Development of expert system as an evaluation tool for photovoltaic power supply

Renewable energy sources are increasingly being considered as viable alternatives to conventional supply system, in the provision of electricity to isolated communities especially in the rural and semi-rural areas. Traditionally, rural loads are supplied from stand-alone diesel power station or via grid extension. Such sources are sometimes not cost effective due to the high fuel and maintenance cost of diesel stations, as well as, long distances from the grid to the loads. Due to this reason, renewable energy (RE) is selected for electricity supplier. Photovoltaic (PV) is one of the suitable RE to replace the conventional suppliers. This paper describes the procedures used to evaluate the power supply technologies model and deployment strategy. Many factors are considered including cost effective, environment impact, payback period, resources availability and efficiency. The final product of this research will be a tool that will give a complete model of photovoltaic system for the selected area.