OPTIMIZING A RESIDENTIAL SOLAR PV SYSTEM BASED ON NET-METERING APPROACHES

The surplus energy produced by solar photovoltaic (PV) needs to be compensated either by storing it to energy storage system (ESS) or share it to microgrid (MG). This MG plays a role of ESS as whenever, there is energy surplus at the solar PV end it shares energy to the MG and get that energy back when needed in order to balance the energy deficit, this method is known as net energy balance or the more specific term net-metering. Net-metering Approach connects end-user to utility grid so that both can get benefit by either selling the surplus energy produced at user-end from renewable energy sources to the utility grid or getting energy from the grid when there is an energy deficit. This approach eliminates the cost for storing surplus energy for later use. Recently, Saudi Arabia's Electricity and Co-generation Regulatory Authority (ECRA) has approved and published the net-metering approach for small-scale solar PV systems allowing customers to generate and export energy surplus to the utility grid. The objectives of this paper include: 1- The economic benefits of installing small-scale solar PV system is examined at the residential buildings from a customer point of view. 2- Optimal solar PV system sizing has been proposed which mainly focuses the minimum payback period and area restriction for solar PV. A net-metering approach is proposed which incorporates solar PV degradation with compound factor and initial investment cost considering compound interest for the complete life span of solar PV. The proposed approach has become a key approach and its practical implications are carried out with computer simulations. A case study is conducted with monthly load profile and the area designated for solar PV installation, provided by the local residential customers. To see impacts of different parameters on the solar PV sizing, a sensitivity analysis is carried out to examine the advantages of net-metering approach to facilitate the end users about the behavior by changing different parameters on solar PV sizing and the payback periods.