Σκοπός αυτής της διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι η μελέτη της απόδοσης των φωτοβολταϊκών πλαισίων σε διαφορετικές πόλεις ανά την Ελλάδα. Ως γνωστόν στην χώρα μας οι κλιματολογικές συνθήκες, κατά κύριο λόγο η ένταση της ηλιακής ακτινοβολίας και η θερμοκρασία, διαφέρουν μεταξύ των περιοχών σε μεγάλο βαθμό έχοντας αυτό ασφαλώς μεγάλη επίδραση στην συμπεριφορά και απόδοση των φωτοβολταϊκών. Οι τύποι φωτοβολταϊκών πλαισίων που μελετήθηκαν είναι αυτοί του μονοκρυσταλλικού και του πολυκρυσταλλικού πυριτίου. Αρχικά, σε μια θεωρητική προσέγγιση του θέματος μας, μοντελοποιήσαμε και προσομοιώσαμε τις φωτοβολταϊκές εγκαταστάσεις με την βοήθεια του προγράμματος PV*SOL expert 4.5. Μελετήσαμε και συγκρίναμε τα αποτελέσματα της προσομοίωσης για εννέα περιοχές της Ελλάδας, προσπαθώντας να προσεγγίσουμε τους βασικούς τύπους κλίματος που επικρατούν στην περιοχή. Οι τύποι των εγκαταστάσεων που προσομοιώσαμε είναι τέσσερεις, εκ των οποίων δύο τύποι είναι εγκαταστάσεις με μονοκρυσταλλικό και πολυκρυσταλλικό πυρίτιο υπό σταθερή γωνία κλίσης ενώ οι άλλοι δύο περιλαμβάνουν την χρήση tracker δύο αξόνων. Συμπερασματικά από αυτή την ενότητα είδαμε ότι αυξάνεται η ενεργειακή απόδοση των εγκαταστάσεων όσο πιο νότια και ανατολικά είναι εγκατεστημένες. Την μεγαλύτερη ενεργειακή απόδοση είχαν της Κρήτης και των νησιών του Αιγαίου. Επίσης συγκρίνοντας τα υλικά των πλαισίων είδαμε ότι ο βαθμός απόδοσης ηm των πλαισίων από μονοκρυσταλλικό πυρίτιο είναι μεγαλύτερος από τον αντίστοιχο των πλαισίων πολυκρυσταλλικού πυριτίου κάτι που σημαίνει ότι για την ίδια ποσότητα ισχύος χρειαζόμαστε λιγότερο χώρο άρα και υλικό για εγκαταστάσεις με πλαίσια μονοκρυσταλλικού πυριτίου. Τέλος με την χρήση tracker δύο αξόνων είδαμε μεγάλη αύξηση της ενεργειακής απόδοσης των εγκαταστάσεων της τάξης του 23% περίπου και στα δύο είδη πλαισίων. Στο πειραματικό μέρος της διπλωματικής μας, πραγματοποιήσαμε μετρήσεις στον χώρο της ταράτσας του νέου κτιρίου του τμήματος των Ηλεκτρολόγων Μηχανικών και Τεχνολογίας Υπολογιστών, με ένα πλαίσιο από πολυκρυσταλλικό πυρίτιο ισχύος 80Wp υπό σταθερή κλίση 38ο . Οι μετρήσεις πραγματοποιηθήκαν την περίοδο Ιανουάριου έως Αυγούστου του 2011 τουλάχιστον δύο ημέρες ανά μήνα και για όλη την διάρκεια της ημέρας, με μετρήσεις περίπου ανά δέκα λεπτά. Για τις μετρήσεις αυτές, χρησιμοποιήθηκε το όργανο PVPM το οποίο ήταν συνδεμένο με τον υπολογιστή όπου έπαιρνε και αποθήκευε τις μετρήσεις. Με αυτές τις μετρήσεις μελετήσαμε την απόκριση του πλαισίου μας και πιο συγκεκριμένα τα ηλεκτρικά χαρακτηριστικά του (Voc, Isc, Pmpp, Vmax, Imax) σε σχέση με την ένταση της ηλιακής ακτινοβολίας και την θερμοκρασία. Από αυτή μας την μελέτη επιβεβαιώσαμε αυτό που γνωρίζαμε θεωρητικά. Η αύξηση της έντασης της ακτινοβολίας προκαλεί γραμμική αύξηση της έντασης του ρεύματος του πλαισίου και πολύ μικρή αύξηση της τάσης που βέβαια μπορεί να θεωρηθεί σχεδόν αμελητέα. Αντίστοιχα λοιπόν και η ισχύς του πλαισίου αυξάνεται γραμμικά με την αύξηση της έντασης της ακτινοβολίας. Όσον αφορά την θερμοκρασία πλαισίου, επιδρά αρνητικά στη τιμή της τάσης. Όσο αυξάνεται η θερμοκρασία μειώνεται λογαριθμικά η τιμή της τάσης ενώ έχουμε μια πολύ μικρή αύξηση της έντασης του ρεύματος. Άρα στην ισχύ του πλαισίου η αύξηση της θερμοκρασίας επιδράει αρνητικά αλλά σε μικρότερο βαθμό σε σχέση με την ακτινοβολία. Στην συνέχεια υπολογίσαμε την ενεργειακή απόδοση του πλαισίου μας. Μετά την επεξεργασία των μετρήσεων του δικού μας πλαισίου, παρουσιάζουμε και επεξεργαζόμαστε δεδομένα από τις υπόλοιπές εγκαταστάσεις που έχουμε δεδομένα για διαφορετικές περιοχές ανά την Ελλάδα. Αυτές τις κατατάσσουμε στις τέσσερεις κατηγορίες που είδαμε και στην θεωρητική μοντελοποίηση και