FINANCIAL VIABILITY OF SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM: A CASE STUDY

Today, energy sector of India mostly depends on nonrenewable energy sources, which generates a considerable amount of carbon footprint. In order to address the global challenges of climate change and sustainable development, there is a vital need to accelerate the development of advanced technologies for clean energy. Solar photovoltaic is a key technology options to realize the shift towards de-carbonize energy supply and is projected to emerge as an attractive alternate electricity source in the future. This paper estimates the generated solar energy production and carbon credits earned by the photovoltaic cells of multi crystalline solar photovoltaic module, used in the campus of Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India. Also the analysis has been done for the amount of carbon footprint and payback period. The study reveals that, the average insolation value of a campus is 6.02 kWh/m2 /day and the amount of actual energy generation is 3286605 units per year. The carbon credit in the campus is computed as 3063.12 tons/year and should be traded as USD 2871.44 as per the norms of the Kyoto protocol. The amount of CO2 produced is calculated as 164.33 tCO2 per year. The capacity utilization factor (CUF) is 20.6%. Additionally, the payback period for different scenarios is also evaluated.