Economic analysis of stand-alone PV-battery system based on new power assessment configuration in Siwa Oasis – Egypt

Abstract

Many rural locations are far from the utility grid, and supplying electricity from clean and renewable resources is essential. In the stand-alone system, the cost of electricity is expensive due to the cost of the battery system. All daily energy flows to the inverter through the battery in the traditional system, making the battery system expensive. In the present paper, a new configuration for power assessment is proposed that allows the energy to flow to the inverter directly without passing through the battery resulting in lower storing capacity and cost. The novelty is using the new configuration and designing the PV system customized to the load demand. The design and economic analysis of the proposed system are performed for three different load patterns in Siwa Oasis – Egypt. Results show the proposed power assessment method has a considerable impact on the minimization of the overall cost since the energy storing capacity is reduced, and a reduction in PV generation is obtained depending on the type of load pattern. The highest saving is obtained for the daily load pattern, which saves 81.4%, but the nightly load pattern saves nothing.

Keywords

• Stand-alone PV system
• Life cycle cost
• Sizing
• Economics
• Saving
• Battery