Economic and technical analysis of 500kw grid-connected solar photovaltaic power system at University of Education Winneba, Kumasi

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