Sustainability of the Installed Battery-less PV Panel Systems at Two Government Institutions in Pampanga

One of the most prominent energy alternatives available today is the solar energy. Innovation has made this more affordable and reachable to the public both in the resident and commercial areas. Solar energy was harnessed in two buildings from two different organizations through the installation of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels in the two locales. However, these solar panel systems needed to be assessed empirically. Also, during the initial operation, several technical problems led the researcher to use the result of the assessment procedures as basis for a proposed operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting manual for the users. Engineering management intervened in the study through the tools which were helpful in organizing the activities done in the course of the research. The PV solar panels were assessed in a quantitative approach. The energy and cost generated after the installation of the systems were compared to the energy and cost prior to the installation through the analysis of percentage difference and t-test. The efficiency and return on investment (ROI) of the PV solar panels were also assessed. The contents of the manual was based on the survey checklist distributed among the four (4) respondents from the locales and the interview checklist conducted by the researcher on the installer of the panel systems. In summary, no significant difference was observed between the energy and cost generated before and after the installation of the PV solar panels using t-test. But the percentage difference assessment reflected a significant difference in the energy and cost generated before and after the installation. Specifically, there was a positive decrease in the energy cost of the electricity generation in the two locales. Furthermore, the return on investment of the PV systems were discovered to be less than the expected life span which means that the projected payback could be harvested within the utilization of the PV solar panels. Lastly, a manual was made at the end of the study addressing the common issues and problems encountered by the users and how to troubleshoot them and operate the system properly. This manual was made for the sole purposeof maximizing the utilization of the solar PV panels and promoting sustainability.