Solar Power Plant Rehabilitation — Sud Solar Perimeter and Bounkiling Department

Objective

The aim is to rehabilitate solar power plants that have been out of service since 2021. These plants were installed by Sud Solar Système, financed by Scandinavian countries, and monitored by ENDEV under the supervision of GIZ. All of these plants have a capacity of 5 kWp and 1000 Ah.

Observations

• Insufficient electricity production from the photovoltaic solar power plant compared to the population's needs
• Population growth
• Obsolete batteries
• Outdated inverter technology
• Lack of low-voltage grid coverage
• Damaged fence
• Defective slab
• Generator not working

Technical solutions

• Installation of a new, state-of-the-art solar power plant
• Replacement of the solar battery bank
• Production of a grid injection system
• Extension of the low-voltage grid
• Securing internal installations

Work itself — Grid rehabilitation

• Straightening of leaning poles
• Securing the ground cable
• Replacing halogen streetlights with LEDs
• Extension of the low-voltage grid by up to 1 km using wooden poles salvaged from other villages electrified by the Senelec grid through the PUDC or other programs
• Rehabilitation of the technical building
• Rehabilitation of the PV support structure
• Repair of the fence and slab

Pilot village — Saré Biteye

• Equipment found on site:
• A string of 14 214Wp solar modules
• A 5kW Sunny Boy
• A 5kW Sunny Island
• A strip of obsolete 21-cell 2V/1000Ah batteries

Community profile: good payers, disciplined population, and respectful of their commitments.

Community Requests

• Extension of the entire network to all new hamlets in the village
• Provision of sufficient energy without load shedding
• Connection of all potential users
• Operation of public lighting
• Connection of public buildings
• Price collection via meter — Woyofal model

Actions undertaken by Sud Solar

• Purchase of tubular batteries: 30 x 200 Ah / 12V
• Purchase of 20 kWp of solar modules: 36 x 590 Wp
• Purchase of two three-phase all-in-one inverters: 2 x 12 kW / 380 VAC
• Construction of solar module supports
• Purchase of cables and electrical accessories

Technical characteristics of the new installation

The installation of the new generation mini-power plant in Saré Biteye will be carried out using state-of-the-art, high-efficiency electrotechnical equipment. The solar modules will be monocrystalline, class C, with an open-circuit voltage of 49 V and a short-circuit current of 14 A. A capacity of 21,240 Wp will be added to the existing 5 kWp capacity.

The coupling model used will be AC/DC. Two three-phase inverters, each with a capacity of 12 kW, will provide 24 kW of output instead of 5 kW—an increase of 15 kW of sinusoidal signal.