Feasibility study for small solar cell operated units in Greece

Directorate-General For Translation European Commission

Description

Energy research
Renewable sources of energy

Informations

• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION
• Nombre de lectures: 8
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Commission of the European Communities
energy
FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR SMALL
SOLAR CELL OPERATED
UNITS IN GREECE
Report
EUR 9957 EN
Blow-up from microfiche original Commission of the European Communities
energy
FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR SMALL
SOLAR CELL OPERATED
UNITS IN GREECE
K. SORAS, V. MAKIOS
University of Patras
Patras - Greece
Contract No. ESC-R-077-GR
Directorate-General for Science, Research and Development
1985 EUR 9957 EN Published by the
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Directorate-General
Information Market and Innovation
Bâtiment Jean Monnet
LUXEMBOURG
LEGAL NOT.CE
Neither the Commission of the European Communities nor any person acting on behalf
of then is responsible for the use which might be made of the following
information
ECSC—EEG— EAEC Brussels - Luxembourg, 1985 II
SUMMARY
This study concerns itself with the applicability of
small (up to 5 KWp) stand alone photovoltaic systems, us­
ing flat plate collectors only, in remote environments in
Greece. The need for such a study arose from the f act, that
no such study existed for Greece to date, especially for
those applications where photovoltaics are viable even to­
day under certain conditions.
At first, a list of all candidate applications was
formed and all the corresponding potential users were in­
terviewed. Furthermore, the most common conventional sys­
tems used today, which are the utility grid extension and
the use of small diesel generators, were examined. A com­
puter program was developed to select the optimum size of
the PV system and was used to evaluate the most promising
applications, in detail. A basic result of the computer pro­
gram formulation is that the battery size is much more sen­
sitive than the array size, and depends on the battery and
the power conditioning unit efficiencies.
The most developed market today in Greece is that of
the use of photovoltaics in lighthouses. A number of PV
powered rural telephones has been already installed, main­
ly on the islands. While for small loads, such as TV-FM re­
peaters, the break even to the utility grid extension oc­
curs for less than 1.5 Km, such systems have not yet been
installed. Several PV powered seismic sensors have been al­
so installed and also a few systems on medium size sail­
boats. The most promising application, though, is the use
of photovoltaics on remote houses to cover basic electric
needs (i.e. lighting, refrigeration and pumping).
It should be noted that the utility grid is very ex-IV
tended across Greece, thus restricting the number of loca­
tions where a PV system could be installed. It is essen­
tial, though, in the decision of whether to use photovoltaics
or to extend the utility grid, the real grid extension
cost, rather than the subsidized, should be used. The ne­
cessary coordination needed, along with the creation of
financial incentives for photovoltaics should become Gov­
ernment policy. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors of this report would like to thank the
European Community DG XII and the Greek Government for
financial support. Also they would like to thank Mr. C.Bou-
ras and Dr. J.Milias-Argitis for their help in the computer
program, Miss M.Simigiatou for typing the manuscript, Mr.
A. Xypolias for all his technical help and Dr. T.Zacharias
for many fruitful discussions. VII
LIST OF CONTENTS
page
1 . INTRODUCTION 1.1
2. METHOD OF APPROACH 2.
3. PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS SIZING AND ANALYSIS COM­
PUTER PROGRAM
3.1. Introduction 3.
3.2. Solar Radiation and Meteorological Data.... 3.b
3.3. Calculation of the Monthly Average Inso­
lation on a Tilted Surface9
3.4.n of the Monthly Average Array
Efficiency 3.14
3.5. Range of Tilt Angle and Array Area Values·· 3.1
3.6. The Monthly Average Systems Performance-
-Battery Sizing 3.21
3.7. A Sizing Example-Sensitivity Analysis 3.3
3.8. Economic Analysis of Photovoltaic Systems 3.43
4. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF CONVENTIONAL SYSTEMS
4.1. Economics of the Utility Grid Extension ... 4.1
4.2.s of Diesel Generators 4.9
5. EXAMINED CASES FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS APPLICA­
TIONS
5.1. Lighthouses and Buoys 5.2
5.2. Applications in Telecommunications 5.10
5.3. Marking and Warning Devices 5.19
5.4. Monitoring and Sensing Devices 5.27
5.5. Remote Houses 5.28
5.6. Other Consumer Applications 5.3
5.7. Other Applications9
6. CONCLUSIONS 6.1
REFERENCES R. 1
APPENDIX A - Meteorological Data A. 1 X B - Computer Program Listing B.VIII
LIST OF SYMBOLS
A Array area (m2)
a,b Angstrom formula regression coefficients
B Battery capacity (KwhJ
C Correction factor for non-optimum tilt angles
C Module cost ($/Wp)
mod r
C Battery cost ($/Kwh)
stor '
C. Inverter cost ($/Wp)
inv c
C Electrical system (inverter excluded)cost ($/Wp)
C . Site preparation cost ($/Wp)
C „ Array structure and foundation cost ($/Wp)
strf J
C Ί Building enclosure cost ($/Wp)
enei ö r
CSecurityand safetycost($/Wp)
C.Installation cost ($/Wp)
instr
C Utilitygrid extensioncost($/Km)
GXl
CxTransformer (medium tolowvoltage) cost ($)
tran ö
CPurchase cost of the diesel generator ($)
gen&
C^,Fuel tank cost ($)
tank
CGeneral overhaul cost($)
ree
C„.Initial capital investment($)
firsr
C,Dieselcost($/lit)
α
C Cost oftheproduced by PPC Kwh ($/Kwh)
e_
dp PortionofLoccuring during daylight hours
dfDegradationfactorfor array performance
d Discountrate
DUtility grid extension distance (Km)
DOD Maximum allowable depth of discharge for the bat­
tery
D. Lify­cycle cost of diesel generator alternative
($)
CRF Capital recovery factor
EInstantaneous electrical array output (KW)
E Monthly average daily energy produced by the ar­
ray (Kwh/day)