Design and simulation of PV grid-connected system considering senstivity analysis

This paper investigates the performance of grid connected Solar PV system and presents simulation and sensitivity analysis of a 3MW grid-connected Photovoltaic (PV) system considering 25 years lifetime. This grid-connected system assumed to be built in the city of Medina located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The simulation is performed using Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software. Renewable energy resources, PV power production, and other key factors were investigated under sensitivity analysis. The research results showed that the system in the selected location has recorded a low LCOE with approximately $0.044 $/kWh and discounted payback period of around 17 years. Also, the results showed that this 3MW grid connected system can reduce the CO
2
emission by around 47%. However, the sensitivity analysis showed that there are several factors have a significant technical and economic impact on system.