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Performance evaluation of grid-connected photovoltaic system for Kuttiady village in Kerala, India

  • Civil Engineering and Sustainable Infrastructures
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

To combat the adverse environmental effects of fossil fuel burning for power generation and to conserve it for strategic use, new, clean, and renewable energy sources are being utilized for power generation. The study presents techno-economic analysis of a grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant to partially meet the energy consumption of the people of Kuttiady village in Kerala, India. The proposed 2315.5 kW installed capacity PV is found to be feasible for the village and can produce 3878.3 MWh of energy annually while the demand is 4044.86 MWh at a plant capacity factor of 19.1% and cost of energy of 290.73 $/MWh. The performance of the proposed PV plant measured in terms of final yield (4.59 h), reference yield (5.64 h), and performance ratio (82%) is compatible and even higher with many such plants in India and other countries. Economic sensitivity analysis is also performed by varying the interest, discount, and inflation rates to check their effect on cost of energy, benefit cost ratio, and payback period. As the interest and discount rates decrease, the cost of energy and payback period also decreases while benefit cost ratio increases. The proposed plant can help in avoiding around 785 tons of greenhouse gases entering the local atmosphere of the Kuttiady village.

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Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.

Abbreviations

AEND :

Annual energy demand (MWh)

AENY :

Annual energy yield (MWh)

ALTS :

Annual life time savings ($/yr)

\({A}_{PV}\) :

Area of the PV panels

B-C :

Benefit cost ratio

CASE1 :

INTR = 15%, IFLR = 2%, DISR = 10%, PAED = -4.10%

CASE2 :

INTR = 15%, IFLR = 2%, DISR = 10%, PAED = -0.27%

CASE3 :

INTR = 15%, IFLR = 2%, DISR = 10%, PAED =  + 3.57%

CASE4 :

INTR = 15%, IFLR = 2%, DISR = 10%, PAED =  + 18.91%

CASE5 :

INTR = 15%, IFLR = 2%, DISR = 10%, PAED =  + 61.11%

CF :

Capacity factor (%)

COE :

Cost of energy ($/MWh)

DISR :

Discount rate (%)

\({E}_{PV}\) :

Energy generated by PV panels

EQPB :

Equity payback period (yr)

EXRG :

Energy export rate to grid ($/MWh)

F Y :

Final energy yield

GHG :

Greenhouse gases (tons)

H t :

In-plane solar irradiance (kWh/m2)

IFLR :

Inflation rate (%)

INTR :

Interest rate (%)

\({I}_{PV}\) :

Insolation on the PV panels

IRR :

Internal rate of return before tax (%)

kW :

Kilowatt

kWh :

Kilowatt hour

\({L}_{PV}\) :

Losses in the PV system

MW :

Megawatt

MWh :

Megawatt hour

NOP :

Number of PV panels (number)

NOPT :

Nominal operating cell temperature

NPV :

Net present value ($)

PAED :

Percent annual energy difference (%)

PR :

Performance ratio

PVPC :

Photovoltaic plant capacity (kW)

R Y :

Reference energy yield

T a :

Ambient temperature

T rf :

Reference temperature

\({\eta }_{PV}\) :

PV panel efficiency

\({\eta }_{rf}\) :

Reference efficiency

\({\beta }\) :

Temperature coefficient

\({G}_{NOCT}\) :

Reference insolation at NOCT

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Funding

Multidisciplinary Research Center for Renewable Energy and Power Systems (IRC-REPS) at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia through grant number INRE2101.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Multidisciplinary Research Center for Renewable Energy and Power Systems (IRC-REPS), King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, Saudi Arabia

    Shafiqur Rehman, Firoz Khan & Fahad A. Al-Sulaiman

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, 642003, India

    Narayanan Natarajan

  3. Smart and Healthy Infrastructure Laboratory, Department of Agricultural and Civil Engineering, Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Sathyamangalam, Tamil Nadu, 638401, India

    Mangottiri Vasudevan

  4. Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Technology, Jubail Industrial College, Jubail, 31961, Saudi Arabia

    Abdul Baseer Mohammed

  5. Electrical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, Saudi Arabia

    Mohammed A. Mohandes

Authors
  1. Shafiqur Rehman
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  2. Narayanan Natarajan
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  3. Mangottiri Vasudevan
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  4. Abdul Baseer Mohammed
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  5. Mohammed A. Mohandes
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  7. Fahad A. Al-Sulaiman
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Contributions

Dr. Shafiqur Rehman defined the problem, developed the whole structure of the paper, conducted the simulation, analysed the data, wrote the results and discussion and conclusion sections. Dr. Narayan Natarajan and Dr. Mangottiri Vasudevan collected the detailed load data, site specific information, and meteorological data and helped in writing the introduction section. Doctors Mohammed Mohandes, Fahad Al-Sulaiman, Abdul Baseer, and Firoz Khan, contributed on visualization task, results and discussion, literature review, and site description sections. All authors have read and approved the final revised manuscript.

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Correspondence to Shafiqur Rehman.

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Rehman, S., Natarajan, N., Vasudevan, M. et al. Performance evaluation of grid-connected photovoltaic system for Kuttiady village in Kerala, India. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 99147–99159 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23731-0

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