σύγκριση (εγκαταστάσεις με μονοκρυσταλλικό ή πολυκρυσταλλικό πυρίτιο υπό σταθερή κλίση ή με χρήση tracker δύο αξόνων). Για κάθε είδος εγκατάστασης έχουμε δεδομένα από πέντε έως εννιά περιοχές της Ελλάδας. Παραθέτοντας τα χαρακτηριστικά στοιχεία των πλαισίων σε κάθε εγκατάσταση και τα κλιματολογικά δεδομένα της κάθε περιοχής που αναφέρουμε, μπορούμε να κάνουμε μια πρώτη ανάλυση των αποτελεσμάτων της κάθε εγκατάστασης. Κύριος συντελεστής που εξετάζουμε για την απόδοση των πλαισίων είναι η μηνιαία αποδιδόμενη ενέργεια ανά kWp εγκατεστημένης ισχύος των συστημάτων και ο μέσος όρος του οχταμήνου. Από αυτή την διαδικασία επιβεβαιώσαμε αυτό που γνωρίζαμε για την απόδοση των πλαισίων στις διαφορετικές περιοχές της Ελλάδας. Επίσης είδαμε την αύξηση της ενεργειακής απόδοσης με την χρήση tracker δύο αξόνων που είναι της τάξης του 25%. Στα πειραματικά αποτελέσματα βέβαια είχαμε και μερικά αποτελέσματα που δεν ανταποκρινόταν στα αναμενόμενα. Αυτό μπορεί να οφείλεται στους τύπους πλαισίων που χρησιμοποιηθήκαν αφού σε κάθε εγκατάσταση έχουμε διαφορετικούς τύπους ή στην σχεδίαση της εγκατάστασης. Επίσης στις εγκαταστάσεις που παραθέσαμε είχαμε αρκετές βλάβες μέσα στο οχτάμηνο ειδικά σε αυτές με τους tracker δύο αξόνων κάτι που επηρέασε τα αποτελέσματα. Τέλος στην κάθε εγκατάσταση, η περιοχή που είναι υλοποιημένη μπορεί να έχει τοπικές ιδιαιτερότητες ως προς τα κλιματολογικά δεδομένα σε σχέση με τις μέσες τιμές της ευρύτερης περιοχής και άρα η απόδοση των πλαισίων να διαφοροποιείται σε σχέση με τα αναμενόμενα. Στο τελευταίο κεφάλαιο παραθέτουμε τα γενικά συμπεράσματα αυτής της εργασίας. / The aim of this diplomatic thesis is the study of attribution of photovoltaic modules in different cities of Greece. As we know in our country the climatic conditions, mainly the intensity of solar radiation and the temperature, differ between the regions, having certainly serious effect in the properties and output energy of the photovoltaic’s. The types of photovoltaic modules that were studied are these of the monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon. Initially, in a theoretical approach, we modulate and simulate the photovoltaic installations using a software called PV*SOL expert 4.5. We studied and compare the results of the simulation for nine regions of Greece, trying to approach the basic types of climate that prevail in the region. The types of installations where simulated was four. Two types were installations with monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon modules under constant tilt and the other two include the use of tracker two axes. In conclusion from this part, we observed that the energy attribution of installations is increasing as the PV installation is located from north to south and from west to east. The bigger energy output yielded in Crete and in the islands of Aegean. Also comparing the materials of the modules, we observed that the degree of performance (ηm ) of the modules from monocrystalline silicon is bigger than the equivalents of the polycrystalline silicon, therefore for the same quantity of force, we need less space therefore less material for the modules of monocrystalline silicon. Finally with the use of tracker two axes we observed big increase of output energy of the installations, about 23% , roughly in the two kinds of modules. In the experimental part of our diplomatic thesis, we collected measurements from a module of polycrystalline silicon of 80Wp force under constant tilt of 38o which was seated in the roof of the new building of department of Electrician Engineers and Technology of Computers. The measurements were realized in the period January until August 