Computer Tool for Sizing and Economic Assessment of Grid Connected Photovoltaic System

Thanks to the location close to the Equator line, Colombia offers an advantage location for solar applications. This is the case of Neiva, a city located in the south of Colombia where the average temperature and irradiance are 31 °C and 4 kW/m2 respectively. This paper describes the development of an investment payback solar calculator (PSC) software for residential and commercial PV solar applications in Neiva. The PSC uses both the average solar energy and the electricity prices to estimate the rate of return on investment, the payback period (PBP), the net present value (NPV) as well as the environmental impact. The PCS software is then evaluated using a historical and statistical information from NASA, adjusted with the results of a small scale 1 kW grid connected PV system production. The results show that the PCS software can satisfactorily indicate the PV system size and perform an economic evaluation of the system to be implemented. The results obtained using the application developed were compared to two commercially available software Sunny Design and HOMER. The NPV and the PBP values showed that the proposed application results are like those delivered by the commercial software. Furthermore, the economic evaluation given by the developed tool uses additional information which makes it more accurate in countries where socioeconomic stratum is presented.