Techno-Economic Potential Assessment of Mega Scale Grid-Connected PV Power Plant in Five Climate Zones of Pakistan /

Abstract

The industrial sector is of great importance for the economic development of any country. The current energy crisis in Pakistan has become the primary obstacle to its economic growth. Many industrial and commercial customers use diesel generator (DiG) as a reliable alternative source of electric power when there is no grid supply available. Using DiG during load shedding hours would raise the cost of energy per kWh and increase environmental emissions. The grid-connected PV plants will raise the share of solar energy in the power grid to minimize emissions of pollutants like global warming and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The purpose of this study is to analyze and compare the techno-economic assessment of mega scale grid-connected PV plants for the industrial sector in Pakistan's five climate zones. Based on energy injected into gird, payback period and GHG emission reduction, a detailed technical, economic, and environmental analysis is conducted by using the PVsyst software. This study concludes that PV plants for all five climatic zones are technically, economically, and environmentally feasible but Quetta (Zone-C) is the most feasible location with the highest annual generation 4441MWh, highest capacity utilization factor 20.3%, lowest cost of energy 0.026 USD/kWh and lowest payback period 3.2 years. The designed system has the potential to reduce 39442.5 tCO2 emissions over its lifetime, resulting in a green environment, and could also be added to claimed carbon credit. Also, for the validation of the proposed study, the simulation results are compared with actual performance results taken from an installed 2.5 MW solar plant at a cement factory in Fateh Jang (Zone-B). The comparison shows that actual plant performance is closely matched with simulation results. The analysis presented in this study will help researchers/designers and policymakers to identify the appropriate location and promote the installation of mega scale grid-connected PV power plants for the industrial sector.