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Design and Return on Investment Analysis of Residential Solar Photovoltaic Systems
... Los países de América Latina se encuentran trabajando en la elaboración de regulaciones para dar paso a las conexiones de SGDA sincronizadas con la red, ya que las tecnologías renovables han tenido una gran acogida por los usuarios regulados [22], en varias naciones se busca impulsar el crecimiento de los sistemas de generación amigables con el medio ambiente la mejora de las condiciones regulatorias e incentivos para la implementación de estos equipos [15], [23], [24] una de las formas para incentivar a los usuarios que inviertan en sistemas de generación renovable es que los consumidores puedan comercializar los excedentes de energía [21], [25] para eso se debe analizar los estándares regulatorios de energías renovables para el autoabastecimiento [5] por ejemplo, en México, Guatemala, España, Costa Rica, Colombia; lo que estos países tienen en común es que permiten conectarse a la red y que los excedentes de energía se puedan comercializar [22], [26]. ...
... La rentabilidad de los sistemas de generación distribuida a nivel residencial, como la fotovoltaica, depende de varios factores geográficos, tecnológicos y normativos del sitio donde se pretende instalar un SGDA [23], [30]. Para el caso ecuatoriano, el diseño de la capacidad a instalar debe cubrir la demanda anual de energía del usuario, para esto es necesario considerar los registros históricos de electricidad de los últimos 24 meses de acuerdo con la Ecuación (1) [25], [31]. Donde en CI representa la capacidad instalada en kW, EMt es la energía mensual histórica del mes t del consumidor expresada en kWh y FP denota al factor de planta de diseño. ...
... Donde en CT es el costo total que el usuario debe invertir en un SGDA, CU es el costo unitario y CI es la capacidad para instalar [25], [33]. ...
El uso de fuentes convencionales en la producción de la energía eléctrica está provocando impactos ambientales que serán significativos en un futuro muy cercano debido a las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. Por ello, los gobiernos y entes regulatorios de los países están dispuestos a realizar la transición energética y optar por tecnologías renovables, las cuales minimicen las emisiones de estos gases. En los próximos años en Ecuador se proyecta la instalación de sistemas de generación distribuida para el autoabastecimiento sincronizado con la red de distribución bajo el marco normativo ecuatoriano. Este manuscrito tiene como objetivo segmentar a los consumidores regulados del sector residencial para distinguir posibles candidatos seguros a realizar inversiones en sistemas de generación distribuida. Para ello, se asume un modelo de análisis de rentabilidad que calcula los índices Tasa Interna de Retorno y Relación Beneficio Costo teniendo en cuenta; 1) las categorías de consumo de energía del usuario, 2) el costo regulado de la energía, 3) la producción proyectada y 4) incentivos fiscales, para 6 escenarios en el corto y mediano plazo. Los resultados obtenidos del modelo muestran que los usuarios con categorías de consumo elevados son los que muestran mejores índices de rentabilidad y, los usuarios con categorías de consumos bajos, índices no favorables. Permitiendo de esta manera segmentar el mercado y brindar alternativas a nivel de política pública para asegurar las inversiones en estos sistemas.
... By having own charging stations and generating energy on-site at the company, e.g., with a photovoltaic system, it is possible to reduce the costs further. Nowadays, the return of investment for photovoltaic systems can be as low as three years, if providing the energy to the grid [2]. Using the generated energy to at least partly charge the own vehicles can further speed up the return of investment. ...
... Moreover, to keep the model clear we use additional variables , which indicate if reservation ∈ is uncovered ( = 1) or covered ( = 0). Note that these variables can be kept continuous in the model as they will automatically get integral values due to equalities (2). By starts and ends we denote the sets of time steps in which reservations start and end, respectively, i.e., ...
... with grid + sur according to (9). • Replace ∑︀ ∈ , with 1 − according to (2). This leads to the expression ...
We investigate a fleet scheduling problem arising when a company has to manage its own fleet of electric vehicles. Aim is to assign given usage reservations to these vehicles and to devise a suitable charging plan for all vehicles while minimizing a cost function. We formulate the problem as a compact mixed integer linear program, which we strengthen in several ways. As this model is hard to solve in practice, we perform a Benders decomposition, which separates the problem into a master problem and a subproblem and solves them iteratively in an alternating manner. We perform the decomposition in two different ways. First we follow a more classical way, then we enrich the master problem making it stronger but also more complex and the subproblem smaller and simpler to solve. To improve the overall performance, we propose a problem-specific General Variable Neighborhood Search metaheuristic for solving the master problem in earlier iterations. Experimental results show that directly solving the complete mixed integer linear program usually performs well for small to some medium sized problem instances. For larger instances, however, it is not able to find any reasonable primal solutions anymore, while the Benders decomposition scales much better. Especially the variant with the heuristic delivers high quality solutions in reasonable time. The Benders decomposition with the more complex master problem also yields reasonable dual bounds and thus practically relevant quality guarantees for the larger instances.
