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.

This thesis is a study on integration of photovoltaic generators into an existing diesel-unreliable grid connected system at the Lebanese village of Khiam. The main goal of implementing PV-diesel hybrid system is to reduce diesel consumption and the import of fossil fuel used in electricity power supply. Before designing the system, it is necessary to create a load profile for 120 households and pre-design the size of the PV generator, the capacity of storage system and inverter type/size selection. The load profile data is based on the average of monthly energy consumption gathered from Khiam village households. Detailed simulations and financial analysis are performed with HOMER to compare different systems and their viability. The simulations include four different designs starting from the existing system, diesel generator with unreliable grid, followed by PV generator and unreliable grid, PV and diesel generator and ended with the complete hybrid system. Once the Hybrid system is determined a detailed design is done to optimize the lowest cost PV-diesel hybrid system. The final simulated PV-diesel hybrid system is suggested with a PV capacity of 270 kWp, existing diesel capacity with 200 kVA, an inverter output of 115 kW and battery bank nominal capacity is 1872 kWh. The system renewable fraction is 53% and the project life cycle is 25 years. The PV-diesel hybrid system is projected to produce electricity at a cost of 0.12 USD/kWh. This cost is significantly lower than the 0.26 USD/kWh paid to the diesel operator, as well as lower than 0.13 USD/kWh paid to the utility grid. In addition, and according to the given information from the owner, an estimated diesel consumption of 104000 ltr/year, the simulation result shows diesel consumption at 40000 ltr/year. The reduced carbon dioxide production by 65%, from 776 to 272 tons per year, provides further justification for the PV installation in a commercial PV-diesel hybrid system.

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