User acceptance of diesel/PV hybrid system in an island community N. Phuangpornpitak a, * , S. Kumar b a Faculty of Science and Engineering, Kasetsart University, Chalermphrakiat Sakonnakhon Province Campus, Sakonnakhon 47000, Thailand b Energy Field of Study, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand article info Article history: Received 25 January 2009 Accepted 7 June 2010 Available online 29 June 2010 Keywords: PV hybrid system Rural electrification User satisfaction Island electricity Decentralized generation abstract This paper presents the results of a study conducted at a rural (island) community to understand the role of PV hybrid system installed on an island. Until 2004, most islanders had installed diesel generators in their homes to generate electricity, which was directly supplied to appliances or stored in the batteries for later use. A field survey was carried out to study the user satisfaction of the PV hybrid system in the island community. The attitude of islanders to the PV hybrid system was mostly positive. The islanders can use more electricity, the supply of which can meet the demand. A comparison of pollutions before and after installation of the PV hybrid system was made along with the interviews with the users. The data show that the users are highly satisfied with the PV hybrid system which can reduce environmental impact, especially air and noise pollutions. New opportunities as a result of access to electric service include studying and reading at night that were not possible earlier. All the islanders use the PV hybrid system and more importantly, no one found that the system made their life worse as compared to the earlier state of affairs. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction 1.1. Role of renewable energy in rural electrification After the oil crisis in the 1970s, utilization of renewable energy worldwide has increased considerably. In recent years, however, the environmental impacts due to the use of fossil fuel have become a major global concern. The population growth and increasing energy demand also pose greater stress on global energy supply and environment [1]. At the same time access to electricity and other modern energy services is also a serious concern. Application of renewable energy technologies (RETs) for rural electrification has been increasing in recent years. Of the available RETs, photovoltaics (PV) is found to be promoted where it is uneconomical to extend the electric grid [2]. Rural electrification using off-grid renewable energy has emerged to be a suitable approach. Many programs have been implemented in various parts of the world e most of them are in the developing countries. Some studies show that these technologies can provide reliable and comparatively low cost electricity service [3,4]. In addition to supplying electricity to rural households, small industries, and other establishments, it also has the potential to reduce environ- mental pollution and create income generating activities [5]. 1.2. PV hybrid system for rural electrification The installed PV power reported by International Energy Agency (IEA) at the end of 2005 is 3.7 MW and 85% of this capacity has been by grid-connected application and the rest are by stand-alone systems in remote/rural areas. PV hybrid systems can be stand alone or in some instance is grid connected. PV hybrid systems provide a realistic alternative to diesel generators for electricity generation in off-grid areas. It has been demonstrated that hybrid energy system (renewable coupled with conventional energy sources) can significantly reduce the total life cycle cost of a stand- alone power supplies in many off-grid situations, while at the same time providing a reliable supply using a combination of energy sources [6]. PV hybrid systems have been installed across the world [7e11], and expanding renewable energy industry has now developed reliable and cost competitive systems using a variety of technolo- gies. Though there are problems arising from an increased complexity of PV hybrid systems in comparison with single energy source [12], particularly, sizing and PV contribution to the load, application of PV hybrid system has the potential to meet the electricity needs of rural areas as these could provide electricity in a cost effective way. Earlier studies on PV hybrid systems have been focusing on modeling, system sizing and performance, while * Corresponding author at: Faculty of Science and Engineering, Kasetsart University, Chalermphrakiat Sakonnakhon Province Campus, Sakonnakhon 47000, Thailand. Tel.: þ66 42 725 042 ext. 3409; fax: þ66 42 725 034. E-mail address: napaporn.ph@ku.ac.th (N. Phuangpornpitak). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Renewable Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene 0960-1481/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2010.06.007 Renewable Energy 36 (2011) 125e131