Solar Power Energy

53 Pages·2011·2.26 MB·English

EWB 2011 – SOLAR POWER ENERGY TEAM CREATIVE

2011 Engineers without Boarders Australia

Solar Power Energy

Team Creative – CQUniversity
Brenton Dau
Laurie Tooker
Michael Galonski
Michael Phillips
Yajiao Zhou

Project Supervisor: Stephen Pinel

Submission Date: 30th September 2011
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EWB 2011 – SOLAR POWER ENERGY TEAM CREATIVE
Executive Summary
Pitchandikulam Forest is a community founded organisation that has been working in
Devikulam and the surround area to improve the sustainability of the region. This
small village is located in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India, which is situated
approximately 200 km south of Chennai and has very limited access to safe drinking
water and houses that are in very poor condition.

The 2011 Engineers without Borders challenge is aimed at providing solutions for the
less privileged in the small community of Devikulam.
In Accordance with the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Challenge, our group
project required the consideration of a wide range of factors that included the
geographical and climatic factors in the community and the social requirements of
the Devikulam villagers.

Most houses in Devikulam have an electricity connection but the service is regularly
interrupted and unreliable. On average there are two black-outs per day with the
interruptions leading to unsafe food storage situations and health problems.
Therefore the EWB challenge is to provide a back-up power supply that can be used
during black-out to supply the residents of Devikulam with power. The solution must
be a clean, renewable and reliable back - up power source that is safe and meets
the needs of the residents in Devikulam.

The EWB challenge also involves finding new, safe and reliable cooking
technologies that move away from the conventional bio-mass fuel technology that is
leading to many serious respiratory problems.

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EWB 2011 – SOLAR POWER ENERGY TEAM CREATIVE
The village itself is located in an area that has consistent day light hours all year
round, with the shortest day being 10hr 50min. Solar energy provides the residents
with a clean and green energy supply that will reduce serious health problems and
eliminate the inconvenience caused by regular black outs. This report consists of two
solutions, one for each of the power and cooking requirements.

The first proposal uses an individual solar power system to provide each household
with a back-up power supply. Each individual house will have its own separated solar
power system with the resident having control over the usage. The system will be
rolled-out over difference stages to give immediate advantage to the residents with
greater electrical need.
The villagers will be trained in the maintenance, usage and installation of equipment
thus reducing the overall labour costs of the project.

The second proposal is designed to eliminate the health impacts of current cooking
technologies. The design that will be implemented uses a solar power cooker, which
will be sourced locally in India and assembled by the villagers. The solar power
cooker is also capable of sterilising water which will reduce provide the residents will
clean and safe drinking water. This report provides solutions that consider the
environmental, social and economic sustainability of Devikulam and its residents and
it looks to improve the standard of living in the area. The solution this report uses a
renewable energy source to meet the needs of the residents and the area by
providing a clean reliable and safe way to maintain power supply and to eliminate the
health risks of bio-mass cooking.

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EWB 2011 – SOLAR POWER ENERGY TEAM CREATIVE
Team Reflection
The biggest challenge that our EWB group had to overcome was the social and
cultural differences between the group and the residents of Devikulam. Finding
solutions that would meet the needs of the residents and that met the considerations
of the project was rather perplexing. The cultural difference between the customs in
Australia and the local traditions in the village would have made some of the design
options unsustainable and unwanted.
The project was looking for a clean, renewable and reliable energy source and
finding a solution that met all the criteria was interesting. Many clean energy
technologies are renewable but the difficult task is to find ways to make the energy
source reliable. The options available were endless but as the group worked through
the problems, the solutions became clear and a solution was found.
All the challenges faced by the group revolve around sustainability and the strategies
used to tackle these problems will help in future design projects. Remembering that
there is always a bigger picture and that one decision may influence many others.
The geographical location of the design team members was also a challenging
situation but each team members experience was beneficial to the project. The
wealth of knowledge that each team member provided to the project with direction
and real world experiences brought out solution to problems.

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EWB 2011 – SOLAR POWER ENERGY TEAM CREATIVE
Table of Content

Executive Summary .........................................................................1
Team Reflection ..............................................................................3
Team Reflection ..............................................................................3
1.0 Introduction ...............................................................................7
1.1 Problem Scope.................................................................................................9
1.2 Project Objectives.............................................................................................9
1.3 Design Requirements.......................................................................................9
2.0 Background ............................................................................. 11
2.1 Regional Information.......................................................................................11
2.2 Climate and temperature................................................................................12
2.3 Existing infrastructure.....................................................................................12
2.4 Existing Power Consumption..........................................................................14
2.5 Local Power Supply Regulations and Standards............................................14
2.6 Existing Cooking Method................................................................................15
3.0 Design Solutions...................................................................... 16
3.1 Centralised solar power supply.......................................................................16
3.2 Individual solar power supply..........................................................................17
3.3 Bio-gas cooking..............................................................................................18
3.4 Solar power cooking.......................................................................................19
3.5 Final selections...............................................................................................19
3.5.1 Back-up power supply ...........................................................19
3.5.2 Cooking technology...............................................................20
4.0 Details of Design – Solar Power Supply ..................................... 23
4.1 Summary of the Design..................................................................................23
4.2 Detailed Description........................................................................................23
4.2.1 Functional Diagram...............................................................25
4.2.2 Function Description .............................................................26
4.3 Materials.........................................................................................................27
4.4 Implementation...............................................................................................27
4.4.1 Construction methods and steps ............................................27
4.4.2 Implementation Costs............................................................28

