Abstract
For remote underdeveloped and sparsely populated regions, the use of national power grids to provide electricity can be both unsustainable and impractical. In recent years, decentralised renewable power has gained popularity, endowing social benefits to the local inhabitants through clean rural electrification. However, power reliability and system autonomy are often the primary technical concerns as current systems are largely single source reliant. Hybrid power systems that utilise multiple complementary renewables can help to reduce the dependency on conventional unclean options. A few selected case studies for both single source and hybrid power systems are reviewed, analysing critical success factors and evaluating existing difficulties. The additional integration of the novel rain-powered kinetic-to-electric generator technology to the existing hybrid model is analysed. As with development in general, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to bringing power to remote communities and the most sustainable solution should be found through analysing local resources, environmental conditions and maximising local involvement.
Highlights
In face of global climate change and pressing concerns for energy security, it is accepted that a sustainable energy system is of paramount importance in energy development
Further to the current renewable sources, this paper suggests the use of rain energy harvesting as a complement to hybrid systems, for certain applicable regions, and provides an initial theoretical analysis of this novel technique
As a result, diversifying energy sources would increase system autonomy and cater for the instances where one source of renewable energy falls short, such as cloudy days or monsoon seasons for PV systems. It is with these implications in mind that this paper proposes the introduction of the relatively under-explored rain energy to be included in future designs for decentralised hybrid power systems
Summary
In face of global climate change and pressing concerns for energy security, it is accepted that a sustainable energy system is of paramount importance in energy development. The gravitational energy accumulated over time can be released and channelled through a fluidic flow mechanism to drive a kinetic-to-electric transducer This enables a larger instantaneous driving force on the transducer than that achievable from direct impact, which allows electrical operation at a higher efficiency. Pros: Large kinetic energy release is possible from the potential build-up to achieve higher electrical efficiency for the transducers; Conventional electromagnetic hydroelectric generation technology can be incorporated; the power efficiency of electromagnetism does not scale well downwards, piezoelectric generator turbines can be employed to retain the power efficiency at smaller decentralised scales. Simulated response of kinetic loading of a piezoelectric plate by rain droplets Unlike the conventional electromagnetic generators that rely on higher displacement/velocity to maximise power output, piezoelectric material focuses on strain maximisation. Multiple arrays of small edge-anchored plates would fare significantly better than a single large plate anchored at far edges
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