Development of lox-cost equipment based on open source tools

Abstract

In recent years, the rapid evolution of the solar energy as well as the photovoltaic technologies has led to the proliferation of a vast number of photovoltaic installations worldwide. Millions of stand-alone photovoltaic systems are installed in rural areas of developing countries. One of the main problems in rural electrification programmes is the lack of monitoring. Small stand-alone photovoltaic systems are limited by size and cost and it is very difficult to monitor their proper functioning. The objective of this thesis is to design and develop a low-cost monitoring system, suitable for the monitoring of small stand- alone photovoltaic systems installed in rural areas of developing countries contributing to the success of rural electrification programs.