Electric Power Generation in Rural Homes of the Province of Cañar - Ecuador

This paper analyzes the design of an autonomous electric power generation system for homes in rural areas of the Cañar province, located in the southern part of Ecuador, specifically in places where public companies that supply electric power cannot reach or economically the expansion projects of energy networks are not feasible. A house that has a daily consumption of 9444Wh/day was analyzed, that is, a social housing. The number of photovoltaic panels needed, the charge controller, the inverter, and the number of batteries needed to supply the house were calculated. Households found in agricultural production areas were used as the basis for the study, as these are located in the most remote parts of rural communities. A total of nine 375 W photovoltaic panels and twelve batteries were found to be sufficient to provide 120% of the demand. Taking into account that the study area of the present investigation is in a temperate climate most of the year, factors such as heating equipment for the interior of the house or thermal components such as the construction materials of the houses were not analyzed