Modelling the yield of 8.64 kW PV panels installed on a rooftop of a building in the Kingdom of Bahrain

Abstract

PurposeThis paper allows more accurate estimation of the economy in investing in PV electrification for buildings, especially for Gulf Cooperation Council Countries (GCCC) where they have nearly similar climate and building structure. The actual solar electricity yield from this building is used to make empirical modelling.Design/methodology/approachThe accurate automated daily-recorded solar electricity from 8.64 kW solar PV on a rooftop of Sadeem Building at Awali, Bahrain, was modelled to polynomial equations of order of 6. The effect of the tilt (β) and azimuth (Ψ) angle of PV panels for smart and sustainable buildings is studied.FindingsThe correlation of each set of polynomial equation (R2) is listed and had reached a highest value of 0.9792 (for order of 6) with lowest value of 0.1853 (for order of 1). The model may be also applied to the GCCC. The results show that each kW of PV will have a solar electricity yield, on average, of 4.1 kWh. It also shows that the tilt angle has little influence on the solar electricity yield (less than 10%) when the tilt angle changed from 26° to 0° or from 26° to 50°. The influence of the azimuth angle is found to be more than 50% in changing Ψ from 90° to 180°.Research limitations/implicationsThe model may not be restricted to Bahrain but applies – to a certain extent – to GCCC (six countries) and to other countries having buildings with similar roof design and at latitude close to the latitude of Bahrain.Practical implicationsThe model enables developers and investors to estimate, with high accuracy, the solar electricity provided from a building if PV panels are to be installed on its rooftop (or facade) at different tilt (β) and azimuth (Ψ) angle for smart and sustainable buildings.Social implicationsEmpirically finding out how much each kW of solar PV integrated to the building will produce solar energy electricity (in kWh), that is, 1 kW of PV yield, on average, 4.1 kWh.Originality/valueEstablishing empirical models to evaluate the outcome of each installed kW of PV panels. Each 1 kW installation of PV panels is 4.0 kWh/day, on average. This is less than what commercial companies claim for this region, that is, 1 kW produces 5.5 kWh/ day – which affects the estimated economic outcome of PV projects.