Hybrid Solar-Rainwater Harvesting System for Small Agriculture Uses

Abstract

This project investigates a hybrid renewable energy system that combine solar photovoltaic (PV) technology with a rainwater harvesting-based micro-hydropower system for small agriculture applications. In Malaysia, the solar energy is high but it is depended on weather condition while rainfall is plenty but underutilized for energy generation. The objective is to design and evaluate the combination of two source renewable energy using solar energy systems with rainwater harvesting based micro hydro power infrastructure to improve efficiency and reliability for small agriculture application. This project consists of a 20W solar panel, a micro hydro turbine powered by harvested rainwater, battery storage, sensors and Arduino based control system was created. The system was tested under different environmental condition to analyses voltage output, charging performance and operational stability. The result show that the hybrid system is capable of maintaining a consistent power output for low power agriculture application. The harvested rainwater assisted micro hydro turbine to generate power and cooling the solar panel which is increased overall system reliability in low solar irradiance condition. The finding shows that combining the solar energy with harvested rainwater is effective and environmentally friendly for small scale agriculture application high rainfall region like Malaysia.