... PV systems can also act as stand-alone systems and use a solar battery to store electricity; this scenario is more common in off-grid communities and in developing regions where the grid power is intermittent [5,6]. The payback period, which is the time it takes to recoup funds from the initial start-up costs in an investment, is estimated to be within 10-12 years for contractor-installed residential PV systems [7]. However, current cost-analysis literature associated with PV systems does not account for reliability issues. ...
... ROI analyses often assume components in solar PV systems will last 25 years without experiencing failures that constitute a replacement and only assume a constant maintenance cost to account for repairs [7,44]. Central inverter warranties are most often between 5 to 15 years, and, as discussed in Section 3, these inverters are likely to suffer multiple failures in 25 years. ...
... Central inverter warranties are most often between 5 to 15 years, and, as discussed in Section 3, these inverters are likely to suffer multiple failures in 25 years. This section takes into account the effect of out-ofwarranty PV inverter failures and module performance degradation on a 25-year ROI of a typical PV system setup in Florida taking Yang et al.'s [7] work as baseline. This residential 6.7-kW PV system in Gainesville, Florida, was installed by a contractor and qualified for the following benefits: a) Feed-in tariffs (FITs): FITs offer lucrative rates for supplying electricity back to the grid to encourage users to invest in renewable energy. ...
Return on investment (ROI) analyses of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems used for residential usage have typically shown that at least 10 to 12 years is needed to break even, with this amount varying based on tax credits and reliability. This paper discusses the challenges with the reliability of current solar photovoltaic systems and the key reliability bottlenecks, with a focus on the ROI. The problem stems primarily from reliability issues of currently available power electronics hardware. This paper’s analysis of failure data shows that the short warranties and reliability concerns associated with solar PV inverters reduce the long-term ROI of residential solar PV systems by up to 10%. This work therefore provides key insights for accurate ROI calculations for solar PV investments. Furthermore, methods to improve the reliability of PV inverters, such as selection of capacitors, inverter topology, and incorporating wide-bandgap semiconductor devices, are presented.
... Different algorithms vary in application, complexity, precision, effectiveness, sensors, convergence speed, cost and popularity [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]. ...
... Another well-known technique for tracking the maximum power point of the PV array is the neural network based controller. This technique is very well adapted for the advanced microcontrollers and typically has three different layers, 1) the input layer, 2) the hidden layer, and 3) the output layer [38,[49][50][51]. ...
... However, the steady state operation is not satisfactory. The IncrementalConductance is not fast enough, the Fractional Open Circuit Voltage or Short Circuit Current are highly sensitive to their proportionality constants, the Fuzzy Logic and Neural Network MPPT strategies are really complex with high computational efforts that increases the processing time required by the microcontroller, and finally, the Load Current or Load Voltage Maximization strategies are highly sensitive to the load variations[34][35][36][37][38][39]. ...
Recently, photovoltaic (PV) generation is becoming increasingly popular in
industrial applications. As a renewable and alternative source of energy they feature
superior characteristics such as being clean and silent along with less maintenance
problems compared to other sources of the energy. In PV generation, employing a
Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) method is essential to obtain the maximum
available solar energy. Among several proposed MPPT techniques, the Perturbation
and Observation (P&O) and Model Predictive Control (MPC) methods are adopted in
this work. The components of the MPPT control system which are P&O and MPC
algorithms, PV module and high gain DC-DC boost converter are simulated in MATLAB
Simulink. They are evaluated theoretically under rapidly and slowly changing of solar
irradiation and temperature and their performance is shown by the simulation results,
finally a comprehensive comparison is presented.
... Muhammad-Sukki et al. [84] evaluated the ROI for a solar PV system with a capacity ranging between 4 kWp and 30 MWp serving a residential house in Malaysia; they found an ROI of about 5% thanks to a consistent annual output of electricity. Yang et al. [85] recognized an ROI ranging from 8.12% to 36% and an SPB period between 2.77 and 12 years (with and without economic incentives, respectively) for a 6.42 kWp PV system serving a pitched-roof house located in Gainesville (Florida, USA). Therefore, the values of ROI and SPB obtained in this work are quite consistent with the results associated with literature studies focused on comparable renewable-based energy systems. ...
