Abstract:
Being a developing country, Pakistan imports around 3,310,215 tons of diesel oil annually, as local oil accounts of only 16% of its total oil consumption. Out of this, almost 4% is utilized in the railway sector. Researchers around the world have addressed this issue and proposed a hybrid power generation system by installing solar photovoltaic panels on the rooftop of rail coaches, resulting in a significant decrease in diesel consumption. However, as this idea is in the phase of research, there are certain knowledge gaps in this field of study. The power generated from solar is not utilized when the train is static and a storage system is to be proposed so far in this specific type of application. Further, an optimization algorithm is required for efficient and optimal management of power between solar PV and diesel generator to optimally power the electrical load of coaches. The aim of this research work is to optimize the diesel consumption in trains to power the coaches. The research work includes the introduction of a battery storage system in order to capture the solar power generated when the train is static, which can be utilized during night as well as during cloudy days of train journey to power the electrical load. A control strategy has been designed for optimal power management between solar PV, battery storage, and diesel generator to reduce the diesel consumption for electrical load of train. Fuzzy logic controller and adaptive neuro-fuzzy interference system have been applied and their results have been compared to achieve the most optimized control strategy. It can be concluded that by considering a total number of 131 trains in Pakistan, with almost 13 coaches per train, and considering 42.12 kW solar PV system per train, almost 1,990,286 liters of diesel can be saved annually with a cost saving of almost PKR 468.31 million per year for Diesel Genset – Solar PV hybrid system, which comes out to be 15.63% saving of total diesel consumption. Almost 5,373.77 tonnes of CO2 emissions can also be reduced annually. Furthermore, by introducing a battery storage system of 80.16 kWh per train to make Diesel Genset – Solar PV – Battery Storage hybrid system, almost 2,906,945 liters of diesel can be saved annualy with a cost saving of almost PKR 684.00 million