2011, at least two days per month and for all the duration of the day (we collected measurements every ten minutes). For these measurements, was used a device called PVPM which was connected with a computer where the measurements were stored. With these measurements, we studied the response of our module’s electric characteristics (Voc, Isc, Pmpp, Vmax, Imax) in combination with the intensity of solar irradiation and the temperature. From this, we confirmed the theory. The increase of the intensity of the radiation causes linear increase of intensity of current of module and very small increase of tendency that of course can be considered almost negligible. Respectively therefore, the force of frame is increased linearly with the increase of intensity of the radiation. Regarding to the temperature of the module, it effects negatively the price of tendency. As long as the temperature is increased, the value of tendency is decreased logarithmically while we have a very small increase of the intensity of current. Hence in the force of module, the increase of temperature effects negatively but less serious in combination with the radiation. Then we calculated the energy attribution of our module. Afterwards, the processing of our own module’s measurements, we present and processed data from the other installations that we have data, from different regions of Greece. They are classified in the four categories that we have also observed in the theoretical part (installations with monocrystalline or polycrystalline silicon under constant tilt or with use of tracker two axes). For each kind of installation we have data from five to nine regions of Greece. Importing the data of the characteristic facts of the modules in each installation and the climatic data of each region that we examine, we make a first analysis of the results of each installation. Main factor we examine, for the attribution of modules, is the monthly attributed energy per kWp installed force of the systems, in the period of eight month. From this process we confirmed what we knew for the attribution of modules in the different regions of Greece. We also observed the increase of energy output with the use of tracker two axes (about 25%). In this part we had results that did not correspond as expected. This can be owed in the types of modules that were used in each installation (they are different types) or in the designing of installation. Also the installations that we mention, had damages in the period of the eight month, specifically those with the tracker two axes, something that influenced the results. Finally in each installation, the region that is materialized can have local particularities in the climatic data in combination to the medium prices of the wider region and hence the attribution of modules to be differentiated in combination to the expected. After this process in the last capital we mention the conclusions.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:28:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2005-06-03Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:35:00Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 bonini_m_me_botfca.pdf: 503952 bytes, checksum: 1553a755d247df6ec4852dd6104b7a70 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Empresa Privada / O presente trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar a produção e a sensibilidade de 48 isolados de Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri e de 14 isolados de Xanthomonas spp. à bacteriocinas. Estudos foram realizados para verificar o efeito da temperatura, tempo de incubação e do tipo do meio de cultura sobre a