... Muhammad-Sukki et al. [84] evaluated the ROI for a solar PV system with a capacity ranging between 4 kW p and 30 MW p serving a residential house in Malaysia; they found an ROI of about 5% thanks to a consistent annual output of electricity. Yang et al. [85] recognized an ROI ranging from 8.12% to 36% and an SPB period between 2.77 and 12 years (with and without economic incentives, respectively) for a 6.42 kW p PV system serving a pitched-roof house located in Gainesville (Florida, USA). Therefore, the values of ROI and SPB obtained in this work are quite consistent with the results associated with literature studies focused on comparable renewable-based energy systems. ...
Worldwide, smart/co-working spaces are growing significantly, and prefabricated movable buildings for such an application could (i) save energy, CO2 emissions, and costs; (ii) enhance the worker’s perceived sense of surroundings; and (iii) support the rebirth of small villages with high regenerative potential. Innovative prefabricated movable building configurations to be used as an office for smart/co-working by a maximum of 6 persons have been designed and analyzed based on simulation data. In particular, 10 case studies corresponding to building configurations differing in terms of innovative energy-efficient measures related to the building envelope (smart windows operated under various control logics) and the energy systems serving the building (photovoltaic panels, small wind turbines, and electric storages) have been modeled and simulated by applying detailed dynamic simulation models via the simulation software TRNSYS. The performance of the 10 case studies has been compared from energy, environmental, and economic points of view with respect to a baseline system characterized by conventional building envelope and energy systems, with the aim of assessing the proposed measures and identifying the most efficient configuration. The simulation results highlighted that: (i) all the proposed alternative configurations allow to save primary energy (from 10.3% up to 100%), equivalent CO2 emissions(from 10.3% up to 100%), and operating costs (from 8.5% up to 100%) with respect to the baseline building; (ii) the building configurations including the smart windows only are not economically feasible in terms of simple pay-back (SPB) period, while the building configurations equipped with photovoltaic panels and/or electric storages and/or wind turbine represent a suitable investment thanks to an SPB lower than 15.2 years; (iii) a stand-alone building configuration for smart/co-working with energy demands totally covered by means of renewable sources can be obtained by combining smart windows, photovoltaic panels, electric storages and wind turbine.
... They compared the levelized cost of electricity from solar PV to standard residential rates from utility companies and concluded that solar PV electricity is less than or equal to residential utility prices for 79.5% of the European population. Yang et al. (2015) simulated the payback period and ROI for a 6.7-kW residential solar PV system in Gainesville, Florida. The payback period is the time it takes to fully recoup the costs of the initial investment. ...
... The installation cost is the total cost of paying an installer to set up the PV system and tie it to the grid. This simulation used an installation cost of $12,500, an amount that has been used in recent literature for residential systems (Yang et al., 2015). It should be noted that the installation cost varies based on the installation company contracted to perform the installation and the size of the system. ...
Residential solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have been emerging as an economically feasible energy source. In the United States, an extension of the federal solar investment tax credit was granted in December 2015 to encourage solar investments by giving residential users a 30% discount on start-up costs (equipment and installation costs) with the 30% discount decreasing slightly each year until it expires in 2023. This article presents a simulation of the return on investment of a residential solar PV system in College Park, Maryland, using weather conditions and tax credits specific to the Maryland area. A bundle package was selected with components that are cost-effective in residential applications, and the total amount of expected energy production was calculated by inputting information regarding the location, components, and design into the “PV Watts Calculator” tool available from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) along with eligible tax credits. An analysis of the conditions that affect the long-term return on investment including reliability and changing tax credit structures is then presented.
... The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates around 21% increase in residential electricity consumption by 2040 [1]. While meeting energy efficiency is crucial to reduce the carbon footprint, cost has emerged as an important factor towards realizing the energy efficient solutions [2]. Hence there has been a significant need to develop scalable, energy efficient, and cost optimal solutions for residential frameworks. ...
Achieving self-sustainability has been one of the key challenges in designing smart grid connected residential systems. Solar enabled and power grid connected, dual-powered residential systems is an attractive solution, but it is not carbon free and cost optimal for the end user. This paper proposes temporal energy cooperation among the dual-powered residences as a potential cost and energy efficient solution. Through this paper, we present a microgrid based, multi-residence cooperative energy transfer mechanism to offset the power grid dependency. The developed analytical framework characterizes the green energy storage as a discrete time Markov model and aims to exploit the temporal residential load variations, towards designing self-sustainable systems at a much lower capital expenditure (CAPEX). Our simulation results capture the variation of optimum residence cluster size as a function of energy sharing price and load skewness to become cost profitable. The results also demonstrate a significant reduction in CAPEX, achieved through the proposed energy cooperative framework, over a non-cooperative residential system.
