Abstract:
Grid-connected solar PV systems, though the fastest growing renewable energy technology
in the world, have not been fully exploited in Africa, one of the reasons being the very high
initial investment. Prices of solar PV systems have however been on a decline for the past
few years due to technological innovations which have led to improvement in cell
efficiencies and the economies of scale resulting from increase in production. The main
purpose of this thesis is to perform, determine and evaluate a 500KW grid-connected solar
photovoltaic power system for University of education Winneba Kumasi (UEW-K) using
rooftops of buildings on campus. A solar resources assessment done to know the amount
of solar radiation available at UEW-K showed that UEW-K receives about
4.30KWH/m2
/day. A roof assessment which considered parameters such as the surface
orientation and pitch of roofs, roof area and the possibility of shading of the roof also
revealed that there is about 21,848m2 of roof space available for grid –connected solar PV
installations. In technical analysis of 500kwp solar PV system, the three (3) commonest
solar PV module technologies were selected and their performance simulated using PV
system software. Amorphous silicon modules were found to perform better than
monocrystalline and polycrystalline modules over the one (1) year simulation period. The
financial analysis carried out using RET screen revealed that at a solar PV market price of
US$4.45/WP and a tariff of US$0.11/kwh the project is not viable unless feed-in tariffs
greater than US$0.43/kwh are paid. A study should therefore be carried out to examine the
capacity of the utility grid in terms of how much electricity can be injected. This is because
knowing the capacity of the utility grid will provide useful information about how much
electricity from solar PV systems can be injected into the grid. It will be necessary to know
Description:
A Dissertation in the Department of ELECTRICAL AND AUTOMOTIVE
TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION, Faculty of TECHNICAL EDUCATION, submitted
to the School of Graduate Studies, University of Education, Winneba in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Masters of Technology (Electrical
and Electronics Technology) degree.
AUGUST, 2015