An electricity market is a trading platform provided by the actors in the electricity sector to sell and buy electricity while maintaining the stability of the transmission network and minimizing energy losses. The management of electrical energy for rational use consists of all the operations that the consumers can carry out in order to minimize their electricity bill, while the producers optimize their benefits and the transmission infrastructure. The reduction of active and reactive power consumption and the smoothing of daily and yearly load profiles are the main objectives in this work. Many developed countries already have properly functioning electricity markets, but developing countries are still in their infancy of deregulated electricity markets. The major tools used in smoothing the load profiles include decentralized generation, energy storage and demand response. A load power smoothing control strategy is proposed to smooth the load power fluctuations of the distribution network. The required power change is determined by evaluating the power fluctuation rate of the load, and then the required power change is allocated to some generators or to some stored reserves. Otherwise, the consumers are made to curtail their power consumption. The ideas proposed in this work provide important opportunities for energy policy makers and regulators. These ideas would only be feasible if there exists real-time communication among the actors in the electricity market. The results indicate that as much as 1100 Megawatt-hours of energy can be stored for smoothing the load profile, when applied to the Southern Interconnected Grid of the Cameroon power system; and that Time of Use (TOU) pricing could be used instead of rotating blackouts in case of energy shortage.
In the Bamenda Municipality of Cameroon households are adopting Solar Photovoltaic Systems (SPVS). The penetration of SPVS in this Municipality depends on their technical performance. The study aimed to evaluate the technical installation of SPVS within the Municipality. A field inspection and administration of a questionnaire was conducted. The field inspection evaluated the respect of technical installation norms for SPVS. The questionnaire captured data on the technical situation of the SPVS. The SPVS installed included PV and grid to power separate loads, and PV and grid to power same loads. The installed loads were a mix of AC and DC loads of capacity from 360 W to 10000 W. The load powered by the installed SPVS varied from 300 W to 7000 W. The PV array varied from 200 W to 3200 W and battery bank capacity of 100 Ah to 800 Ah. The PV arrays were mostly installed on roof tops. Only 5% of the SPVS were installed by certified personnel. More than 50% of the installed SPVS operated below designed operation time. Failures in installed systems were related to inverters (36 %) and battery banks (36 %). Most of the PV arrays were installed on rooftops at tilt angles between 20° and 50°. More than 50 % of the PV arrays were oriented to directions other than South. Protective devices were installed in only 14 % of the installed systems. Some of the SPVS were not properly dimensioned. It may be concluded that most of the installed SPVS do not respect the technical installation norms and were not dimensioned according to users’ needs. The survival and penetration of SPVS technology in the Bamenda Municipality, Cameroon, and other sub-Saharan communities requires awareness and capacity building, policies, and regulations in the design and installation of this technology.
This paper introduces a Trio-PV monitor: a smart IoT-based instrument for the continuous and accurate monitoring of solar PV systems. The instrument is a synergistic combination of electronic hardware, desktop applications and a website. It has been conceived to provide monitoring, storage, and sharing as well as to perform statistical operations on solar energy-related data collected at any chosen site. The instrument features high flexibility, with the capacity of monitoring PV plants of up to a 90 kW rating. It is intentionally equipped with large-range weather-proof sensors, permitting monitoring and evaluation across different seasons and geographical areas. The proposed instrument targets six keys operating variables of a PV systems, namely irradiance, panel-temperature, ambient temperature, humidity, PV current and voltage. The automated design of the Trio-PV monitor allows for continuous operation for 12 h within a day. The instrument has been used to monitor simple 30 W solar PV-DC connected systems, with acquired results revealing it practical suitability and soundness. The friendly user interface of the system allows a graphical visualization of monitored parameters in real time through an installed desktop application. Finally, the IoT competence of the proposed instrument extensively allows data acquisition and the monitoring of a PV system from any location in the world. It is envisioned that the developed instrument would be a leverage package for data acquisition and the monitoring of PV system installations in developing countries and especially in Cameroon where access to information on PV systems is still highly costly and unreliable.