... Relatively for a long time, photovoltaic solar energy was used as a power source only for certain loads, such as satellites and/or rural areas situated far from conventional electricity transmission lines [6][7][8][9]. Nowadays, from the environmental concern of modern society, economical point of view, and technology advances, the interest in solar energy and associated conversion systems has emerged as good future solution. Furthermore, photovoltaic solar energy has the greatest potential for use in various ways. ...
DC/AC conversion of photovoltaic energy is in great demand for AC applications; the supply of electrical machines and transfer energy to the distribution network is a typical case. This work is realized in this context and presents a new structure for the transfer of photovoltaic energy to the electricity grid. This structure is based on a push-pull converter connected to a three-phase DC/AC inverter. In particular, a great interest is focused on the steady operating conditions of energy transfer. The study also develops the limits and the feasibility of the PV energy transfer to the grid of the proposed structure. Injecting photovoltaic energy into the grid with maximum active power and zero reactive power is also considered for the dynamic regime. Support simulations are carried out to validate the proposed control strategy.
... Although the capital and installation costs of solar panels are high, they have been declining steadily over the past decade [16] and are supplemented by federal tax credits and rebates from local utilities. Yang, Latchman, Tingling, and Amarsingh calculate the return on investment and payback period for residential solar photovoltaic (PV) investments [18]. The output performance and payback period of a residential solar PV system in Colorado is analyzed by Johnston [19]. ...
Rising peak demand is a major cause for high emissions from the electricity sector. In this study, we investigate how different combinations of distributed energy technologies affect peak grid load, energy consumption from the grid, and emissions in the residential sector under time-varying prices. To do so, we develop an optimization framework in which households with varied amalgamations of distributed energy technologies minimize electricity costs, amortized capital, and operational costs over a year, with marginally increasing penalties for deviating from room temperature set-points. The four technologies we consider are: solar panels, lithium-ion batteries, ice cold thermal energy storage, and smart thermostats. The study also incorporates a one-parameter thermal model of the home, so that the discomfort penalties can apply to the room temperature rather than the total appliance load. Based on empirical energy consumption profiles and solar generation data from 25 homes in Austin, we find that residential customers would keep overall annual expenditure and environmental footprint low by investing in solar panels and smart thermostats. The capital costs of both storage systems are still too high to make them economically profitable investments for typical residential customers. Additionally, the Value of Solar policy disincentivizes solar customer investment in storage systems. The study also shows that, while the energetic effect of the two storage systems can be favorable or detrimental depending upon the pricing structure and the household load profile, lithium-ion batteries are the main instruments to avoid high demand charges. Thus, we recommend that, as an effective peak load control mechanism, electric utilities should offer significant rebates to encourage residential customer investment in storage systems in addition to subjecting them to demand charges.
... 2. A major hurdle is the installation cost, which provides a high financial entry point. The investment return period is at least 10-16 years [5]. Although the situation is changing in this case, the future in this respect looks problematic [6]. ...
All over the world there is talk of switching to renewable energies, but the limited struggle for one type of renewable energy, as well as the strict exclusion of "non-renewable" energy, will lead to the retreat of the entire socio-economic system.
... 2. Серьёзным препятствием является стоимость установки, которая обеспечивает высокую финансовую точку входа. Срок возврата инвестиций составляет, по крайней мере, 10-16 лет [5]. Хотя ситуация в данном случае меняется, будущее в этом отношении выглядит проблематичным [6]. ...
Рассматриваются достоинства и недостатки возобновляемых источников энергии, в частности, солнечных панелей и ветряных двигателей, по сравнению с энергоэффективностью. Приводятся статистические данные по инвестициям различных стран в эти энергоресурсы.
... In 2015, it was estimated that for contractor-installed photovoltaic systems, the payback time in the United States ranges from 10.2 to 12 years. If you were to instead design and install the system yourself, the payback period would be as small as 2.7 to 5.26 years [5]. According to Figure 1-2, the cost of solar dropped about 12% from 2015 to 2017, so this expected payback time would be even smaller now. ...
This thesis aims to provide a recommended power system design for optimal efficiency, reliability, and cost in off-grid applications. The power system examined in this project is a residence in an off-grid community called Quail Springs that generates its energy from roof mounted solar panels. The existing system was analyzed to see what equipment can remain, what needs to be upsized, and what needs to be added to the system. Two power systems are considered for the residence: a fully AC power system and a hybrid AC/DC power system. Simulations were run in PSCAD to compare the efficiencies of the two proposed systems at varying load. The results of the simulations showed the hybrid power system to be generally less efficient when supplying AC and DC loads, but greater than 5% more efficient when only supplying DC load. Although the hybrid AC/DC system is approximately 70% more expensive, it is still the final recommended design due to potential efficiency gains and in an effort to provide educational opportunities that may lead to further efficiency gains in future hybrid AC/DC power systems.
