Solar PV based PSH system Performance evaluation and analysis for runoff river Pico hydro plant

Solar photovoltaic (PV) based Pumped storage hydro (PSH) system has greater privilege over several storage systems in a distributed generation system. Although Pumped storage is not a direct device to store electrical energy, it facilitates the availability of electricity on-demand, through the discharge of stored water to the turbine. PSH system is useful for a wide range of applications such as irrigation, drinking water supply, and Power generation whereas India has the installed capacity of 4786 MW of power generation system through PSH which accounts for 10% of the total hydroelectricity generation capacity. In this proposed system Solar PV is used to pump water during an off-pick time and allow its release during peak time through Pico hydro turbine to uphold the stability in energy flow. Solar PV shows a potential substitute to the centralized electricity and conventional diesel-based hydro pumping system. Thoughtful of system design and an assortment of suitable parameters are necessary to attain the reliability and efficiency of any system. For PV system design and optimization, parameters such as climate data of the proposed location, solar irradiation, operating temperature and loss factors are considered. For the water pumping system (WPS), type of pump, controller, flow rate, storage size and physical parameters of the pump is preferred for efficient design consideration. Economic analysis of the system is done for the proposed site (Latitude. 19.047, longitude S3.S31) in Odisha by considering design parameters for both PV system and Pump while the results are validated through simulation software PV Syst 7.0.5 to understand the performance characteristics.