The villages which are located in off-grid areas where electrical line connection is not available or
is not possible due to difficult terrain are electrified by installing a central wind solar hybrid power plant.
A combination of wind turbines & solar arrays generate electricity
(operated through respective controllers) and charge a large tubular battery bank
which in turn supplies AC power through a large capacity industrial grade grid sinewave inverter.
The single phase 220V or three phase 440V AC power is distributed throughout the village by
overhead wires on supporting poles and fed into each house. Load limiters can be installed at
each output point to ensure that no house draws higher than permitted electrical power.
In an average windy area having more than 4.5m/s annual average wind speed,
a 10kw wind solar hybrid power plant can provide the electrical power requirements for atleast 20
small houses with each house consuming around 1.5 kwh or more energy per day for operating their CFL lights,
small television or computer and fan. For villages having 100 such houses,
a 50kw wind solar hybrid power plant would be sufficient.
The power plant size will be reduced in propotion to the local average wind speed.
For example the same 100 houses with same electrical loads,
will require only 25kw wind solar hybrid power plant if they are located in an area where the annual average wind speed is 6.3m/s.
Centrally located power plants perform better than individual houses having small wind turbines or
small solar home lighting systems since the central power plants have large capacity control/equipment
which are more robust than smaller capacity solar/wind power plants and also central
power plants can be monitored and maintained daily for best performance.
New Technologies
- Central power plants can also be monitored from anywhere by remote monitoring through GPRS/internet to ensure preventative maintainence and low down time.
- In a scheme where consumers are supposed to pay for the electricy consumption, the central wind solar hybrid power plants and their distribution system can be equipped with smart cards for consumers just like prepaid mobile phone card system