Performance and Energy Metrics Analysis of Stand Alone Rooftop PV plant

Due to the easy installation, low operating costs, and financial assistance from the Indian government, rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems have become a popular alternative electricity source for domestic users. The time to time, detailed studies of such systems are required to improve their energy efficiency. In this paper, performance and energy metrics analysis of a 5.76 kWp Stand Alone Rooftop Photovoltaic (SARP) system is done for the climatic conditions of Kajra (Bihar), India. The SARP system is supplying electrical energy to the domestic load of 4.3 kW, for which the average daily electricity consumption is 21.11 kWh. With two 150 Ah battery bank as a backup source, the PVsyst based performance analysis shows that the SARP system has final yield, capacity utilisation factor (CUF), and performance ratio (PR) of 3.28, 13.65% and 71.3% respectively. The energy metrics analysis shows that the system has energy pay-back time (EPBT) of 5.74 years and electricity production factor (EPF) value of 4.34 (on life time basis). The analysis of performance and energy metrics reveals that the SARP systems are efficient systems for rural location-based household electricity use.