produção de bacteriocina por isolados de X. axonopodis pv. citri. Todos isolados de X. axonopodis pv. citri não foram sensíveis às bacteriocinas produzidas por eles, não sendo essas afetadas pelo meio BDA, nutriente ágar + NaCl e YPDA, nos diferentes tempos e temperaturas de incubação. Porém, isolados de X. axonopodis pv. passiflorae foram sensíveis às bacteriocinas produzidas por 25 isolados de avaliados e o isolado de X. campestri pv. campestris e o de X. axonopodis pv. manihotis apresentaram sensibilidade variável. Dos 25 isolados de X. axonopodis pv. citri apenas cinco não foram inibidos pelas bacteriocinas produzidas por dois isolados de X. axonopodis pv. passiflorae. As bacteriocinas produzidas pelos isolados de X. axonopodis pv. citri (FDC-806) e de X. axonopodis pv. passiflorae (Mar 2850-A) foram termolábeis e resistentes à lisozima e sensíveis a DNAse. A bacteriocina produzida pelo isolado de X. axonopodis pv. passiflorae foi resistente à ação de proteinase K, tripsina e RNAse enquanto que a produzida pelo isolado de X. axonopodis pv. citri foi sensível a essas enzimas. / The objective of this work was to evaluate the production and sensitivity of 48 Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri strains and 14 Xanthomonas spp. strains to bacteriocins. A number of studies were carried out to verify the effect of temperature, incubation time, and type of culture medium on bacteriocine yield by X. axonopodis pv. citri strains. None of the X. axonopodis pv. citri strains were sensitive to the bacteriocins produced by themselves, and were not affected by the PDA, nutrient agar + NaCl, and YPDA media, at the different incubation times and temperatures studied. However, X. axonopodis pv. passiflorae and strains were sensitive to the bacteriocins produced by the 25 Xac strains evaluated, while a X. campestri pv. campestris and X. axonopodis pv. manihotis strains showed variable sensitivity. Of the 25 X. axonopodis pv. citri strains, only five were not inhibited by the bacteriocins produced by the two X. axonopodis pv. passiflorae strains. The bacteriocins produced by X. axonopodis pv. citri (FDC-806) and X. axonopodis pv. passiflorae (Mar 2850-A) were thermolabile and resistant to lysozyme and sensitive to DNAse. The bacteriocin produced by the X. axonopodis pv. passiflorae was resistant to the action of proteinase K, trypsin and RNAse, while the bacteriocin produced by the X. axonopodis pv. citri isolate was sensitive to those enzymes.

The building stock in the European Union accounts for over 40% of final energy use, where the usage of non-residential buildings may be up to 40% higher than the residential sector. Improving building energy efficiency across all categories of buildings is one key goal of the European energy policies, made prominent by the Climate and Energy package, Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD) and Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). In this study, a simulation model of an office-building complex utilizing district heating was created using transient simulation software TRNSYS. The model was validated using consumption data provided by the facility owner, after which an investigation of the energy saving potential along with the economic viability of adapting a new heat- and power supply system was conducted. The system designs were comprised of a geothermal energy system in combination with a PV-system and electricity storage. It was concluded that the systems were sufficient in maintaining an adequate indoor climate. Furthermore, the investments were ascertained as profitable and resulted in a decreased building specific energy demand.

