Application of Maximum Power Point Tracking Algorithm for Determination of the Solar Electric Potential in Gorkha Bazzar, Nepal

Abstract

It is inevitable fact that the use of excessive fossil fuel has established itself as a major concern for the existence of living kinds in the world. So the development of renewable energy source has been the must task to minimize the energy crisis as well as the problems created by the use of fossil fuels. Nepal is a country with geographical and climatic diversity in South East Asia with mean solar radiation of 4.7 kWh/m2 per day and a surface area of 1, 47,181 km2. It is the region in South East Asia with a tremendous amount of solar energy potential. Among three major geographical regions namely Himalayan, Hilly and Terai region, this study has been performed at Gorkha Municipality, located at central Nepal in Hilly region to determine the solar energy potential for grid-connected photovoltaic systems installed on rooftops. A methodology was developed, in which the characteristics of the buildings were categorized, followed by the calculation of the roof surface area where photovoltaic panels could be installed. After that, the mean solar irradiation characteristics were defined as well as the technical parameters of the photovoltaic systems. With all these factors, the amount of electricity that could be potentially generated per year by solar panels is estimated. Finally, the calculations were made to estimate the amount of electricity that could be generated with the implementation of incremental conductance method for tracking the maximum Power Point and also, the system was developed using Arduino, PHP programming language, current and voltage sensors which aids for the maintenance of the installed photovoltaic cells.