Design and Implementation of a 5 kVA Solar Photovoltaic System for the Electronics Laboratory in Covenant University

The Electronics Laboratory is a learning facility that students and faculty can utilize for research and learning activities. The motivation for this project is to make available a backup power system to be used in moments of a power outage, especially during laboratory sessions. Solar energy is chosen because the aggregate solar energy incident on the earth’s surface exceeds by far amount the required estimated energy needs of the world’s population. The site location, Ogun State, Nigeria, has an average of about six hours of sunshine per day. In addition, solar energy represents a clean source of energy. In this work, a 5 kVA solar photovoltaic system has been installed. It can supply energy of 18060 Wh/day. It was implemented as a backup power supply to the Electronics Laboratory. It can run for 01:30 hours at full load when not being charged. The initial cost of carrying out a solar project is quite high. However, the support cost dwindles significantly throughout an extensive period compared to when available power is solely reliant on utility.