An optimisation tool for designing, costing and economic analysis of off-grid photovoltaic power plants
by Polycarp Ifeanyi Muoka; Md. Enamul Haque; Ameen Gargoom
International Journal of Renewable Energy Technology (IJRET), Vol. 7, No. 4, 2016

Abstract: The safety, durability, reliability and cost-effectiveness of an off-grid photovoltaic power plant depend on the quality of the design. Achieving a good design requires a robust and user-friendly design platform. Software tools exist to assist with these designs. However, they are proprietary and often suited mainly for research and development in academia. Moreover, such tools have steep and intimidating learning-curves for photovoltaic systems designers and installers. This paper presents a user-friendly MATLAB-based optimisation tool for designing, costing and economic analysis of such plants. It uses site-specific parameters for the sizing of system's components. The tool also enables the designer to undertake cost estimation and economic analysis to determine project's viability using these economic indicators: payback period, return on investment, net present value, life-cycle costing, annualised life-cycle costing, and the unit cost of electricity produced. The robustness of the tool is validated using case studies and the RETScreen4 software.

Online publication date: Wed, 02-Nov-2016

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