DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF AN ON-GRID PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM

Abstract

ABSTRACT- In this paper, the design and simulation of an On-grid photovoltaic system for the faculty of Engineering, Abuja campus, University of Port Harcourt (Latitude: 4.78°S, Longitude: 7.01°E) was researched in-order to verify alternate power source possibility that can supplement for the inconsistent power from the (Power holding company of Nigeria) grid to the faculty. The system Solar modules are mounted in a fixed tilt orientation in 4-parallel strings of 15 Solar panels in series on the roof-top of the faculty. The photovoltaic system is also designed with a two - parallel string of nine Tesla Powerwall batteries in series for the battery bank storage system. Inverters used for this system are two 9.9kW battery-based grid-tied inverters stacked in parallel with an inbuilt Maximum power point tracker, MPPT. The reinjection system is on-grid as a net-meter is not used since the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN does not support Net- metering. Thus, power is not injected into the grid from the solar photovoltaic system. In solving the faculty’s power lapses and improving power supply quality in the faculty, data collected both within the faculty. These methods include data collection, evaluation of load data, data analysis, suitable design adoption, simulation of data. A solar photovoltaic software application package called PVsyst was employed for various simulations and plots. The end simulation and final work prove the system to be 57% efficient in performance.