Cost Versus Reliability Study For Stand-Alone PV Systems In Tropical Climates

Abstract

The economics of PV systems is a very important topic. The cost of generated kwh obtained from the PV system is always compared with the cost of generated kwh obtained from conventional systems. Recently, the cost of PV modules has drastically decreased so that the cost of generated kwh of PV systems is significantly dropped. However, the stand-alone systems include battery storage to guarantee power supply day and night. As for battery storage increases, The system Reliability increases, but the increase of battery storage size increases the cost of generated kwh. The decision of how storage size is selected depends on the required reliability. For critical loads, such as refrigerators used to keep drugs in remote areas, the reliability should be 100% and it is allowed to be less than 100% for loads such as lighting, it is allowed to have reliability less than 100% if lower cost is required. Thus the accepted Reliability depends on the system design vision. This paper presents a study on a stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) system to provide the required electricity for a single residential household in a remote area. The complete design of the suggested system is carried out, such that the site radiation data and the electrical load data of a typical household in the considered site are taken into account during the design steps. Also, the life cycle cost (LCC) analysis is conducted to assess the economic viability of the system. The results of the study encouraged the use of PV systems to electrify in remote sites of tropical areas.