1 AIT Asian Institute of Technology

A comparison of a PV system, a diesel system and a WAPDA grid extension for a selected site in Pakistan

AuthorAnsari, Irfan Ahmed
Call NumberAIT Thesis no. ET-98-13
Subject(s)Electric power production--Pakistan--Economic aspects

NoteA thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Engineering, School of Environment, Resources and Development
PublisherAsian Institute of Technology
AbstractPakistan is one of the developing countries of the world situated in the south Asian region of the subcontinent. It has a total population of 135.28 million scattered over wide area of 891940 sq.km. In the existing scientific world, the development of a nation is measured with the per capita energy consumption of a country. According to good estimates, more than 79% of the country's population has no access to electricity. As conventional sources of energy are fast depleting, rapid development of renewable sources appear to be the only hope for a secure future. Pakistan is a solar rich country and one of the most attractive teclmologies to be adopted for generation of the desired form of energy is solar energy. As the investment constraints persist with the developing countries, an optimal planning is a dire necessity. The planning of energy projects requires a complete teclmoeconomic analysis of the options to be adopted keeping in view the future needs. This study presents an economic comparison of grid extension, photovoltaic and diesel generator system options for the electrification of a selected site in Pakistan with an objective to see the future prospects of photovoltaic applications in the remote area electrification of the country. The selected site is located at 9.5 kms from the main 11 kV feeder. Different sizing methodologies of photovoltaic system, existing diesel generation prices and long-run-marginal cost of the W APDA grid extension were taken into consideration. The study condudes that grid extension is still the cheapest option for the electrification of the remote areas of Pakistan even far beyond the distance range of the selected site of this study. The diesel generation system holds a second most priority where as photovoltaic system is neither cost effective nor economical to be adopted for the village area electrification in Pakistan unless the PV prices are brought down to a reasonable range of competitiveness.
Year1998
TypeThesis
SchoolSchool of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD)
DepartmentDepartment of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC))
Academic Program/FoSEnergy Technology (ET)
Chairperson(s)Malik, A. S. ;
Examination Committee(s)Surapong C. ;Attalage, R. A.;
Scholarship Donor(s)DAAD;
DegreeThesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1998


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