Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
In this article, the results of a research study with the objective of analyzing the behavior of electric
power consumption in solar home systems installed in some rural communities are shown. The
random character of that behavior was corroborated and, besides, some factors that influence it
were identified. These factors are the following: technical, managerial, psychological, geographical,
sociocultural, demographic and economic. It was also verified that this behavior follows the gamma
function distribution, in which “a lot of people consume a little, and a few people consume a lot”.
The places where the research was carried out correspond to some rural communities of the Amazon,
of the Northeast and of the Atlantic Ocean south coast in Brazil, and of Lake Titicaca in Peru.
Community City Altitude Average Daily global solar irradiance Mean temperature (º C)
(m.a.s.l.[2]) annual (kWh/m2.day)
precipitation
(mm) Minimum Maximum Minimum Maximum
Sítio Artur Ilha Comprida 8[4] 1700[5] 2.8[4] 5.0[4] 10.0[5] 38.5[5]
Vera Cruz Benjamin Constant 65[4] 2743[7] 4.1[4] 4.9[4] 25.0[7] 30.0[7]
Notes
1. All the data correspond to the headquarters of the municipal district.
2. m.a.s.l. = meters above sea level
3. Prepared by the author
4. Source: ASB, 2000
5. Source: de Magalhães, 2003
6. Source: SEBRAE, 1998
7. Source: Noda, 2000
8. Source: IPC, 1990
9. Source: Horn, 1994
other words, to use something. Consumption, then, is the important to know its behavior, since, nowadays, the main
use of goods and services produced. From the economic sizing procedure depends on equipment power with duration
point of view, the consumption increases as a consequence of use.
of the production, which, in turn, is stimulated by the However, because these assumptions are often based
existence of a demand. Out of this relationship comes the mainly on the designer’s subjectivity, they can be over-
famous “law of supply and demand”. From this point of estimated or underestimated. Taking this reality as a start-
view, consumption is related to an element or perceptible ing-point, the necessity of verifying in situ the rural families’
object, tangible as a book, a lamp or a television, all those SHS demand behavior becomes apparent. As it can be real-
goods that in some way help to satisfy a certain need. ized, this behavior follows some parameters of social and
After accomplishing their function, these elements are cultural nature. Hence, some data pertaining to communities
transformed, rejected or dissipated. considered in the present study will be presented below.
It happens that from a psychological point of view, the
economists’ vision is very narrow. This is because the de- 3. The communities studied
mand, and consequently the consumption, depends on hu- For carrying out the research, some households of rural
man behavior; in other words, “depends on different communities electrified by photovoltaic systems were
people’s behavior in similar situations and on the same chosen, and, in addition, so were others located in the
person’s behavior in different situations” [Scitovsky, vicinity, but using the conventional electric grid. Some
1986]. In addition, sociology places greater emphasis on characteristics of the communities electrified by SHSs are
the status of the subject and to his/her social position, and shown in Table 1.
anthropology interprets the demand and the consumption 3.1. Communities of the Ribeira valley
in terms of symbolism, of rituals; in other words, the am- The area of the Ribeira valley where the research was
bient culture. conducted corresponds to the lagoon-estuary complex of
From all of this, it is realized that, for the existence of Iguape, Cananéia and Paranaguá, located in the south of
consumption, a demand must exist; in other words, de- the state of São Paulo. Three of the communities chosen
mand precedes consumption. In relation to electric power in the study belong to the municipal district of Cananéia
supply systems, this point is vital, since the size of the (Itapanhapina, Marujá and Varadouro) and one, to the mu-
system is closely related to the demand to be supplied. nicipal district of Ilha Comprida (Sítio Artur). Because
In a similar way, the demand is also one of the funda- the research has been conducted since 1998, the data ob-
mental variables for sizing SHSs. For that reason, it is tained here are cumulative. Some of the results and these
Table 2. Characteristics of the Varadouro community solar home system (each column is a family SHS)
SHS characteristics and loads F1vale F2vale F3vale F4vale F5vale F6vale
Generator (Wp) 70 35 35 35 35 35
Incandescent lamps (no. × W)[1] 1×2 1×2 1×2 1×2 1×2 1×2
Radio (W) 15 10 10 10 10 6
Note
1. See Zilles and Lorenzo, 1997.
Table 3. Characteristics of the Sítio Artur (F7vale), Itapanhapina (F8vale and F9vale) and Maruja (F10vale, F11vale, F12vale) communities’
solar home systems (each column is a family SHS)
SHS characteristics and loads F7vale F8vale F9vale F10vale F11vale F12vale[1]
Radio (W) - 10 10 - - -
TV B&W (W) 15 - - - - -
Fan (W) - - - - - 20
Note
1. Possesses a 150 W AC/DC inverter.
communities’ sociocultural characteristics were published life is also reflected in the electric power consumption.
