Design of a Remote Data Monitoring System for a Solar and Wind Based Renewable Energy Power Source: Application to a Water Delivery Project in a Rural Community

摘要

A large number of projects including analysis and design of renewable energy sources have been reported by several institutions Particularly, solar and wind energy based power sources have resulted in a variety of interesting projects, including automatic control of solar tracking photovoltaic panels and solar wind combination sources for various applications. The current work illustrates the design of a computer controlled system for monitoring the power generated by a renewable energy power system under a recorded local weather condition. The monitoring system includes a web-based Labview power measurement apparatus as well as a complete wireless weather station. The power system consists of a solar tracking photovoltaic (PV) system and a Whisper H80 wind turbine. The power system generates up to 2KW of electrical power. The remote data monitoring system provides a round the clock information on the generated power, the wind speed, humidity, rain water level, outside temperature etc… The system is programmed to provide data logging for an assessment of the correlation between the local weather condition and the electric power generation. The remote system will also be equipped with a provision for switching to net-metering with an interface to the local utility company. The remote monitoring system is scheduled to equip a similar solar/wind hybrid power station recently inaugurated in rural Ethiopia.