Evaluate the adequacy of self-consumption for sizing photovoltaic system

Abstract

In this research studies, the on-grid photovoltaic system capacity is sized based on the maximum energy self-consumption supplied to the household. The proposed system is designed and optimised for the house located in Diyala state, Iraq. The investigation is carried out using experimental data for electrical load and metrological data (solar irradiance and ambient temperature) at a high one-minute temporal resolution. The simulation process conducted using MATLAB in order to evaluate optimal system capacity can serve the desired load at maximum energy self-consumption for two setting positionings (i) annual optimum tilt angle, (ii) two-axis tracking system. The results show that based on the measured daily load average 7.42 kWh at the annual positing tilt angle the optimum photovoltaic system capacity approximately 7.15 kWp that showed the annual energy self-consumption dropped from 88.08% to 19.73% and the energy self-sufficiency raised from 12.93 % to 41.93 %. For a two-axis tracking system, the optimum photovoltaic system capacity is approximately 4.4 kWp that showed the annual energy self-consumption dropped from 85.2% to 22.35% and energy self-sufficiency raised from 14.6 % to 41.76 %. Moreover, the obtained economic results show that the energy cost dropped by about 41% (0.117 $/kWh) for the annual positioning tilt angle, and 57% (0.113 $/kWh) for two-axis tracking system on the basis of grid energy cost. The used methodology provides a distinct approach that can be effectively used to size the storage and renewable energy components for future applications.