in previous papers [Morante and Zilles, 2001; Zilles et In Table 5, the data of the systems used in this community
al., 2000]. In Tables 2 and 3 the data of the technical are shown.
characteristics of the facilities of these families are shown. 3.4. Puno community in Peru
3.2. Pedra Branca community The research in this area was developed in four commu-
This community is located in the municipal district of nities of the Puno area located in the south of Peru, next
Ouricuri, in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. The local to the Bolivia border. Two of these communities are
geography is mainly savanna (caatinga) and the commu- Quechuas and they are located in the Amantaní and
nity deals with all the problems ensuing from recurrent Taquile islands, on Lake Titicaca. The other two are Ai-
drought. Hence, the way of life of the inhabitants is bound maras, of which one is located in the lake and it belongs
up with survival in arid areas. Thus, the energy usage also to the Uros ethnic group, and the other community (Huan-
reflects this reality. In Table 4, the characteristics of the cho) is dry-land-based and it is located in the province of
photovoltaic facilities and the loads are shown. Huancané. All these communities are very old and their
3.3. Vera Cruz community way of life is adapted to the climate of the Peruvian pla-
Vera Cruz is located in the municipal district of Benjamim teau, about 3,800 m above sea level. In Table 6 the tech-
Constant in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, and is a dry- nical characteristics of the photovoltaic systems and the
land-based Creole (caboclos) community. The inhabitants’ loads are shown.
sociocultural characteristics keep a deep relationship with 3.5. Suaquello community in Peru
the Amazonian lifestyle. Basically, they are fishermen, This community is Aimara based on dry land and it oc-
farmers and collectors of the forest resources that the area cupies an area close to Lake Titicaca. There are approxi-
offers. As was verified through the research, their way of mately 34 families with homes electrified by the
Table 4. Characteristics of Pedra Branca community solar home system (each column is a family SHS)
SHS characteristics and loads F1pedra F2pedra F3pedra F4pedra F5pedra F6pedra F7pedra F8pedra F9pedra[1]
Generator (Wp) 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50
Battery (Ah) 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Fluorescent lamps 3 × 20 3 × 20 4 × 20 3 × 20 6 × 20 4 × 20 4 × 20 3 × 20 3 × 20
(no. × W) 1 × 11
TV B&W (W) 30 30 - 15 30 50 - - 50
Blender (W) 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30
Note
1. Besides the photovoltaic system, the family possesses another 53 Wp module and a 150 Ah battery, only used for television.
Table 5. Characteristics of Vera Cruz community solar home system (each column is a family SHS)
SHS characteristics and loads F1vera F2vera F3vera F4vera F5vera F6vera F7vera
Generator (Wp) 75 75 75 75 75 75 75
Incandescent lamps (no. × W) 2×2 1×2 1×2 2×2 1×2 1×2 1×2
Radio (W) 15 9 15 9 15 9 9
Note
F1vera, F2vera, F3vera, F4vera and F5vera possess an AC/DC inverter 50W-110V
Table 6. Characteristics of Puno community solar home system (each column is a family SHS)
SHS characteristics and loads F1puno F2puno F3puno F4puno F5puno F6puno F7puno F8puno F9puno[1] F10puno
Generator (Wp) 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 56
Battery (Ah) 100 100 150 130 150 150 130 130 2×130 130
Fluorescent lamps 3×11 3×11 10×11 4×11 3×11 3×11 5×11 3×11 7×11 4×11
(no. × W) 1×20
1×10
TV B&W (W) 30 30 30 30 - 30 30 30 - 30
TV color (W) - - - - - - - - 50 -
Microcomputer (W) - - - - - - - - 75 -
Blender (W) - - - - - - - - 30 -
Note
1. Possesses a 150 W electronic AC/DC inverter
conventional electric grid (single-wire earth-return circuits, animals, cows, sheep, chickens and guinea-pigs (Cavia
SWER). It is located in the Puno area, in Peru, in the tschudii f. porcellus) and they complement their diet with
municipal district of Huancané, and very close to the products that are obtained on Lake Titicaca. They speak
Huancho Lima community mentioned previously. This Aimara and most of them can also speak Spanish.
community’s residents all have very low incomes and they 3.6. São João do Lopes community
are devoted basically to agriculture. They also breed pack This village is located in the municipal district of
Figure 1. Consumption (kWh/month) of the Ribeira valley community (January 2000-March 2002)
Figure 2. Consumption (kWh/month) of the Pedra Branca community (January 2001-June 2002)
Ouricuri, halfway between this city and the community families living by labor related to urban life; but, mainly
of Pedra Branca, in Pernambuco state, Brazil. The houses in the periphery, there are families that depend on activi-
visited for the research are close to Pedra Branca and ties related to fishing, and planting and collection of ag-
they have been electrified since 1999 by the SWER sys- ricultural produce.
