Techno-Economic Analysis of 64.6 kWp Grid Tied Solar System A Case Study of Nepal Telecom, Sundhara, Kathmandu

Abstract

In this thesis, technical and economic performance analysis was performed for 64.6 kWp grid-tied solar system installed at Nepal Telecom, Sundhara, Kathmandu. Firstly, the system was simulated in PV syst software with NASA-SEE satellite data and the real field data were collected from the site. The data has been logged into the data logger and analyzed in detail by retrieving using web interface. Over the duration of the study, various climatic and electrical parameter of PV system were collected and analyzed. The performance of grid-tied solar system has been analyzed by calculating technical parameters like daily/monthly electricity generation, final yield, reference yield, performance ratio ,capacity utilization factor, overall system efficiency, normalized energy losses; economic parameters like annual/monthly savings, discounted payback period, net present value(NPV), internal rate of return(IRR) and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). The analysis of data shows that this 64.6 kWp grid-tied solar system would generate daily 219 kWh of electricity on average. The reference yield, final yield, performance ratio, capacity utilization factor, overall system efficiency and normalized system losses of the system were 3.94 kWh/kW/day, 3.38 kWh/kW/day, 0.859, 14.09%, 15.06% and 0.56 kWh/kW/day respectively. This study also showed simulated values of energy generation were relatively higher (14.65%) compared to measured generation. The system will save annually 1.60 million Nepalese Rupees and has discounted payback period of 5.2 years. NPV, IRR and LCOE of the system were respectively 2.06 million Nepalese Rupees, 17.22 % and NRs.17.97/kWh. Hence, it can be concluded grid tied solar system is gradually becoming technically and economically feasible in Nepal.