... Our IPBTs found in this study are within the IPBT range of 2.8-40.8 years reported by previous residential solar PV studies (Muhammad-Sukki et al., 2014;Yang et al., 2015). Allowing selling of the surplus energy created about $984.5 of additional savings over 20 years of life span. ...
With the increasing implementation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, comprehensive methods and tools are required to dynamically assess their economic and environmental costs and benefits under varied spatial and temporal contexts. This study integrated system dynamics modeling with life cycle assessment and life cycle cost assessment to evaluate the cumulative energy demand, carbon footprint, water footprint, and life cycle cost of residential grid-connected (GC) and standalone (SA) solar PV systems. The system dynamics model was specifically used for simulating the hourly solar energy generation, use, and storage during the use phase of the solar PVs. The modeling framework was then applied to a residential prototype house in Boston, MA to investigate various PV panel and battery sizing scenarios. When the SA design is under consideration, the maximum life cycle economic saving can be achieved with 20 panels with no battery in the prototype house, which increases the life cycle economic savings by 511.6% as compared to a baseline system sized based upon the engineering rule-of-thumb (40 panels and 40 batteries), yet decreases the demand met by 55.7%. However, the optimized environmental performance was achieved with significantly larger panel (up to 300 units) and battery (up to 320 units) sizes. These optimized configurations increase the life cycle environmental savings of the baseline system byup to 64.6%, but significantly decrease the life cycle economic saving by up to 6868.4%. There is a clear environmental and economic tradeoff when sizing the SA systems. When the GC system design is under consideration, both the economic and environmental benefits are the highest when no battery is installed, and the benefits increase with the increase of panel size. However, when policy constraints such as limitations/caps of grid sell are in place, tradeoffs would present as whether or not to install batteries for excess energy storage.
... Johnston studies the performance and calculates the payback period for a 9.66 kW residential solar PV system in Colorado [12]. Yang et al. calculate the ROI (an economic measure for evaluating the efficiency of investments) and payback period for residential solar PV investments [13]. Hoppmann et al. evaluate the profitability of investing in residential battery storage coupled with solar capacities without incentives under various electricity pricing scenarios [14]. ...
This study builds a decision support tool to evaluate when it is a good economic decision (least cost with minimum discomfort) for the residential customer to invest in distributed energy resources (DERs) based on different electricity rate structures, DER ownership frameworks, and DER rebates offered by electric utilities. The tool is demonstrated using empirical electricity consumption data from Pecan Street Inc. (a non-profit entity based on Austin, Texas), residential rates from Austin Energy (the municipal electric utility in Austin, Texas), DER ownership costs from various nationwide pilot programs, and incentives offered by electric utilities in the United States. Results show that for constant electricity rates, the overall expenditure is least when the customer owns solar panels without storage, while for time-varying pricing structures, the least expensive scenario is one where the customer does not own any DERs. As the capital costs for DERs decline, utilities incentivize customer ownership of DERs, and more residential customers face the decision of whether to invest in DERs, this study aims to be a key tool in aiding that decision-making process.
... Magnitude of voltages is intuitively used to illustrate system voltage security [8]. However, it does not necessarily give the correct picture of voltage health in a network. ...
Due to generation retirements and growth of renewable energy sources integration, there will be widespread changes in the real and reactive power flow in nowadays power systems. These changes also bring about challenges on system operation and stability. High voltage direct current (HVDC) technology seems to be a promising solution to these new challenges. A study on the impact of the replacement of 500KV AC transmission lines by VSC-HVDC transmission line on system voltage security is conducted. The analysis is based on reactive load margin method and implemented on one of the Dominion Energy planning models. Different control schemes of HVDC are considered. Using k-means clustering method, three representative zones within the network are selected. The results corresponding to them are demonstrated and discussed. It is shown that HVDC lines with P-V control remarkably improve system voltage security, while those with P-PF control scheme have negative effects.
... There are various far away rural localities around the globe, which are still not electrified from the main grid through the transmission line. This is either due to the commencing cost of the transmission line or due to various technical problems that occur while putting transmission line [1,2]. Therefore, the electrification in these remote areas through the grid is not a feasible solution. ...
