Prospects for Photovoltaics Applications at Dromankese

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1995-09-03
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Lack of electricity in Ghanaian villages is posing tremendous drawbacks on rural development. The total number of rural dwellers facing this predicament is about 10 million currently, including the people of Dromankese, a village in the Brong-Ahafo Region. Currently the people of Dromankese (rural dwellers) are using kerosene lanterns for lighting which is inadequate, dry cells for operating radiolcassette players which are expensive to replace, and only a few are able to pay for the cost of recharging lead-acid batteries at Nkoranza to operate TV sets regularly. The main objective of this work was to identify and appraise those household energy needs at Dromankese which could be met with economical photovoltaics (PV) systems. Dromankese was selected by BIRD (Bureau of Integrated Rural Development, UST) as one of the communities for the implementation of pilot projects under the auspices of the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada/University of Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, Renewable Energy Project. Techno-economic studies have been undertaken with a view to identifying viable photovoltaics applications at Dromankese. The WATSUN-PV 4.0 computer simulation programme was used for the studies. Economic analyses for the photovoltaics systems were done using the benefit/cost ratio (BCR) approach, and the cost of the PV system components were limited to quotations from Canada. An application was considered viable if at least 90% of the electrical energy demand was met throughout the year and the BCR was equal to or greater than 1.000. The studies showed that a PV application for general household use (which includes lighting, operation of a TV set, radio/cassette player and fan) is not cost effective. The BCR for this application ranges from 0.039 to 0.415. The average estimated daily electrical energy demand per household was 866Wh. The BCR for using a PV cold storage facility is 0.162; hence it was also not cost effective. Applications for TV watching and radio/cassette playing with a single panel (i.e., 37Wp, 45Wp or 53Wp) and a 50Ah lead-acid battery proved to be technically viable and cost effective, with a BCR ranging from 1.545 to 2.385. Also some lighting could be achieved with the wasted energy from the panels. A central PV battery charging facility at Dromankese proved to have the highest prospect: The current expenditure on battery charging to watch TV and operate radio/cassette players would reduce from ¢3,300.00 a week (which includes transportation to Nkoranza) to ¢500.00 and the estimated BCR is 1.715, with a payback period of 4.04 years.
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A thesis submitted to the Board of Postgraduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, 1995
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