A Review of Research on Small Scale Renewable Energy Sources and the Storage Techniques for off Grid Applications

Abstract

The paper presents a review of research on various renewable energy sources and storage methods to design and develop an integrated off grid system which can provide continuous and reliable power supply to the Army troops posted in the areas in keeping the equipment powered in extreme temperatures and isolated locations. Harnessing power from the nature using small scale renewable energy generating methods and energy storage devices which are light in weight and could work in extreme temperature is explored here. This paper presents the review of various researches in vertical axis wind turbine and compressed air storage techniques. In addition it discusses the operation difficulties with the storage devices like batteries which could be replaced using super capacitors for critical applications in army. The paper reviews the recent research done in magnetic refrigeration for cooling requirements using the basic principle of magneto caloric effect. Finally the paper presents the scope of research in small scale renewable energy generation using vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) and its storage using compressed air generator (CAES) and super capacitors for critical applications in extreme temperature applications.