Solar-Wind Renewable Energy System for Off-Grid Rural Electrification in Ecuador

Abstract

The increasing world population, and therefore the increasing of the energy demand bring us to the scenario in which the energetic solutions have to be supported by the renewable energy sources, i.e., solar energy, wind energy, tidal energy, etc. Due to the geographic location of Ecuador, these types of energy sources can be considered during the analysis, design and implementation of a rural electrification system. An off-grid electrification is helpful, especially for providing electrical energy in remote areas. The purpose of this work is to analyze and propose a suitable energetic off-grid system solution for rural electrification in a selected county placed in Ecuador. This study is based on in-situ measurements of energy consumption as well as on the quantification of possible energy sources, i.e., solar and wind energy. This analysis is carried out with the help of a simulation tool. Considering the real obtained data, the electric load profile for a community is estimated and a complete system is proposed. Additionally, technical and economic details of a Wind-Solar