1. INTRODUCTION

DUE to severe power shortage in India, the designers should develop innovative systems, which are reliable and which also use locally available resources that can eliminate/reduce the transmission and distribution problems. Usually, such resources are renewable energy sources namely Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV), Wind, Hydro and Biomass. Technologies, converting these energy sources into usable form are generally available and are also known all over the world including India . However, these sources when used individually, pose several problem of either insufficient resources or seasonal variability; resulting in a load mismatch between demand and supply. It is therefore appropriate to design a renewableenergy power system, which can use some of these available resources in an integrated fashion depending on their availability. Integrating such systems demand technological challenges, which involve adequate knowledge of interface circuits, their protection and control. Moreover, for small power levels in the range
of 20 to 50 kW, such stand-alone systems can be designed and experimented with. It is therefore, proposed to develop, install and demonstrate, a 20 kW stand-alone Integrated Power Station based on Wind (20kWp), SPV (2kWp) and Biomass Gasifier (20kWp) systems. This paper envisages developing appropriate control and operating system, which can match the demand and supply, without constraints on technology as well as on the use of power. The application of high power PWM inverters to be interfaced with Wind and

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Paper No 46B; Copyright © 2006 by the IETE.

SPV generators, in conjunction with knowledge based protection and control is now seen as a way forward. The proposed scheme is illustrated in Fig 1. Based on continuous Research and Development, adequate knowledge exists on the latest technology with microcontroller based PWM technique using IGBT’s as Power Semiconductor Device [1-10]

2. REMOTE AREA APPLICATIONS

In India, the major population lives in villages. There are about 350,000 villages where the population is under 500 people. The Electric Power requirements in such villages are generally less than 20 kW. It is estimated that about 80,000 villages in the country are still to be electrified of which about 18,000 villages situated in remote and difficult areas such as hilly regions, forests, deserts and islands, are not likely to be electrified with the conventional grid. It may not be possible to extend the grid to these locations due to logistic and environmental considerations. It is therefore recognized that decentralized generation, based on renewable energy technologies, is perhaps the only way to provide electricity to such villages [11]. Therefore, the overall electric supply to the Rural India continues to remain poor. The economic development of these Rural Areas is also affected because without power the agriculture and the industry cannot develop to the level of sustainability. In this situation of energy deficit, the main sufferers are therefore, not only the small and middle level industries, but also the Village Health Services, Education and Cottage Industry. It may be added that due to nonavailability of adequate electrical energy, there is