Techno-economic evaluation of a grid-connected microgrid system

Abstract

The availability of solar resources has led to the utilization of photovoltaic (PV) system for the generation of a clean electricity and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The techno-economic assessment of a medium scale microgrid system is investigated in this work by utilizing some key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs are used as the benchmarks to study the economic impacts of PV in the grid-connected power system for 10 selected locations across the nine provinces of South Africa. The HOMER package is utilized in the study to obtain viable solutions that will mitigate the undesirable technical and economic issues that come up during the grid integration. The research work is carried out by utilizing the surface meteorology and solar energy data provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for assessment of the proposed microgrid system. The outcomes of the study show that the annual average daily radiation varies from 4.3 kWh/m2/day in Durban to 5.749617 kWh/m2/day in De Aar. It is deduced from the work that De Aar is the most feasible location among the 10 selected sites for the installation of PV in terms of cost of energy (COE), net present cost (NPC), net energy purchased, energy purchased, energy sold, energy charge, annual utility bill savings and revenue with the following values: 0.181 R/kWh, R 219244.90, 3676 kWh, 32979 kWh, 29303 kWh, R7942.9891, R62473.0109, and R22759.6401. The outcomes of the research work indicate that exploitation of solar resources is an efficient means of accomplishing sustainable energy development.