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EWB 2011 – SOLAR POWER ENERGY TEAM CREATIVE
4.4.3 Maintenance.........................................................................28
4.4.4 Community Education............................................................28
4.5 Evaluation.......................................................................................................29
4.5.1 Environmental impact............................................................29
4.5.2 Economic Impact ..................................................................29
4.5.3 Social Impact........................................................................30
5.0 Details of Design – Solar Power Cooking ................................... 31
5.1 Summary of the Design..................................................................................31
5.2 Detailed Description........................................................................................31
5.2.1 Functional Diagram...............................................................32
5.2.2 Function Description .............................................................32
5.3 Materials.........................................................................................................33
5.4 Implementation...............................................................................................33
5.4.1 Construction methods and steps ............................................33
5.4.2 Implementation Cost .............................................................34
5.4.3 Maintenance & Storage .........................................................35
5.4.4 Community Education............................................................35
5.5 Evaluation.......................................................................................................36
5.5.1 Environmental Impact............................................................36
5.5.2 Economic Impact ..................................................................36
5.5.3 Social Impact........................................................................36
6.0 Risk Assessments.................................................................... 38
7.0 Conclusion .............................................................................. 39
8.0 References.............................................................................. 40
Appendix 1 Devikulam Village Survey.................................................I
Appendix 2 Local Solar Data ............................................................II
Appendix 3 Individual Solar System Costs ........................................III

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EWB 2011 – SOLAR POWER ENERGY TEAM CREATIVE
Table of Figures

Figure 1.0 - Location and Household map of Devikulam Village................................8
Figure 2.0 - Weather monthly averages - Devikulam...............................................13
Table 1 - Existing power consumption in Devikulam................................................14
Table 2 – Average Maximum Biogas production......................................................21
Table 3 – Average Dung Yield .................................................................................21
Table 4 – Biogas Requirements...............................................................................22
Figure 3.0 Back-up Power Supply Functional Diagram............................................25
Figure 4.0 Solar Cooker Functional Diagram...........................................................32

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EWB 2011 – SOLAR POWER ENERGY TEAM CREATIVE
1.0 Introduction
The village of Devikulam is a small village located in the one of the most
underdeveloped districts in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Due to this
underdevelopment the village suffers from many ailments causing many in the
village to be living below the poverty line. Some of these issues include poor housing
conditions, limited safe drinking water, high unemployment due to irregular
agricultural work, and low education levels. Two of the major issues that need to be
looked at in the village include an alternative energy system, as well as a safer and
more efficient cooking system.
The purpose of this report is to use engineering and design skills in adherence to the
EWB project program to create an innovative and original idea for the people of
Devikulam Village. Through our design brief Team Creative will be looking at the
following items: provide a back-up power supply system to the current system and to
provide an alternative cooking method to that which is currently used in the village.
The aim of this report is to create a suitable design for the above issues whilst being
able to effectively communicate design proposals and the implementation of them. A
key part in the design will be to use sustainability frameworks that include; economic,
environment and social sustainability. Through the use of the sustainability
frameworks, a solution will be given to not only increase the standard of living within
the community but to also provide employment and encourage growth within the
village.
It is intended that our final two options, energy and cooking, will be presented to
EWB and the Devikulam people as a viable solution to their engineering and social
problems. Refer Fig 1.0 for village layout.

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EWB 2011 – SOLAR POWER ENERGY TEAM CREATIVE

Figure 1.0 - Location and Household map of Devikulam Village

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EWB 2011 – SOLAR POWER ENERGY TEAM CREATIVE
1.1 Problem Scope
The project to be undertaken is to design an innovative system to deal with the
various Energy needs for the village of Devikulam, a regional village slightly inland
on the Central Indian coast. In our design we must meet the objectives of the EWB
and the needs and wants of the villagers.
1.2 Project Objectives
The project will address the problems that the villagers are experiencing with the
disrupted power supply and with the current cooking methods. Team Creative will
deliver a solution that considers the maintenance of the selected system and the
team is dedicated to providing a solution that is safe for the residents for Devikulam.
The team understands the economic situation in Devikulam and that any solutions
must be financially viable for Pitchandikulam Forest and the residents.
1.3 Design Requirements
Our solution provides an understanding of the following:
• Providing an Economical Sustainable solution
• Providing an Environmental Sustainable solution
• Providing a Social sustainable solution
• Knowledge of the people of Devikulam and their requirements
• Knowledge of expected power usage
• Sustainable equipment maintenance
• Training of the local villagers for maintenance and installation purposes
• The ability to provide employment opportunities for the Devikulam villagers
• The safety of the user and the environmental sustainability of all aspects of
the project

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