Design, Installation and First Evaluation of a Photovoltaic Power Plant System for the Indonesian Village of Picon in West Java

Since October, 1979, a 5.5 kWp demonstration photovoltaic (PV) power plant has been installed in a small agricultural village Picon in Indonesia. The PV plant which is a part of a larger diversified power supply system for the village Picon is within the framework of a German-Indonesian cooperation program in the field of solar energy application. The purpose of the program is to demonstrate the feasibility of autonomous power systems based on renewable energy sources in rural communities under real working conditions. The electric energy is presently delivered to the site as AC power through a 5 kVA static invertor. The major load for the PV plant at the moment is a water pump used for pumping agricultural water from a nearby river. The results obtained so far are discussed briefly.