ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 570

The average monthly irradiation energy is shown in (Fig. 5) to be 170.4 kWh/m². The standard deviation is 61.3 kWh/m² (36.0%), which is very large and in agreement with the findings presented in an earlier work (Bou-Rabee 2015). The histogram in (Fig. 5) supports the suggestion that solar irradiation in Kuwait is reduced quite significantly during winter and would therefore affect the performance of power generation (both electricity and thermal power). Due to large fluctua tions, the amount of solar energy that can be harvested in the winter is less than that in the summer. Consequently, the backup power system would be required during winter. 300 Average: 170.4 kWh/ m² Std. Dev.: 61.3 kWh/ m² Irradiation Energy (kWh/ m²) 250 200 150 100 50 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Month Figure 5. Distribution of monthly irradiation energy throughout the year Another study was conducted to prove the effectiveness of grid connected photovoltaic systems in Kuwait and proposed that PV systems have minimized the load of electricity generation in Kuwait. The findings of the study suggested that photovoltaic systems have successfully delivered as per the load demand and the simulated PV output was correlated with the load on an hourly basis. It is evident from the study findings that the PV output never exceeds the load and has significantly reduced the wastage of electricity. On the other hand, the PV system can efficiently reduce the peak loads. The study conducted to assess the environmental impacts of PV system implementation in Kuwait revealed the fact that these systems are efficient in satisfying the needs of the normal Kuwait household. This system is significant in covering the household needs of domestic hot water load and electricity consumption in the area. As per the calculation, a fixed PV system has the capability to reduce the peak load by 21%. It is suggested that the grid-connected array system should be at a slope of 26° and should be facing south i.e. the angle of azimuth should be 0°. Moreover, optimum climatic conditions are maintained through the use of PV systems and CO2 emission is found to be 1.2 t/y (Ghoneim 2012). A research was conducted on the power generation system of a village where diesel generated electricity is used. It is attempted to use PV-diesel hybrid power system in which a part of the diesel amount is replaced by solar energy. The hourly load was then measured after mounting the PV modules on fixed foundations along with four generators of different powers. The diesel prices at the time of study was 0.0603- 0.362 KWD/liter. It was deduced that a PV-diesel hybrid was effective in generating electricity at a reduced cost. The tendency of this hybrid was to produce 0.066 KWD kWh of electricity by using 21% solar penetration. The sensitivity analysis of both the applied methods suggested that a hybrid generates almost the same amount of electricity as produced 568 ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce, Italy