Technical viability of mobile solar photovoltaic systems for indigenous nomadic communities in northern latitudes

Svetlana V. Obydenkova and Joshua Pearce

Renewable Energy, 2016, vol. 89, issue C, 253-267

Abstract: This study assesses the viability of photovoltaic (PV) technology in northern latitudes as a part of energy supply system for remote nomadic camps of indigenous communities involved in reindeer husbandry. Two boundary locations were analyzed: southern Yakutia, Russia, 56°41′N; and the northernmost area in Norway, Finnmark, 68°51′N. Sixteen scenarios were simulated based on energy consumption, light sources and electric load schedules. The results show that PV-based systems are beneficial under a variety of economic conditions and fuel prices when compared to systems solely fuel-based. Incandescent lights, which are currently common for such settlements, should be replaced with LED lighting to enable easier PV system portability by reindeer sled. For areas with significant numbers of minimal solar flux days partial load scheduling is necessary for economically viable systems. The simulations showed that the specific weight of the system (excluding support structure) measured as the system total weight to the number of camp residents ratio can be reduced by a factor of two for optimized loads to 5.8 kg/person for a low energy-intensive camps and 11.0 kg/person for a high energy intensive camps.

Keywords: Solar photovoltaic; Mobile solar; Cold climate; Isolated communities; Nomadic; Stand alone (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148115305425
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:89:y:2016:i:c:p:253-267

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2015.12.036

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().