Space Apps Challenge 2018

The beginnings

First of all, we decided to develop this idea in order to solve a problem this world has, and that is the pollution of the environment because of the use of traditional sources of energy.

How could we contribute to the change?

Developing a web application that brings you the cheapest option to choose when it comes to solar or wind energy. We all know that it is easier for everyone to take action once you know the cost of something beforehand, and this is the main purpose of Cyberwatcher, to easen the path of migrating from one technology to the other.

You only need to input how much energy would you want to consume, the area you want to install the devices and several values related to the solar panel and wind turbine specs you chose, and after that, the software does its job to calculate how many solar panels or wind turbines you would need to fullfil the specified energy need.

How do we manage to calculate it?

Okay, lets get into the science behind. The first thing we need to know is the performance of a solar panel and a wind turbine under different environmental circumstances, in order to do so, we had to find a source of data to provide us with the variables required to perform our calculations. The environmental variables needed to take into account are, the average wind speed in the area, the air density, and the peak hours of sun exposition that a solar panel would face there. To simplify the calculations, the air density is assigned as 1.225kg/m³, which is the normal value found above sea level, and the peak hours of sun exposition are defined by the user.

It goes without saying that over time we will have improved our algorithms and sources of data in order to provide our users with a high level of accuracy when it comes to this issue.

Wind calculations

Once we have the required environmental data, the software begins its calculations, just to get started, we will start to explain the required variables we have to take into consideration to better understand the formulas below.

• v: Average wind speed (m/s)
• p: The air density (kg/m³)
• Power density: Defined as the amount of power per unit volume (w/m²)
• S: The area of the circumference the blades draw with its spin (m²)
• t: The hours in a year
• bl: The Betz limit, a percentage that determines the amount of energy that will be lost out of the total (%)

And now, the required formulae.

• Power density = (0.5 * p) * v³
• gWh in a year = ((((Power density / 1,000) * t) * S) * bl) / 1,000,000

Now, once we have the yearly energy production in one year by a single wind turbine with the average data, we need to know how many wind turbines able to produce this amount of energy would be needed to fullfil the energy level previously defined by the user. To do this, we only have to divide this need by the result we obtained before, and once we know the amount of turbines, we just need to multiply it with its price per unit also defined by the user.

Right now, we already have the cost of the wind installation, but what about the solar one?

Solar calculations

The variables that we took into consideration related to these calculations are the power of the solar panel, and the peak hours of sun exposition that panel has.

• WPM: The power of the panel (w)
• ph: Peak hours
  

And now the required formula:

• kWh/day = (WPM * ph) / 1000

Once we know how many kWh our solar panel can produce, we only need to perform these calculations:

• gWh in a year: (kWh/day * 365) / 1,000,000

Now, knowing the amount of energy that a solar panel is able to produce in one year, we need to divide our energy need input by the result obtained before, in order to get the amount of solar panels required, to finally multiply the amount of solar panels by its price per unit, to get the final result.

These are the calculations the software performs, and with the output information obtained, the user can decide what is the most suitable option for them, so it is easier for them to do the switch to renewable energies.

Looking into the future

There is no change if there is no action, and that is what cyberwatcher promotes, action, we are looking forward to improve our software in the future, not only when it comes to make more accurate calculations, but also when it comes to bring our users the best possible experience, a brighter future is ahead, and we, from Cyberwatcher, want to give to the world a proper tool to help us to make this world a better place.

Bibliography

• http://macsen-pv.iter.es/pub/documentos/documentos...
• http://drømstørre.dk/wp-content/wind/miller/windpo...
• http://www.cubasolar.cu/biblioteca/energia/Energia...
• http://www.gstriatum.com/energiasolar/blog/2013/03...

Repository

• https://gitlab.com/cyberwatcher/spaceapps2018.git