Development of integrated renewable energy system for sustainable energy supply at Mai Farm Kalumpang Selangor

Abstract

Malaysia introduced renewable energy as the 5th fuel strategy in the energy-mix under the National Energy Policy in 2001. Malaysia has huge potential renewable energy resources in the form of solar, pico hydro and wind due to its geological characteristic and proximity to equator. Mai Farm in Kalumpang, Selangor is planning to implement a small scale integrated Solar PV, pico hydro, and wind for electricity to power up its facilities. The site has an average solar irradiation at 5.85 kWh/m2/day with the highest solar irradiation at 6.08 kWh/m2/day for month of October which is potential for implementation of solar PV system. The highest wind speed recorded is 5.58 m/sec on month of June. The average wind speed is 4.86 m/sec. The site has a consistent and continuous velocity of water flow coming from the nearest hill via gravity fed 3” PVC pipeline system. This research objective is to investigate the potential energy can be generated and to design an integrated renewable energy system consisting of floating solar PV, pico hydro and wind. The methodology of the research started by gathering data for geographical and meteorological information such as location, elevation, solar irradiation, wind speed and flow data for pico hydro. The load list for Mai Farm also investigated for demand and consumption. All the collected data is used as input to perform simulation and optimization of renewable energy system configurations by HOMER software. Different off-grid configurations of the integrated system proposed are investigated for its levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). The simulation shall be able to assess levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), CO2 avoidance and excess electricity resulting of the integrated renewable energy system.