Sizing and economic analysis of a solar photovoltaic micro power system for Arundel Boarding house with or without net metering

All the size variables were expressed as dimensionless parameters in order to generalize the system such that it would be useful to other places with the same economic conditions, radiation and load pattern and excel was used for the design. The program takes into account solar climatological data like solar radiation, ambient temperature and variability of the electrical load and then computes the energy, supply, reliability, LCOE as output. The reliability level was set and the combination that got the least LCOE was noted using the graphing method. Cost advantages of net metering (a billing mechanism that credits individuals who generate off-grid electricity for the electricity they add to the grid) were compared. The Excel model revealed that 5 of A/A0 (dimensionless parameter for array area) required supplying power of 15.46KW, inverter power and 76.81KWH of battery capacity for a daily demand load of 74.212KWH. It was shown that with net metering the least LCOE resulted in 24.0c/kwh whereas without resulted in 29.1c/kwh and showed that the use of net metering can reduce significantly the cost of the power system. The Grid-tied photovoltaic powering system was found to be more cost efficient when utilizing the net metering strategy LCOE as 24c/kwh at a reliability of 99%. Hence the government should implement/legislate the net metering strategy to improve the reliability of supply of grid electricity.