Energy, economic and environmental performance of a solar rooftop photovoltaic system in India

Abstract

Solar rooftop photovoltaic technology has matured enough to fulfil the decentralised electricity needs for India in a sustainable way. In the present study, four rooftop solar photovoltaic systems of different capacity have been selected to evaluate the energy, economic and environmental performance. It has been observed that the PR of rooftop PV systems lies from 75.70–84.81% and EPBT ranges from 5.31–6.14 years. The minimum cost of electricity of rooftop PV system calculated 2.88 INR/kWh at the 5% interest rate considering the 30-year of lifespan. It has been concluded that annual energy generation and system cost influence the payback period and the cost of electricity. It has been seen that rooftop PV systems have great potential for emission reduction from the atmosphere.

Keywords

• solar rooftop photovoltaic systems
• energy performance
• cost of electricity
• emission reduction