Optimum utilization of renewable energy sources in a remote area

Energy is supplied in the form of electricity, heat or fuels and an energy supply system must guarantee sustainable energy supplies, production and distribution of energy. Such system based on renewable energy can be utilized as integrated renewable energy system (IRES), which can satisfy the energy needs of an area in appropriate and sustainable manner. For renewable energy based rural electrification of remote areas, the IRES can be modeled and optimized for meeting the energy needs. For the purpose, the Jaunpur block of Uttaranchal state of India has been selected as remote area. On the basis of field data, the resource potential and energy demand has been estimated. The total load is 808 MWh/yr and total available resources are 807 MWh/yr, whereas %age contribution of each resources are MHP 15.88% (128166), solar 2.77% (22363), wind 1.89% (15251) and biomass energy 79.46% (641384) kWh/yr. The model has been optimized using LINDO software 6. 10 version. The results indicated that the optimized model has been found to the best choice for meeting the energy needs of the area. Renewable energy sources can contribute to the total energy demands as 16.81% (115465), solar 2.27% (15588), wind 1.78% (12201) and biomass energy 79.14% (543546) kWh/yr for the fulfillment of 687 MWh/yr at the 15% reduced level of 808 MWh/yr load. The results further indicated that optimized IRES can provide a feasible solution in terms of energy fulfillments in the range of EPDF from 1.0 to 0.75 because below 0.75 EPDF (0.50-0.25) the deficit start and so that model becomes non-feasible solution. The EPDF is electric power delivery factor and also called optimizing power factor and is maximum equal to 1. The paper reports the results of optimization of IRES models of the study area of Zone 4 of Jaunpur block of Uttaranchal state. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.