The current energy situation is taking a turn towards renewable energies, due to the new pacts to curb global warming. These agreements, together with governmental aid, are facilitating an escalation in the production and improvement of new energy systems and the price decrease due to a larger-scale production. Within these energy alternatives, solar energy is found, specifically the subject to be treated in this project is photovoltaic energy, due to its exponential growth in the last 10 years, new tools are being developed for its monitoring and modelling. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is to develop a method  for installation testing of a PV-system. The method should give the installed nominal power of the system and show if the maximum power point trackers work as expected. A large PV-system was installed on the roof of Gävle Arenaby during 2017. A measurement system for monitoring of the power of the system and of the solar irradiance was installed. Different parameters have been taken into account for the adjustment of the model that vary the performance of the system. These factors are: the irradiance received, the module temperature and the angle of incidence. It has been concluded that the results obtained indicate a correct adjustment of the theoretical power against the real power, which means, a correct operation of the generated model. Besides, the expected power follows a linear trend, reaching the power set by the manufacturer for Standard Test Conditions. The results show that the monitored modules-strings fulffill the promised performance and the method for installation testing work as expected. The linear correlation between corrected power and irradiance means that the maximum power point tracker in the inverter works independent of the power.

The ambitious governmental policies, particularly in Europe, in pursuit of established energy targets require an increase in distributed generation. As a result, photovoltaic (PV) technologies have emerged, predominantly at residential Low Voltage (LV) feeders. However, PV rich LV feeders are highly likely to pose technical challenges such as significant voltage rise and thermal overloading. This inevitably limits the volume of PV systems that can be hosted on LV feeders. Therefore, the deployment of solutions that can enable feeders to accommodate greater volumes of PV systems without having any technical issues is crucial. This thesis, consequently, thoroughly investigates one of the potential solutions: transforming the radial operation of LV feeders into ring operation. European-style LV feeders are typically operated in a radial fashion and yet are designed to be reconfigurable with neighbouring feeders. It is, therefore, essential to identify the best pairing option (of PV rich LV feeders) in a practical and straightforward manner due to the large number of existing LV feeders in a given Distribution Network Operator (DNO) area. This thesis proposes a generic innovative methodology to enable DNOs to straightforwardly identify the best pairing feeder; a decision-making tool to facilitate the rapid uptake of PV systems. To accomplish this goal, an impact assessment of a set of real residential LV feeders is carried out to identify the first technical issue/constraint that limits their hosting capacity. Next, regression analyses are carried out to gain an understanding of the relation between this first occurrence of technical issue/constraint and the corresponding level of PV penetration. The most practical and adequately accurate metric needs to be chosen. Feeders are then classified based on the range of metrics to cover all possible pairing cases. Finally, the ring operation of feeders in each class is analysed and hosting capacities are compared to those of radial ones. This process creates a practical matrix from which DNOs can easily identify the best pairing feeders. DNOs are likely to be hesitant to adopt permanent ring operation as it is not typically adopted in traditional LV feeders. Therefore, the switch located between feeders can be operated over time (i.e., dynamic ring operation) to reduce the duration for which ring operation is in place. It is, however, challenging to identify the most favourable control strategy. This thesis proposes different strategies for dynamic ring operation. Note that the most preferable control strategy is that which preserves the benefits of permanent ring operation with the minimum duration of ring operation and minimum number of switching. To achieve this, four different control strategies are explored-using different control cycles and considering hosting capacity, duration and switching. The best control strategy is found to be able to increase hosting capacity as permanent ring operation, reduce switching actions and minimise duration of ring operation compared to other proposed strategies and, crucially, operate ring operation only when it is truly needed. Finally, this thesis investigates the use of ring operation with an LV on-load tap changer (OLTC) as this is recently available voltage control technologies and is increasingly drawing the attention of DNOs. Two approaches are investigated to increase hosting capacity and limit ring operations: the use of the switch and OLTC are controlled separately using local measurements (i.e., localised) and their simultaneous control at the LV transformer level (i.e., centralised). The latter gives the priority to the OLTC to minimise the duration of the ring operation. The assessments are extended to cover an integrated medium and low voltage network to obtain more realistic results. The results show that centralised approach provides better performance considering hosting capacity, the number of switching/tap actions and the duration of ring operation.

