A Study on Exploration for Resource Utilization of Solar Energy on the Roof of APSRTC Buses

In highly colonized and emergent countries like India, the majority of the people are depending on public transportation like road and rail. In most of the places like semi-urban and rural areas where railways are not available, on-road transportation, particularly by buses, is being practiced. These buses will be moving or halting under the sun in almost all day hours and hence their roof exposes to sun irradiation during sunny hours. By placing appropriate solar collectors on the roof of buses, maximum solar energy can be extracted to the extent possible. The resourced solar energy can be converted into electricity, which then can be utilized in diversified ways. This paper presents results of a research study carried out on various types of buses belonging to one of the bus depots of APSRTC located at latitude 13.5706 N and longitude 79.4884 E. The study explored that, total 1336.713 kWh of electricity can be generated by installing appropriate size of the solar PV system on the vacant roof areas of six categories of total 150 buses belonging to the concern bus depot. The generated electricity is sufficient to charge, 746 numbers 12V 150AH deep cycle batteries daily and could pave a path for next-generation battery charging stations for driving electric vehicles. The contribution of this paper could become one of the lines of assault to reduce energy intensity through the transportation sector.