Hybrid diesel/photovoltaic systems without storage for isolated mini-grids in Northern Brazil

In the Brazilian northwest there are hundreds of small towns that are not connected to the national power grid. These sunny settlements are usually supplied by small to medium (<1 MW) diesel generators feeding mini-grids. Many of these isolated communities can only be reached by boat or dirt roads, making diesel supply costly and unreliable. Adding PV (without storage) to displace diesel consumption during daytime hours thus appears to be ideal. This paper reports on a hybrid diesel/PV project, where a /spl sim/20 kWp thin film PV installation is being added to a 54 kW diesel genset operating in northern Brazil. The implications of a configuration without battery storage, chosen to minimize equipment and maintenance costs, are discussed.