Globally, approximately 663 million people lack access to safe drinking water sources and nearly half of these people live in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where only 68% of the population has access to improved drinking water sources. Globally, it is estimated that 79% of the people using unimproved sources and 93% of people using surface water live in rural areas. In terms of water for agriculture, most of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa rely on rain-fed agriculture, which is threatened by the effects of climate change thereby worsening food insecurity. Adequate provision of drinking and irrigation water is believed to enhance development in areas such as health, education, food security and women empowerment. This interdisciplinary study used a mixed methods approach to develop a financing and decision support model for planning and analysing of sustainable rural water provision using solar photovoltaics (PV) in SSA, with Malawi as a case study country. The research methods included household surveys, stakeholder interviews, field visits and techno-economic analysis. Findings from the household surveys show that the current water sources are inadequate; the majority of the households used boreholes as their main source of water and they faced challenges, which included queuing, low yield, non-functionality, disparity in number of water points, theft and vandalism. For irrigation, households still rely on traditional methods of irrigation namely; watering cans with very few having treadle pumps, which are all labour intensive. From the stakeholders point of view, challenges included lack of finances, failure of current community management system, lack of coordination and lack of enabling policies. In the techno-economic analysis, a solar PV system was designed to supply approximately 200 households with drinking water. The design cost was calculated to be US$18,600 and the levelized cost of water was US$0.34/m3. The levelized cost was found to be almost six times what the households are currently paying and three times what they are willing to pay. To address this issue, the study developed a cross-subsidy model for the cost of water with that of basic energy services, particularly rechargeable lantern lighting and mobile phone charging. Using this model, the levelized cost of water was reduced by over half but is still two and a half times what they are currently paying for water. Further innovations were found to reduce the breakeven cost to only US$0.06 more of what they are currently paying. The novelty of the research is that no work in SSA, particularly in Malawi has developed such an all-inclusive integrated needs-driven approach that helps identify solar PV powered water provision solutions. These results provide baseline data for researchers, policymakers, planners, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders with interest in providing water and energy to the rural areas. This thesis recommends that with proper finance and management policies, enforcement of product and installation standards and training of households, solar PV can be used to improve access for drinking and irrigation water and at the same time provide basic energy services to the people living in the rural areas of SSA.

abstract: The high penetration of photovoltaic (PV) both at the utility and at the distribu-tion levels, has raised concerns about the reliability of grid-tied inverters of PV power systems. Inverters are generally considered as the weak link in PV power systems. The lack of a dedicated qualification/reliability standard for PV inverters is a main barrier in realizing higher level of confidence in reliability. Development of a well-accepted design qualification standard specifically for PV inverters will help pave the way for significant improvement in reliability and performance of inverters across the entire industry. The existing standards for PV inverters such as UL 1741 and IEC 62109-1 primarily focus on safety. IEC 62093 discusses inverter qualification but it includes all the balance of sys-tem components and therefore not specific to PV inverters. There are other general stan-dards for distributed generators including the IEEE1547 series of standards which cover major concerns like utility integration but they are not dedicated to PV inverters and are not written from a design qualification point of view. In this thesis, some of the potential requirements for a design qualification standard for PV inverters are addressed. The IEC 62093 is considered as a guideline and the possible inclusions in the framework for a dedicated design qualification standard of PV inverter are discussed. The missing links in existing PV inverter related standards are identified by performing gap analysis. Dif-ferent requirements of small residential inverters compared to large utility-scale systems, and the emerging requirements on grid support features are also considered. Electric stress test is found to be the key missing link and one of the electric stress tests, the surge withstand test is studied in detail. The use of the existing standards for surge withstand test of residential scale PV inverters is investigated and a method to suitably adopt these standards is proposed. The proposed method is studied analytically and verified using simulation. A design criterion for choosing the switch ratings of the inverter that can per-form reliably under the surge environment is derived. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Electrical Engineering 2011

