Design and Economic Analysis of a Solar Photovoltaic System for a Campus Sports Complex

Abstract

This paper presents the design and economic analysis of a photovoltaic (PV) system for a campus sports complex located at the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in Oman. The designed PV system shows the ability to serve the total energy required by the various playgrounds in the sports complex and to sell excess power to the grid. Oman is one of the gulf countries that has the highest average solar irradiation. Besides, the temperature in Oman varies in a broad spectrum daily and seasonally. This variation in temperature, especially in a hot climate like in Oman, has a significant impact on the PV output. This paper addresses such a change of temperature in designing the PV system for the sports complex. This paper also presents the mathematical model utilized in designing the PV system and its design process in detail. The outcome of the design shows that the PV based renewable system can meet the energy requirement (78.568 MWh/year) by the load in a year. Moreover, the design system can sell energy (56.065 MWh/year) back to the grid that produces extra revenue for the system owner. The economic performance parameters such as payback period, net present value, internal rate of return, and profitability index are utilized to evaluate the financial viability of the solar PV system for the SQU sports complex.