Optimum Site Selection and Sizing of Distributed Canal- Top PV Plant Based on Load Flow Analysis

Abstract

The energy crisis has been increased over the year due to an increase in the population and expansion in industries. Pakistan has also been considered not only as an energy deficient country but also been considered as a country where the cost of energy production is at its peak due to the use of fossil fuels for energy production and less use of renewable energy resources for the production of electrical energy. To address these issues the use of renewable energy resources has become inevitable. This research is targeted to highlight the optimal location for the use of solar PV panels over the canal top for the production of Electrical Energy along with distribution techniques to energize the feeders and grid system. Different locations in different districts of Punjab over the branch canals and distributary have been short-listed and the performance of Solar PV panels over these canals has been analyzed for high efficiency. To develop small PV (solar-photovoltaic) plants in urban areas of Gujranwala division, and Rakh Branch canal, Faisalabad on top of canals or nullahs to energize various, industrial, residential, commercial, and agriculture zones. In this research, we identified six potential locations in the Gujranwala division and Rakh branch canal, Faisalabad along with the identification of closest grids and potential power purchasers while in the second step, it provided potential designs of models that can be considered suitable for deployment of small scale  PV plants at the identified locations along with the financial analysis including estimated construction cost and the estimated tariff rate for selling power to the potential customer. This research has analyzed the situation of the National grid infrastructure in the project area and has proposed a design of a separate transmission system that can be used to effectively distribute power to industries and can easily be integrated into the National grid in the future. The establishment of a separate transmission system provides the flexibility of expansion in the size of the installed PV plant without upgrading the electrical network which otherwise becomes difficult in the case of national grid usage due to the limited capacities of feeders.