Data acquisition of renewable energy sources and its cost benefit analysis for smart grids

• Main Author: Tan, Khai Boon.
• Other Authors: So Ping Lam
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/54402
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The worldwide demand for energy has grown progressively over the last twenty years. The need for dependable and economical electric power all around the world opens up avenues for greater research; or bigger energy projects. With the continuous exploration of alternative sources of energy, renewable energy sources definitely fit the bill for our energy hungry civilization. Energy harnessed from the Sun falls under this conspicuous category, and options pertaining to this form of energy will be explored in this report. From the scouring of the market for a reliable hardware product - The CMP 11 pyranometer, to the data acquisition of the hardware (pyranometer), tests and experiment were conducted. Results were put into comparison to that of the software implementation. In software implementation, much knowledge was discussed in the form of how the Earth receives her solar energy. With all these essentials put into place, their assessments were compared, and a fusion of hardware testing and software implementation ensues. The results will allow researchers to predict forecasts more accurately and also be able to utilize Earth’s resources more efficiently. This is done by simulating the irradiance measurement gathered from the pyranometer into the photovoltaic (PV) model. The software and hardware combination are also able to predict how long it will possibly take to recover the cost of the energy producing equipment (PV module) in cost-benefit analysis; one result that will certainly entice more users of clean energy.