Here, a distributed generation system (DGS) is proposed that allows the different distributed energy resources to operate in coordination with others to provide the electricity in rural areas. Two individual controls are used in the DGS: (i) solar maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and the battery protection control, and (ii) voltage source converter (VSC) control. The proposed VSC control algorithm is based on an improved generalised filter algorithm for power quality improvement of the DGS. This control strategy effectively regulates the active power flow and provides the harmonics mitigation, reactive power compensation, and load balancing in the DGS with low steady‐state error and fast dynamic response under high impulsive noise with DC‐offset component. The solar MPPT control is designed on the basis of battery state of charge (SOC). In this control, the solar PV array operates in limited power point tracking (LPPT) after the storage battery surpasses the maximum SOC limit. In LPPT control, the solar PV MPPT operates in the voltage source operating region of PV array characteristic, thereby, reducing the power generation and avoids the overcharging of the storage battery. The proposed DGS performance is validated through test results under dynamics and steady‐state conditions.
... Due to its simple implementation compared with conventional generation methods, photovoltaic systems it's been shown economically solution for remote zones, where distribution lines have not yet reached. Nowadays, with the decreasing in photovoltaic modules price, this kind of generation it's also becoming attractive in urban applications of microgeneration of electrical energy connected to the grid [1][2][3]. ...
... Research into sustainable and green energy systems has led to a high penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) in electric residential and commercial systems ( Fig. 1 (a), (b)). Among the various RES technologies, photovoltaic (PV) technology is rapidly developing a strong market presence, and the decrease in costs has established PV energy systems as viable and economical solution for residential and commercial applications [1], [2]. ...
The recent development of smart converters with integrated advanced control features in off-grid power systems enables an effective integration of renewable energy and storage elements. In particular, this paper presents a power management control strategy that is implemented in smart converters operating with photovoltaic (PV), battery energy storage (BES) and ac loads, and that is intended for off-grid applications. The power management control strategy that is implemented within a combined dc- and ac-centric power system architecture, which provides complementary advantages and viable solutions for residential and commercial PV-BES installations. The benefits of dc- and ac-centric architectures are combined to achieve BES management and flexibility in the placement of energy sources within the ac network. The power management control strategy presented in this work circumvents the BES overcharge and undercharge issues. The control methods are implemented in a grid-forming battery converter and a grid-feeding PV inverter capable of transmitting and receiving the communications for any chemistry-based BES multi-stage charge battery requirements. Communications are transmitted through the ac power line, without extra communication protocols for energy balancing. The proposed ac load shedding feature provides power rationalization in the event of insufficient energy supply from PV and battery ports. The power management control strategy is validated by the experimental results obtained using 6kVA power converters with traditional lead-acid and lithium-ion in a BES multi-stage charge profile.
Mainstream strategies for protecting wealth from inflation involve diversification into traditional assets like common stocks, gold, fixed-income securities, and real estate. However, a significant contributor to inflation has been the rising energy prices, which have been the main underlying cause of several past recessions and high inflation periods. Investments in distributed generation with solar photovoltaics (PV) present a promising opportunity to hedge against inflation, considering non-taxed profits from PV energy generation. To investigate that potential, this study quantifies the return on investment (ROI), internal rate of return (IRR), payback period, net present cost, and levelized cost of energy of PV by running Solar Alone Multi-Objective Advisor (SAMA) simulations on grid-connected PV systems across different regions with varying inflation scenarios. The case studies are San Diego, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Santiago, Chile; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Historical inflation data are also imposed on San Diego to assess PV system potential in dynamic inflammatory conditions, while Boston and Santiago additionally analyze hybrid PV-battery systems to understand battery impacts under increasing inflation rates. Net metering credits vary by location. The results showed that PV could be used as an effective inflation hedge in any region where PV started economically and provided increasingly attractive returns as inflation increased, particularly when taxes were considered. The varying values of the ROI and IRR underscore the importance of region-specific financial planning and the need to consider inflation when evaluating the long-term viability of PV systems. Finally, more capital-intensive PV systems with battery storage can become profitable in an inflationary economy.
