A Visual Basic-based Tool for Design of Stand-alone Solar Power Systems

Abstract

Electricity generated by solar energy has been widely applied worldwide; there is a great tendency for the use of stand-alone photovoltaic stations distributed in remote areas due to the known benefits of this source of energy. In Iraq there are other reasons why the use of solar energy so necessary, firstly, appropriate climatic conditions, secondly, delayed electricity supply projects for remote areas. This paper presents the development of a visual basic-based software package that design a stand- alone photovoltaic system, the developed software offers a friendly Graphic User Interface tool to size the system components according to the load requirements and site-specification. The results of the design for the case study are quite in agreement with the analytical method, thus validating the accuracy and precision of the tool. The final outcome of this paper is to prepare a design tool that can be used by those who do not have any engineering or technical background which helps to accept the idea of using solar energy by residents of remote areas.