Solar regime and LVOE of PV embedded generation systems in Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed the potential and economic viability of solar PV standalone systems for embedded generation, taking into account its benefits to small off-grid rural communities in forty meteorological sites in Nigeria. A specific electric load profile was developed to suite the communities consisting 200 homes, a school and community health centre. Data (daily mean relative humidity, maximum and minimum temperatures, and daily global solar radiation for 24 years spanning 1987-2010) obtained from the Nigeria Meteorological Agency were used. It focused on the assessment of design that will optimally meet daily load demand for the rural communities with an LOLP of 0.01. The HOMER® software optimizing tool was engaged for the feasibility study and design. A 15 MW PV distributed generation system was utilized to economically compare the different sites in terms of life cycle cost as well as levelised cost of producing energy. A profit for potential investors in the range of $ 0.01/kWh to $ 0.17/kWh was discovered for 29 of the 40 available meteorological sites, while the remaining sites were not profitable with the present tariff regime in Nigeria.