abstract: In this thesis the performance of a Hybrid AC System (HACS) is modeled and optimized. The HACS utilizes solar photovoltaic (PV) panels to help reduce the demand from the utility during peak hours. The system also includes an ice Thermal Energy Storage (TES) tank to accumulate cooling energy during off-peak hours. The AC runs continuously on grid power during off-peak hours to generate cooling for the house and to store thermal energy in the TES. During peak hours, the AC runs on the power supplied from the PV, and cools the house along with the energy stored in the TES. A higher initial cost is expected due to the additional components of the HACS (PV and TES), but a lower operational cost due to higher energy efficiency, energy storage and renewable energy utilization. A house cooled by the HACS will require a smaller size AC unit (about 48% less in the rated capacity), compared to a conventional AC system. To compare the cost effectiveness of the HACS with a regular AC system, time-of-use (TOU) utility rates are considered, as well as the cost of the system components and the annual maintenance. The model shows that the HACS pays back its initial cost of $28k in about 6 years with an 8% APR, and saves about $45k in total cost when compared to a regular AC system that cools the same house for the same period of 6 years. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Mechanical Engineering 2011

Alternative energy technology has been used widely in rural electrification program (REP) all over the world for many years now. Renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind and biomass, are the preferred choices given the abundant resources available on site and the sophistication of the technologies involved. Combinations of two or more of the resources, together with an energy storage system and occasionally a conventional energy generator, create a hybrid system, which is reliable and durable. In Malaysia, solar photovoltaic (PV) base systems, implemented on a large scale, can provide round-the-clock electricity services for areas that are inaccessible by the electricity grid network. One of Malaysia s REP initiatives is solar PV-diesel hybrid systems for 160 schools in rural Sabah. The systems have been in operation for several years, but studies in the program are limited. Thus, understanding the system operation and functional is a highly valuable experience and lessons can be learned for implementation of the rural electrification program (REP). The overall aim of the research is to evaluate the REP in social, organizational, technical and economic aspects of the program that the findings can facilitate the stakeholders, such as the policy makers and implementers for current and future approaches, measures and decisions on REP activities and initiatives in Malaysia. This thesis has described the approaches on investigating the rural school s electrification program in Sabah. Analysis of system operation and function is conducted by examining and evaluating the recorded data from the system. A set of technical indicators is introduced in the form of system performance indicators and system reliability indicators. Furthermore, comparisons are made between the actual system operation and the optimum system configuration based on the actual data of the renewable energy resources, electricity energy consumption and costs in installation and operation. A field study was conducted at fifteen rural schools that use the solar PV system to determine the effectiveness of the program in transforming the rural schools to better learning environments and livelihoods. The findings indicate that most system components were found to be in good operation, and the operation of the solar PV system agreed to the indicators of system performance and system reliability. Additionally, the system reliability indicators can be seen as a vital tool not only to identify the values of the system capacity but also for prediction measures in analysing the durability of each component. The analysis of the actual system operation provides optimum values in terms of technical indicators, whereas the optimized system shows economic advantages. The findings show a high degree of responses from the end users in the level of satisfaction, appreciation, motivation and academic excellence. Nevertheless, several improvements are required to enhance the sustainability elements of the REP, especially from the organizational and governance perspectives. These includes effective coordination among the rural development-related agencies, the improvement on the transition between installation and maintenance work, efficient reporting process and training and awareness program need to be extended to every end user for sustainability in information and knowledge.

In 2011 was conducted experimental plantings on land ZF Mendelu in the Lednice for determining the relative resistance of selected varieties of apricots, and to determine the potential substances to enhance resistance to P. syringae pv. syringae. The varieties were inoculated with strains FN3, Lmg1247 and CCM4073. In 2013 and 2014 were observed selected symptoms on plants, which was determined the level of relative resistance of each variety. As resistant varieties were determined 'Kuresia', 'Orangered', 'Bergeval' and 'Bergarouge'. As moderately susceptible varieties were determined 'Tardicot', 'Leskora', 'Aurora', 'Harogem', 'Pinkcot' and 'Sylvercot' on rootstock 'Waxva'. As susceptible varieties were determined 'Goldrich', 'Kioto', 'Bergeron' and 'Sylvercot' on rootstock 'Rubira'.