Abstract
In this study, photovoltaic (PV) technology development over the years is reviewed. The use of PV power plants to solve inadequate power supply in Kurdistan is also analysed. PV power application is one of the most developed renewable energy applications but still not commercialized in somw countries. In this paper, three different locations will be evaluated in Kurdistan for PV plant installation. The research will investigate the best location for PV plant installation in Kurdistan, check the viability of the proposed plants and compare the performance of a fixed and a double axis tracking system. A 10 MW PV plant is developed and simulated based on economic terms. The results from the analysis shows that the simple payback period for a 10 MW PV plant in all the locations considered is between 6.8 and 7.2 years. Also, the installation with two-axis tracking system gave the lowest simple payback period (6.8 years). The PV plant is viable considering other economic indicators like; IRR, NPV, annual life cycle savings and BCR. The yearly savings of the system for one of the locations considered is US$1,573,327 with a dual axis tracking system. ©2019. CBIORE-IJRED. All rights reserved
Highlights
Kurdistan region known as Northern Iraq consist of three governorates; Erbil, Sulaymani, and Duhok
A 10 MW PV plant is simulated based on economic parameters in order to determine its feasibility in Kurdistan region of Iraq
Retscreen program uses the meteorological data of a location to calculate the performance of PV plant
Summary
Kurdistan region known as Northern Iraq consist of three governorates; Erbil, Sulaymani, and Duhok. It represents about 17% of total republic of Iraq with a land space of 73,618 km (Rashid 2014). Electricity production has increased over the years in Kurdistan, the consumer demands are yet to be met. Generator devices are the main supplement for electricity shortage in this region with about 90% of residential consumers using an estimated 3 TWh/yr from these devices. The cost implications of generators are 10 to 15 times more than the electricity obtained from the grid (IEA 2016). The advantages of PV technology include: reduction in petrol and natural gas usage for electricity generation, reduction in carbon dioxide emission and global warming effects. The disadvantages associated with the use of solar technologies includes; chemical effects of their material, effect on the aesthetic value in the buildings, degradation of lands etc. (Abolhosseini, Heshmati, Altmann 2014)
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