Economical Benefits of Integrating Solar Energy Based DG units on an Existing Low Voltage Distribution Network in Pakistan

Abstract

Availability of electrical energy plays a dynamic role in the social and economic development of any country. The energy mix in Pakistan is majorly dependent on the non-renewable energy sources which are imported,which results a short of electricity production while the consumers are facing a load shedding of 10-12h/day. This technological revolution, regulatory environment and changing economic conditions increase theimportance of Distributed Generation. Distributed Generation not only meets the energy requirements of any country but also improves the various issues such as saving in cost, reduction in technical losses, improvement in the power quality, reliability and security, reduction in power losses and environmental concerns to decrease the greenhouse gases. This paper presents the comparison of the energy utilization and its price between the existing low voltage system and the proposed solar PV system integration. It is seen that with the integration of an optimized PV system we will not only meet the energy requirement of our existing system but also inject some amount of energy in access to the national grid. Also a cost to benefit ratio of 2.63 is calculated which means the cost of this modification can be reversed in a time less than 3 years while the normal life of a PV system is taken as 25 years