The paper presents extensive monitoring, detailed long term operational performance and on-field degradation measurement of utility scale grid connected 10 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in real operating conditions. Different performance indices are evaluated incorporating IEC standard 61724 guidelines based on actual plant monitoring data (incident solar irradiation, ambient and module temperature and generated electrical energy) from January 2016 to December 2020 (period of five years). The annual average reference, array and final yield, performance ratio, capacity utilization factor, array capture and system losses, PV array and system efficiency of the plant were found to be 6–6.7 h/day, 4.83–5.1 h/day, 4.69–4.86 h/day, 72–74%, 19–20%, 1.02–1.33 h/day, 0.15–0.156 h/day, 12% and 11% respectively. Degradation of fielded modules is assessed by visual inspection and I-V curve tracing. Correlation of I-V characterization with electrical parameters of visually degraded installed PV modules is also presented. The calculated linear degradation rates varied from 0.97 to 1.52%/year in modules with considerable bird dropping, 1.33 to 1.61%/year in modules with light EVA discoloration, 1.6 to 1.86%/year in modules with glass breakage, 2.31 to 3.94%/year in modules with glass breakage and dark EVA discoloration, and 2.97 to 5.8%/year in modules with glass breakage and cell cracks. The annual linear degradation rates were found to be in the range of 0.9 to 1.1%/year for normal fielded modules with no visible degradation and 0.97 to 2.9%/year for visually degraded modules with mean and median values of 1.8%/year and 1.6%/year with six years operational period. The levelized cost of electricity, simple and discounted payback period and return on investment were found to be 4.05 Rs, 5.5 years, 11 years and 62.22% respectively. Annual CO2 savings of the plant is around 16,000 tons and CO2 emission reduction potential of installed pc-Si technology is found to be 1.6 tons/kWp.
Transformerless single-phase inverters are preferring in residential grid-connected PV systems when compared to galvanic-isolated ones (i.e., transformer-based inverters). In addition to the special leakage current issue, high efficiency, power quality and reactive power injection are of concern that should be considered in grid-connected applications. Nowadays, the fast development of wide-bandgap (WBG) devices brings new challenges to transformerless inverters, e.g., electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues, but efficiency can be improved. This paper first reviews the full-bridge PV inverters seen from the perspective of topology configuration. The oscillation during switching transitions is analyzed and compared in typical full-bridge inverters under a hybrid modulation method, which has a significant relationship with the EMI issue. Then, power loss distribution is discussed to reveal the thermal performance under the hybrid modulation scheme with reactive power injection. Simulations are carried out on the full-bridge prototype to validate the discussions of the hybrid modulation strategy.
In India, solar tariff has been witnessing a continuous fall since the announcement of revised targets for the National Solar Mission (NSM) in the year 2015. This paper discusses components that decide the solar tariff and demonstrates the role of various incentives being provided in bridging the tariff gap between solar and conventional power. The paper concludes with a comparison of various incentives (viability gap funding (VGF), accelerated depreciation (AD), generation-based incentive (GBI), etc.) based on the cost-effectiveness index. Based on the analysis, it is recommended that as levelised cost of energy (LCOE) is coming down, the government may think of pulling back some of the incentive schemes such as VGF, AD, and GBI while some hidden incentive schemes such as waiver of inter and/or intrastate transmission charges and losses, etc may continue.
This study presents the investigation of benefits obtained in a mirror integrated standalone photovoltaic (PV) test system of 0.3 kW capacity. The enhancement of energy extraction is possible only through fixing the mirror at an optimal angle facing towards the PV panel. Hence, the optimal condition for the maximum energy extraction in a year at a specific location is derived and presented considering the total irradiation falling on the panel. A detailed estimation on performance indices and feasibility analysis for the mirror integrated solar PV system (MISPVS) is carried out for one year from May 2018 to April 2019 for the test system with and without mirror arrangement. The total energy generated from the MISPVS during the monitoring period is found to increase from 359.10 kWh to 468.10 kWh which is around 130.3% when compared with the traditional solar PV system (TSPVS). Finally, the experimental results show that the system efficiency and capacity utilisation factor of the proposed system is enhanced to 13.09 and 17.81%, respectively.
Photovoltaic plants as electrical energy producers are increasingly presented in power systems. Their generation so far has been largely cofinanced by consumers through various incentive schemes. Reducing the prices of the elements from which photovoltaic plant is constructed has rapidly led to a reduction in the cost of electricity generation from these power plants. Therefore, there is a lot talk about the possibility of generating of electricity from photovoltaic plants without the incentive schemes, according to market principles. This paper analyzes the current situation in the FBiH on this issue and provides a comparative analysis of the economic viability assessment for photovoltaic plants of different rated power, according to market principles and according to current incentive schemes.
Optimizing the output power of a photovoltaic panel improves the efficiency of a solar driven energy system. The maximum output power of a photovoltaic panel depends on atmospheric conditions, such as (direct solar radiation, air pollution and cloud movements), load profile and the tilt and orientation angles. This paper describes an experimental analysis of maximizing output power of a photovoltaic panel, based on the use of existing equations of tilt and orientation angles derived from mathematical models and simulation packages. Power regulation is achieved by the use of a DC-DC converter, a fixed load resistance and a single photovoltaic panel. A data logger is used to make repeated measurements which ensure reliability of the results. The results of the paper were taken over a four month period from April through July. The photovoltaic panel was set to an orientation angle of 0° with tilt angles of 16°, 26° and 36°. Preliminary results indicate that tilt angles between 26° and 36° provide optimum photovoltaic output power for winter months in SouthAfrica.
