Abstract – Design and implementation of an electronic load

controller for a small stand-alone electrical network.

Introduction
The subject of the thesis is given by the non-profit association Humasol, for which an ELC (electronic
load controller) needs to be build in the Peruvian village La Cascarilla. This ELC needs to control a
small hydro power plant. Previous projects have led to the construction of a hydro plant and wind
turbine, these still need an ELC to work properly.

Problem description
This project will be about the design, construction and implementation of this ELC, which needs to
meet the specifications of the specific circumstances. The ELC will adjust the use of dump loads to
match output and input power on a small stand-alone electrical grid. The ELC needs to work
specifically for the installation in La Cascarilla and needs to be adaptable for other projects. A main
problem for this project is that there aren’t many useable sources of information about ELC’s.

Strategy
In order to complete the ELC as desired, the strategy is dividing the problem in four parts: searching
valuable information, designing, building and testing an ELC.

When searching for valuable information we will get a first idea about how the design will be, this
first design will then need to be adapted several times. For these adaptations we need to work
towards the requirements. We hope to come to a design which can regulate the frequency on the
grid.

To see if the design can regulate the frequency we will need to test it by varying it’s input for a steady
output, by varying it’s output only and by varying both in- and output at the same time.

When the tests prove that the design can handle these variations (where the variations are the
biggest possible variations on the specific site), the construction is ready for implementation.

When however the testing shows that the design is inadequate for the given demands, more
adaptations need to take place to meet these demands.