Village power hybrid systems development in the United States
- National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)
- Bergey Windpower Co., Norman, OK (United States)
- Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
- Northern Power Systems, Moretown, VT (United States)
The energy demand in developing countries is growing at a rate seven times that of the OECD countries, even though there are still 2 billion people living in developing countries without electricity. Many developing countries have social and economic development programs aimed at stemming the massive migration from the rural communities to the overcrowded, environmentally problematic, unemployment-bound urban centers. To address the issue of providing social, educational, health, and economic benefits to the rural communities of the developing world, a number of government and nongovernment agencies are sponsoring pilot programs to install and evaluate renewable energy systems as alternatives to line extension, diesels, kerosene, and batteries. The use of renewables in remote villages has yielded mixed results over the last 20 years. However, recently, photovoltaics, small wind turbines, and microhydro system shave gained increasing recognition as reliable, cost-effective alternatives to grid extension and diesel gensets for village-electricity applications. At the same time, hybrid systems based on combinations of PV/wind/batteries/diesel gensets have proven reliable and economic for remote international telecommunications markets. With the growing emphasis on environmentally and economically sustainable development of international rural communities, the US hybrid industry is responding with the development and demonstration of hybrid systems and architectures that will directly compete with conventional alternatives for village electrification. Assisting the US industry in this development, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has embarked on a program of collaborative technology development and technical assistance in the area of hybrid systems for village power. Following a brief review of village-power hybrid systems application and design issues, this paper presents the present industry development activities of three US suppliers and the NREL.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-83CH10093
- OSTI ID:
- 10194584
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/TP-442-7227; CONF-941050-1; ON: DE95000247; BR: WM1020000; TRN: AHC29429%%55
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: EWEC`94: 5. European Wind Energy Association conference and exhibition, Thessaloniki (Greece), 10-14 Oct 1994; Other Information: PBD: Nov 1994
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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POLICY AND ECONOMY
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
POWER SYSTEMS
POWER DEMAND
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
WIND TURBINES
PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER SUPPLIES
MICRO-SCALE HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANTS
HYBRID SYSTEMS
RURAL COMMUNITITES
OFF-GRID APPLICATIONS
INTERNATIONAL VILLAGES
WORLD BANK
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290200
290500
UNCONVENTIONAL SOURCES AND POWER GENERATION
ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY
RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, DEMONSTRATION, AND COMMERCIALIZATION