Photovoltaic system for supply public illumination in electrical energy demand peak

This work deals with the development of a photovoltaic system for energy supply to the public illumination in peak demand of an electric energy distribution system. The PV system stores during the day and supplies during the evening electric energy to a 70 W high-pressure sodium lamp (HPS) for two and a half hours, considering an average solar radiation of 5500 W/m²/day. During the day, the solar energy is captured by a photovoltaic panel and stored in lead acid batteries through a boost converter. This converter makes possible the battery to be charged at the photovoltaic maximum power point (MPP). In the evening the HPS lamp is started up through an electronic ballast, which operates with zero volt switch (ZVS). The control system, based on a AT90SSS35 RISC microcontroller, seeks the photovoltaic maximum power point, monitors the batteries charge and determines the time operation of the DC/DC converter, that makes possible the use of the electronic ballast with the batteries.