Presented at the 2001 NCPV Program Review Meeting: Describes the latest version of PVWATTS and how its spatial resolution was improved by a factor of 25. This paper describes the latest version of PVWATTS and how its spatial resolution was improved by a factor of 25 by using a high-resolution (e.g., 40-km by 40-km cells) spatially uniform grid of meteorological input data. Like its predecessor, version 2 is Internet accessible. The user selects a grid cell containing the desired location from an electronic map, thereby initiating a selection by PVWATTS v.2 of the nearest TMY2 station that is climatically similar, followed by an hourly performance simulation for the TMY2 station. Performance is translated back to the selected grid cell based on differences in solar radiation and temperature using previously determined data grid sets of monthly solar radiation and maximum daily temperature.
The paper reports on the two year performance of photovoltaic (PV) systems which were installed on 23 new build properties in South Yorkshire, UK, and the impact of the feed-in-tariff on payback periods. The majority of the properties (17 No.) were fitted with a 3.02 kiloWatt peak (kWp) photovoltaic system, designed to supply, on average, up to 2400 kiloWatt hours (kWh) of solar energy per annum whereas the remaining six systems were 3.75 kWp systems providing, on average, up to 3000 kWh per annum. The photovoltaic panels were integrated into the roofs at the time of construction. Datum readings were taken during commissioning in Summer 2007 with subsequent readings taken as close as possible to the second anniversary in 2009.
A discounted cashflow model was developed which determined payback periods based on actual and assumed performance and different economic scenarios. A comparison is made between the Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) and the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) schemes in determining payback periods. Huge variations in payback periods are shown, for example, a poorly performing 3.02 kWp photovoltaic system irrespective of quantity of electricity used in the home will take in excess of 100 years to payback under the ROC scheme. The same system under the FiT scheme with 25% electricity exported to the grid would have a payback period of 66 years. However, if the same system performed to its designed specification, the payback period would decrease to 16 years. This highlights the need of ensuring the photovoltaic systems are working to their full potential and that householders are fully aware of how to get the best from their systems.
One of the most important parameters that affects Photovoltaic (PV) panel performance of both grid connected system and off grid system is solar radiation received. The position and angle of a PV panel are two very important factors in PV system design. This paper investigates the optimal tilt angle of PV panels using mathematical method. Both short term and long term analysis were carried out to calculate the optimum tilt angle. Using daily optimal tilt angle can increase the energy received than using optimal monthly tilt angle. However, trade-off needs to be made since changing the panel angle daily costs more effort. The solar energy prediction is based on a typical daily distribution. Two methods of solar radiation prediction were proposed and compared to give average daily radiation distribution prediction.
The distribution power grid paradigm has changed. Renewable energy installations are becoming increasingly popular due to incentives created by public policy, environmental consciousness and the desire by the end user to reduce energy costs. A recent industry report indicates that cumulative grid-tied PV capacity in the U.S. grew to 792 MW by the end of year 2008, with an 81% increase in new grid-tied PV installations in 2008 over 2007 and 53% in 2007 over 2006 [1]. The distribution grid is now viewed as a two way pathway for power, although it was built to carry power in one direction. Small scale, renewable systems are being added to the grid without modeling; however, large scale solar and wind require special power system modeling and analysis to insure the installation does not create voltage violations or protection issues for the distribution grid.
As the maximum power operating point (MPOP) of photovoltaic (PV)
power generation systems changes with changing atmospheric conditions
(e.g. solar radiation and temperature), an important consideration in
the design of efficient PV systems is to track the MPOP correctly. Many
maximum power tracking (MPT) techniques have been considered in the past
but techniques using microprocessors with appropriate MPT algorithms are
favoured because of their flexibility and compatibility with different
PV arrays. Although the efficiency of these MPT algorithms is usually
high, it drops noticeably in cases of rapidly changing atmospheric
conditions. The authors have developed a new MPT algorithm based on the
fact that the MPOP of a PV generator can be tracked accurately by
comparing the incremental and instantaneous conductances of the PV
array. The work was carried out by both simulation and experiment, with
results showing that the developed incremental conductance (IncCond)
algorithm has successfully tracked the MPOP, even in cases of rapidly
changing atmospheric conditions, and has higher efficiency than ordinary
algorithms in terms of total PV energy transferred to the load