Solar power plant on the rooftop of the Diponegoro University Rectorate: a technical and economic study

Abstract

Diponegoro University's Rectorate building uses electricity from the National Electricity Company with a S2 social subscription type of 105 kVA. The designed solar power plant has a capacity of 25 kW, or 25% of the installed electrical capacity. This research aims to compare the solar panels and inverter configurations that will be used in solar power plants. Moreover, this study aims to find out which configuration will provide the best results and the biggest savings. Technical analysis is carried out with the photovoltaic system (PVSyst) software to calculate the energy produced by solar panels, inverter losses, and other results. On the other hand, economic analysis is carried out with RetScreen software to calculate net present value (NPV), benefit cost ratio (BCR), and payback period (PP). Based on the PVSyst simulation results, the estimated energy production for each variant is 39,684 kWh; 39,633 kWh; 39,507 kWh; and 39,446 kWh. The first variant has the biggest performance ratio value of 84.1%. Based on the Retscreen calculation result, the third variant has an NPV value of $22,698, a BCR value of 2, and a PP of 8.7 years, which has the best result and the highest advantages.