Technical and economic evaluation of electricity generation cost from solar photovoltaic technology in Nigeria: A case study of Kano State

摘要

This research study assessed the technical feasibility and commercial profitability of commercial solar PV technology project in Kano State of Nigeria. Polysun . simulation software was used to locate a suitable location and 1MW solar PV system was design using the software to test the commercial and technical feasibility of deploying commercial solar PV technology project in the location. A high yield of annual global irradiation sum of 2,233.3kWh/m2 and annual sum of the diffuse radiation of 811.2kWh/m2 were recorded from the location. The simulated annual direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) output of the system were found to be 2, 043,910kWh and 1,847,846.1kWh respectively. The system performance ratio was found to be 73.1%. The project was economically evaluated and levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) generation from the system was calculated to be 37.6Naira/kWh which is lower than the approved renewable energy tariff of 40.25Naira/kWh as approved by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission for year 2016. The project was technically evaluated to be feasible and economical profitable based on the simulation output data.