogrid control system that utilizes thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs) to increase the correlation between power consumption and PV production and can reduce power purchased from the grid by 44%.
Abstract: In the pursuit of incentivising photovoltaic (PV) installations at a household level, this paper presents a nanogrid control system that utilizes thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs) to increase the correlation between power consumption and PV production The maximum power point tracking signal is used to implement instantaneous control based on PV power availability, as the TCLs are used to store thermal energy and shift consumption A model of the nanogrid has been created and simulated under a variety of load and solar irradiance conditions The results show the system can reduce power purchased from the grid by 44%
12 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors highlight the technical and economic analysis of solar PV DC system to generate enough energy for residential customer group that consumed 200 kWh per month so that they are less dependent on energy from the utility grid.
Abstract: The use of solar photovoltaic (PV) system has grown significantly in Malaysia after Renewable Energy Act has been gazetted in 2011.The objective of this paper is to highlight the technical and economic analysis of solar PV DC system to generate enough energy for residential customer group that consumed 200 kWh per month so that they are less dependent on energy from the utility grid. The results are then compared to the solar PV AC system with similar load setup. The methodology involves gathering solar energy resource, configuring daily load demand, sizing PV array, battery bank and inverter and lastly simulation of the design system by using Homer software. Based on Homer simulation, the solar PV AC system required slightly larger PV array sizes than the solar PV DC system to compensate losses due to the inverter efficiency which is not counted in DC system.Moreover, the solar PV AC system is almost 8.0% more expensive with 6% higher COE than the solar PV DC system due to the present of inverter.Lastly, both systems will benefit from reduction of energy consumed up to 2,434 kWh annually and to the environmental aspect, will avoid 1.7 tons of CO 2 releases into the atmosphere.
7 citations
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References
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01 Aug 2013
TL;DR: A discussion of the state of the art in electricity management in smart homes, the various enabling technologies that will accelerate this concept, and topics around consumer behavior with respect to energy usage are presented.
Abstract: Smart homes hold the potential for increasing energy efficiency, decreasing costs of energy use, decreasing the carbon footprint by including renewable resources, and transforming the role of the occupant. At the crux of the smart home is an efficient electric energy management system that is enabled by emerging technologies in the electricity grid and consumer electronics. This paper presents a discussion of the state of the art in electricity management in smart homes, the various enabling technologies that will accelerate this concept, and topics around consumer behavior with respect to energy usage.
117 citations
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01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: The Cal Poly DC House Project is a large scale multi-student project that involves the detailed design and eventual construction of a DC powered house that will be usable in many rural parts of the world.
Abstract: The Cal Poly DC House Project is a large scale multi-student project that involves the detailed design and eventual construction of a DC powered house that will be usable in many rural parts of the world. The large scope of such a project makes it necessary to perform studies before it is designed and constructed so that any errors or problems can be recognized early on and addressed. This thesis entails a study on DC power Distribution used for the DC house. The needs for a rural DC home were identified and loads were selected. All of the system devices then modeled in the simulink software. This includes the creation and characterization of complex devices such as DC-DC converters. Once the simulation model was completed, several steady state variables including wire size, bus voltage, and circuiting configurations were tested to create an accurate power profile of the DC system. The resulting data successfully and accurately modeled the performance of the system under many different conditions. The working model was also used to perform a design case study of several potential and realistic load configurations that could be used in rural areas.
12 citations