Assessment and optimization of carport structures for photovoltaic systems: A path to sustainable energy development

Parking lots cover a large area around many institutions that have great potential for integrating photovoltaic systems that might serve local electricity needs or export to the utility grid. This article presents the engineering strategies and economic analysis required for the deployment of solar photovoltaic carports. It thoroughly discusses assessment of solar resources, PV module technology, tilt angle, orientation, and carport design required for this type of installation. A series of experiments are performed at a proposed location to optimize the design of carport shed structures. A comparison of PV system installed on different carport structures shows that the photovoltaic system installed on a monopitch carport structure produces maximum energy as compared to other carport structures, and have a high-performance ratio and specific yield. For the monopitch carport structure, annual generation is 262.2 MWh, performance ratio is 82.0% and specific yield is 1,737.4. After selecting an optimal carport design, this work is additionally supported by a case study conducted for a parking lot of a public institute in a metropolitan city. The output of the PV system installed on the carport at total collector irradiation level is 3,176,090.9 kWh, after temperature, mismatch, and inverter losses, the total energy injected into the grid is 2,721,657.5 kWh. The power factor in the existing system is between 0.74 and 0.88. After installing the photovoltaic system, the minimum PF is 0.90 and the maximum PF is 0.99, these values are very close to the unity, which is a positive sign for a healthy system with low current and copper losses. After installing the photovoltaic system, the receiving terminal voltage is significantly higher compared to the existing system and also very near to the nominal receiving end line-to-line voltage of 440 V. The levelized cost of electricity of the PV system is calculated to be 0.12 USD/kWh, while the electricity cost of the conventional utility grid is 0.35 USD/kWh. As a result, the public institute saved 0.23 USD per kilowatt-hour. To encourage such installations in metropolitan areas, our research presents an approach and analysis that are globally applicable.