Abstract
This study investigates the techno-economic feasibility of installing a 3-kilowatt-peak (kWp) photovoltaic (PV) system in Kathmandu, Nepal. The study also analyses the importance of scaling up the share of solar energy to contribute to the country's overall energy generation mix. The technical viability of the designed PV system is assessed using PVsyst and Meteonorm simulation software. The performance indicators adopted in our study are the electric energy output, performance ratio, and the economic returns including the levelised cost and the net present value of energy production. The key parameters used in simulations are site-specific meteorological data, solar irradiance, PV capacity factor, and the price of electricity. The achieved PV system efficiency and the performance ratio are 17% and 84%, respectively. The demand–supply gap has been estimated assuming the load profile of a typical household in Kathmandu under the enhanced use of electric appliances. Our results show that the 3-kWp PV system can generate 100% of electricity consumed by a typical residential household in Kathmandu. The calculated levelised cost of energy for the PV system considered is 0.06 $/kWh, and the corresponding rate of investment is 87%. The payback period is estimated to be 8.6 years. The installation of the designed solar PV system could save 10.33 tons of CO2 emission over its lifetime. Overall, the PV systems with 3 kWp capacity appear to be a viable solution to secure a sufficient amount of electricity for most households in Kathmandu city.
Highlights
The total primary energy consumption (TPEC) of Nepal in the year 2018 was 0.17 quadrillion Btu
Case 1: stand‐alone system Energy balances and the performance of the selected PV system are shown in Table 7, which includes variables like global irradiance on the horizontal plane, effective global irradiance considering soiling losses and shading losses, Direct current (DC) energy available, and power unused due to full battery loss
Each variable’s values are mentioned in balances, and the main results were obtained in terms of monthly and yearly costs
Summary
The total primary energy consumption (TPEC) of Nepal in the year 2018 was 0.17 quadrillion Btu. On the TPEC, the share of biomass energy sources was 74%, followed by fossil fuel. The current status of energy consumption reveals that the residential sector has the highest share (80%), followed by the industrial sector (8%) and the transportation sector (7%), respectively (Ministry of Finance, 2017). In the year 2020, the peak demand for electricity was around 1320 MW (Nepal Electricity Authority, 2020). Hydroelectricity is Poudyal et al Renewables (2021) 8:5 in short supply compared to the electricity market that prevailed in recent years. In FY 2017/2018, about 33% of the total imports were accounted for petroleum products (Nepal Rastra Bank, 2018). Since there exists a massive dependency on fossil fuels, the country is spending nearly 300 billion Nepalese Rupees (1 US$ = 117.47 NRs, January 10, 2021) on petroleum products and electricity. Nepal’s total trade deficit amounted to around 11.24 billion US$ (Statista, 2019)
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