Viability Study of Net Metering Scheme in Residential Scale: A Bangladeshi Perspective

This study investigates the financial and environmental benefits of incorporating a grid-connected photovoltaic system with a net metering scheme on a residential scale. A residential unit of 140 square meters is considered with a mean load of 15 kWh and a yearly maximum load of 3.19 kW. In accordance with the data from Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO), the residential unit has a monthly average consumption of around 450 kWh and a Cost of Energy (COE) of 0.074 USD (July 2020 – July 2021). "Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources" (HOMER) software is operated to run numerous simulations and attain optimized results. Evaluation of said results indicates a significant decrease in the Net Present Cost (NPC) and COE. Moreover, the presented architecture has a Renewable Fraction (RF) of 88.6 percent as opposed to 0 percent in the present system. Consequently, a significant fall in greenhouse gas emissions is also witnessed.