FEASIBILITY STUDY ON SOLAR ENERGY HARVESTING SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION ON MOVING TRAINS

Abstract

This Thesis is concentrated on feasibility of solar energy harvesting system implementation on top of the moving train. Following study consists of two different ways of solar energy generation. Firstly, solar system consisting of solar panels with supplementary equipments (the charge controllers, batteries, inverters) is fitted to the roof of train coaches to supply its internal energy requirement, and secondly, solar system is implemented over the shelter of platform in train stations to feed the railway grid. Then solar-powered train travels on two specific key routes from south to the north and from south to the west of Kazakhstan are simulated and studied in detail. Above described method has practical challenges in facing variable air temperature, solar radiation and sunshine hours. This data is obtained from the NASA database, and the variable parameters for each station are calculated in MATLAB. Afterwards, the entire solar system is simulated in MATLAB Simulink and the total required investment is calculated including costs of all equipments. The return investment time is calculated according to the power generated from solar system and saved money from fuel economy. Moreover, solar-powered train shows the significant cut of carbon dioxide emission because of the fuel iii economy. Both of the payback time and decreasing of CO2 emission reveal the benefits of investment.