Simplified Technique for Designing Least Cost Stand-Alone PV/Storage Systems

摘要

A new design technique is presented for stand-alone photovoltaic/storage systems that accounts for the year-to-year variations in insolation and yet requires only the average monthly horizontal insolation as input. The array and storage sizes are governed by the desired loss-of-load probability (LOLP), which represents the fraction of the demand not met during the system's lifetime. The designer can size for any LOLP less than 0.05 and can choose from four sets of array/storage combinations to achieve the desired LOLP. The designer can choose tilt angles from latitude minus 20 deg to latitude plus 20 deg. The technique is applicable to any system with a fixed tilt array and for either electrical or product storage. If electrical storage is used, the technique allows the designer to estimate the number of battery replacements required over the system's lifetime. (ERA citation 12:030342)