Optimal Configuration and Placement of PV Systems in Building Roofs with Cost Analysis

Abstract

Following the Smart Grid view, current energy generation systems based on fossil fuels will be replaced with renewable energy sources. Photovoltaic (PV) is currently considered the most promising technology, due to decreasing costs of the devices and to the limited invasiveness in existing infrastructures, that make PV installations quite common urban buildings' roofs. To maximise both power production and Return Of Investment (ROI) of PV installations, new techniques and methodologies should be applied to limit sources of inefficiencies, like shading and power losses due to an incorrect installation. In this paper, we propose a novel solution for an optimal configuration and placement of PV systems in buildings' roofs. Given a number of alternative configurations and a roof of interest, it combines detailed geographic and irradiance information to determine the optimal PV installation, by maximizing both power production and ROI. Our simulation results on two real-world roofs demonstrate an improvement on power generation up to 23% w.r.t. standard compact installations. These results also highlight that a cost analysis, often ignored by standard installation strategies, is nonetheless necessary to guarantee optimal results in terms of PV production and revenue.