tem. The town possesses the characteristics of an urban
area in formation, with squares and streets, and some pub- 4. Results obtained
lic services such as school, market, health center and In the histograms of Figures 1-4 are shown, in ascending
church. Also there are small shops and it has piped drink- order, the average consumptions in kWh/month obtained
ing water and sewerage systems. However, many of the in the 38 households studied (in Ribeira valley, Pedra
families of this place also live in ranches located along Branca, Vera Cruz and Puno). Figures 5-11 show the com-
the highway that goes to the community of Pedra Branca. plete distribution for these and the Suaquello, São João
The homes studied correspond to the rural area of this town. do Lopes and Bom Jardim communities.
3.7. Bom Jardim neighborhood In Table 7, the global average consumption
This is one of the neighborhoods of the municipal district (kWh/month) in all these communities is shown.
of Benjamin Constant, Amazon state, in Brazil. It has an Starting from the analysis of the data, it can be said
urban area and a semi-rural area and the homes are elec- that the communities with higher urbanization index have
trified through the conventional electric grid, which comes greater consumption. However, for purposes of compari-
from a diesel thermal generation unit. There are many son, the efficiency of the equipment should be taken into
account, mainly of the lamps used in the homes. As can pose, the consumption data (kWh/month) were filled in 7
be observed in Tables 2-6, the photovoltaic facilities are columns, corresponding to the Vale do Ribeira, Pedra
equipped with fluorescent lamps mostly up to 20 W. On Branca, Vera Cruz, Puno, São João do Lopes, Bom Jardim
the other hand, the facilities supplied by the electric grid and Suaquello communities, respectively.
are equipped with incandescent lamps up to 100 W. The The software yielded the results taking into account the
very low average consumption of the Suaquello commu- confirmation of the corresponding hypothesis (chi-square
nity is due to the use of 2 or 3 incandescent lamps of goodness-of-fit and Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Anderson-
25 W per home and, in some cases, a radio and TV set. Darling tests). As shown in Table 8, this analysis indicates
that, except for the Pedra Branca and São João de Lopes
5. Consumption distribution function communities, the electric energy consumption of all the
For carrying out a statistical analysis, the collected data other communities can be characterized by the gamma
were organized in a way to facilitate this treatment. A distribution function.
software for statistical analysis was used. For this pur- In this table, N represents the total universe of the
Figure 3. Consumption (kWh/month) of the Vera Cruz community (August 2000-November 2003)
Consumption of the communities electrified by photovoltaic systems Consumption of the communities electrified by the
conventional electric grid
Vale do Ribeira Pedra Branca Vera Cruz Puno Suaquello São João do Lopes Bom Jardim
Table 8. Results of the statistical analysis and the decision criterion to determine the validity of the gamma function for the
electric energy consumption in the communities studied
São João do Lopes 784 0.098040 0.058214 DN > D(0.01) Not gamma
Figure 5. Gamma probability distribution for the monthly consumption values observed in Ribeira valley (α = 1.54375 and β = 0.772435)
Figure 6. Gamma probability distribution for the monthly consumption values observed in Pedra Branca (α = 5.19972 and β = 1.88185)
Figure 7. Gamma probability distribution for the monthly consumption values observed in Vera Cruz (α = 12.6908 and β = 4.14096)
Figure 8. Gamma probability distribution for the monthly consumption values observed in Puno (α = 5.70134 and β = 1.64963)
Figure 9. Gamma probability distribution for the monthly consumption values observed in Suaquelo (α =1.71374 and β = 0.247425)
Figure 10. Gamma probability distribution for the monthly consumption values observed in Lopes (α =2.48062 and β = 0.0705203)
The histograms provided by the software, including electricity demand and consumption. These were denomi-
those corresponding to the Pedra Branca and São João de nated technical, managerial, psychological, geographical,
Lopes communities, are shown in Figures 5-11. α is the demographic, sociocultural and economical factors. All of
shape parameter and β is the scale parameter of the them, depending on the degree of predominance of each
gamma function. one, with larger or smaller intensity, will eventually define
the level of energy consumption of the family. Actually,
6. Closing remarks all these factors act together, and their degree of influence
From the observation of the data of each one of the fami- varies from family to family. In the context of the ana-
lies of the communities studied, it is possible to verify lyzed sociocultural reality, the number of people that con-
that in each place there always exists a relative disparity stitute a family is not a decisive factor in the magnitude
between the major and minor consumption. By the multi- of the consumption.
disciplinary approach adopted in the research, it was pos- The statistical analysis carried out shows that, except
sible to identify an array of factors that influence for the communities of Pedra Branca and São João de
Figure 11. Gamma probability distribution for the monthly consumption values observed in Bom Jardim (α = 2.13611 and β = 0.022737)