Techno-Economic Assessment of PV Potential for Distribution Grid Integration in a Real Area in Iran

Integration of photovoltaic power plants to the distribution grid has always been more desirable for both the investors and the grid operators regarding its significant advantages including less grid connection costs as well as the reduction of expansion needs in the transmission grid. However, taking into account the considerable capital expenditures of PV power plants and dependence of their generations to the climate conditions, it is necessary to thoroughly assess the potential regions for distribution grid integration of these power plants. In this paper, the photovoltaic potentials of Zanjan and Qazvin provinces in Iran are studied from both technical and economic viewpoints. A number of sites in various parts of the area under study are taken into account and simulations are performed through the PVsyst software for a detailed distribution grid-connected system using the metrological data and related loss factors. In addition, economic assessments are performed by means of levelized cost of energy (LCOE) index. The results of this paper reveal a proper potential for installation of distribution grid connected photovoltaic power plants in most of the studied sites especially in those located in south half of Zanjan and Qazvin provinces. Moreover, it is observed that the levelized cost of energy among the studied sites varies up to %13.5, which demonstrates the importance of proper site selection of PV power plants for reduction of investment costs.