Title:	Sizing of Photovoltaic Systems for Self-Consumption in Commercial and Industrial Applications
Author(s):	T. Roessler
Keywords:	PV System, Sizing, Self-Consumption, Design, Grid Connected
Topic:	PV Systems - Performance, Applications and Integration
Subtopic:	Design and Installation of PV Systems
Event:	35th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition
Session:	6CV.2.22
Pages:	1942 - 1945
ISBN:	3-936338-50-7
Paper DOI:	10.4229/35thEUPVSEC20182018-6CV.2.22
Price:	0,00 EUR
Document(s):	paper

Abstract/Summary:

---

The integration of photovoltaic (PV) systems with the power supply from the electricity grid (and usually Diesel generators as backup power source) is becoming increasingly popular in commercial and industrial (C&I) applications in developing countries. In the absence of a feed-in tariff scheme and net metering, as is common in such markets, self-consumption of the power generated by the PV system is required. Therefore, its size must be carefully chosen to enable a high PV Utilization, thus ensuring a low effective cost of the PV energy, while reaching the highest possible PV Coverage of the energy demand. The work presented here outlines a methodology to determine an appropriate PV system size in this context. Basic inputs are (1) a so-called “load profile”, i.e., a time series of the power consumption during a representative period of operation, (2) time-resolved information about the power generated by the PV system, and (3) insights about the seasonality of the power consumption. Based on this, the percentage of both, the PV power consumed instantaneously by the loads and the energy demand covered by PV, can be predicted for a given PV system size, allowing an optimization of the latter. Using example data from actual C&I consumers in Ghana, the methodology is demonstrated in practice.