Several challenges are associated with the development, adoption and deployment of biogas digesters in developing countries. Amongst these challenges is a comprehensive and systematic procedure for the design of digesters suitable for rural communities. This paper proposes the Flexible Biogas Digester System (FBDS) as a viable option for rural communities in developing countries and provides a detailed step-by-step procedure for its design. The biogas production process is a function of the digester operating factors which may be grouped into physical, process and performance parameters. The physical design parameters include the digester volume, the volume of the biogas storage tank, and the volume of the installation pit. The process parameters include total solid content of the slurry (TS), organic loading rate (OLR), digester operating temperatures, pH of the slurry inside the digester. The performance parameters include biogas production rate, biogas productivity and biogas quality. The Net Present Value and the Levelised Cost of Energy are presented for simple economic evaluation of the FBDS.
Less than 15% of rural areas of Cameroon have access to grid electricity. Only 53% of the population has access to grid electricity. Notwithstanding, Cameroon has a huge hydropower potential which could be harnessed. Mini grids, powered by pico and micro hydropower plants, are a relatively new rural electrification strategy in Cameroon. Several of such mini grids have been realized in the mountain regions of the country. Some of these systems have been more successful than others. This paper aims to share the experiences of community-based pico and micro hydropower schemes for rural electrification in Cameroon. The paper provides insight to the challenges that three of such mini grid systems powered by pico and micro hydropower plants had encountered and it attempts to identify issues related to their performances. The study was based on personal experience, field visits, participant observations, interviews and focus group discussions with key members of the beneficiary communities and documentations from the local NGO which implemented the schemes. Key findings of this study relate to the description of the main aspects about: planning of a robust system design, organizational aspects, like social cohesion at all levels of scheme management, community leadership and ownership of the system and involvement of the beneficiaries at all stages of the project cycle. These aspects were particularly addressed within the context of rural communities in Cameroon.
Over 44 million biogas digesters of several designs are disseminated in Developing Countries (DCs) to improve access to modern energy services to 2.6 billion people who depend on traditional biomass. In terms of numbers this technology seems to be of high performance and any designs could be mass disseminated everywhere in DCs. This paper has two objectives: (i) to present an overview of domestic digesters performance in DCs, (ii) to describe a Decision Making Model (DMM) that is developed to identify the most appropriate digester design for mass dissemination in a particular region. Performances are characterized in terms of functional state, effectiveness in producing biogas, process efficiency and pathogen reduction: 50% of the digesters in DCs are reported in good functional state and 80% provide 3-4 hours of biogas per day. In terms of process efficiency, 58-94% volatile solids degradation is reported, 96% coliform and 99% Escherichia coli are eliminated. The DMM is based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process, the Energy Indicators for Sustainable Development and other performance indicators. It is applied to rural areas of Cameroon to select the digester design among five types. The Nepali GGC2047 design seems to result as the most appropriate for mass dissemination in this country.
Access to modern energy services in developing countries (DC) is a double-faced challenge. About 1.3billion people do not have access to electricity; 2.6 billion rely on traditional use of biomass for cooking. Solutions to this energy challenge can neither be through isolated promotion of individual technologies nor fuel switching alone. A "system approach" towards a more comprehensive energy access strategy is required. Such access strategy would comprise of the supply of alternative energy carriers and planning of complete energy solutions via a more comprehensive and sustainable Rural Energy Planning (REP) i.e. Sustainable Energization (SE). Existing procedures to SE do not account for the existing energy balance and have not been demonstrated in the context of rural areas. The study aimed to propose and consolidate a more comprehensive REP procedure for SE of rural areas of DC. A seven-step procedure is proposed and its relevance and validity demonstrated through a field case study. The proposed procedure takes into account the existing energy balance and integrates energy drivers in the energy services supply network. Application of the procedure in a rural context showed a great improvement in the quantity, quality, and variety of accessible and affordable energy services for a more sustainable development of rural areas.
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