Smart Emergency Load Supply via Off-Grid Photovoltaic System

In the recent years, residents in Kuwait have suffered from the increase of electrical power outages. This issue obstructs the daily lives of residents, especially the ones that rely on medical equipment at their own houses. As recently reported by the Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy in Kuwait, the average duration of electrical power outages in Kuwait is approximately three hours per outage; most of the outages are taking place during summer months and that usually happens due to overloading; that further proves the importance of finding a suitable solution for such an issue. The current paper introduces an independent emergency backup system that uses Photovoltaic panels to provide different types of electrical power to consumers with the needed power during electrical power outages. The suggested system is independent, simple, reliable, user friendly and meets different requirements based on the users’ needs.

I. Introduction

Electrical power outages over the years have become more common and frequent globally. Kuwait's maximum electrical power generation capacity is 17.90 GW while the maximum demand is 16.37 GW, but according to the Ministry of Electricity, Water, and Renewable Energy in Kuwait, the average electrical power outage duration is approximately three hours per outage [2]. Electrical power outages occur mostly in densely populated residential areas with many apartment buildings, such as Salwa, Rumaithiya and AlFarwaniya; furthermore, they frequently occur in farming areas, like Al-Wafra and Kabed [3].