Feasibility study of grid-connected photovoltaic systems in small industrial enterprises

This paper studies the feasibility of using a grid connected photovoltaic (PV) system in small-sized industrial enterprise. The performance of the photovoltaic system is evaluated in terms of energy, environmental and economics perspectives. The characteristics of grid PV system and costs are modeled according to the Algerian feed-in-tariff (FIT) schemes. The optimal configuration was found based on the renewable fraction constraint (RF) and the levelized cost of energy (LCOE). The favorable solution with 40% renewable fraction is chosen, according to the load profile uniqueness of the case study. The optimal system met the electrical demand without unmet load and sold to the grid 18 MWh of electricity, with an annual income estimated at 3946 €/year. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis was applied to investigate the impact of the variation of the renewable fraction on the system’s performance. The results showed that the renewable fraction has a significant impact on the cost of energy, PV production, the grid sales and the grid purchases.