Technical Design and Economic Assessment of Building Integrated PV Systems: A Case Study of a Solar Pumping System for the

ICT Building in M.U.S.T.

R. C. Pallugna, C.L.Y. Cabangbang, C.R.N. Bibiano, N.D. Caliao, PhD Mindanao University of Science and Technology

ABSTRACT In an effort to evaluate the comparison of renewable energy investment and the cost of the electric utility after 25 years, a study for the economic merits of a solar PV integrated in buildings is conducted for the Mindanao University of Science and Technology (MUST) specifically at ICT building. The cost of the system and the price of the electric utility are also presented in the paper. Solar photovoltaic (PV) integrated in the building could take part in a critical role as an alternative way of energy and electricity demand. and of evaluating its economic merits in Keywords: Solar Pump, PV system, Life Cycle comparison to the cost electric utility during Cost, Economic Comparison, System its life-span of 25 years. The PV system would Efficiency supply power to the existing water pump during the day, and which would be supplied 1. Introduction by the utility at night or when solar power cannot. Two of the most important necessities to 2. Methodology human life in the modern cities are water and electricity. Although water is free, energy is The methodology of this research needed to make it available for use. Mainly it is involves data collection of both the energy electrical energy that is used to draw and demand of the load and the available solar supply water. But, today, electricity is getting energy of the site, the sizing and determining expensive, and so the cost of water is also the PV system output and the computation of getting higher. However, the Sun, through its net present value (NPV) to assess its solar PV technologies, can be used generate economic value. 2.1 Data Collection: The data gathered electricity to supply water. Solar energy is mainly involved water requirements and available free, clean, and sufficient and solar PV solar energy. technologies are getting cheaper and more 2.11 Water Requirements: available [1]. Water User Information: ICT is a 4-storey The Philippines, being a tropical country school building with 15 class rooms each with a has an abundant source of solar energy with capacity of 42 students each. It has also 12 an average irradiance of 4.9 kilowatt-hours computer rooms, one conference room, 4 offices, per square meter per day [2]. and 8 rest rooms. It is located at the eastern part of This paper describes the process of designing a solar PV water pumping system for the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) building of Mindanao University of Science and Technology (MUST)
MUST. Water from water utility flows to a 150,000 gallon underground storage tank and is then pumped to 2x1000 gallon tanks at the top of the building and from there, by gravity, flows to the 8 rest rooms, two, at each floor of the building [3]. Water Use Information: Pump starts and stops were timed and recorded from 7:00am to

5:00 pm for the whole week during regular school days. The data gathered are shown in table 1 and the graph is shown in Figure 1. From these it was computed that the average water requirements for the ICT building is around 30,500 gallons per day and with the highest at around 32,000 gallons per day. These are based on the average pump hours of 7.2 hours and longest pump hours of 7.5 hours and the pump rate of 70.5 gallons per minute respectively.
Table 1: Pump Hours per day
Time (*) 7:00-8:00 8:00-9:00 9:00-10:00 10:00-11:00 11:00-12:00 12:00-1:00 1:00-2:00 2:00-3:00 3:00-4:00 4:00-5:00 10 hrs Monday 26 min 42 min 39 min 39 min 51 min 60 min 50 min 42 min 40 min 45 min 7.2 hrs Tuesday Wednesday Thursday 23 min 23 min 20 min 37 min 40 min 41 min 41 min 37 min 50 min 32 min 41 min 47 min 48 min 57 min 48 min 60 min 60 min 60 min 47 min 51 min 53 min 44 min 47 min 42 min 39 min 40 min 45 min 46 min 43 min 39 min 7.0 hrs 7.3 hrs 7.4 hrs Friday 18 min 47 min 44 min 39 min 47 min 60 min 49 min 52 min 51 min 43 min 7.5 hrs Saturday 16 min 51 min 46 min 48 min 45 min 60 min 41 min 38 min 35 min 30 min 6.8 hrs

Figure 2: Energy consumption of water pump Pump Information: The pump used is a 5 horse power (4kw), 3-Phase, 220 volts, 60 Hz, centrifugal pump with a 70.5 gallons per minute flow rate. 2.12 Available Solar Energy: In the Philippines, solar energy resources, known as INSOLATION or incident solar radiation, varies from 5.0 to 6.5 Kwh/m2/day during dry season (March May) and 3.0 to 5.5 Kwh/m2/day during wet season (November-January) [2]. In this study the lowest available solar energy was used so that the pump could still run at times when the energy available is at its lowest. 2.2 Sizing of PV System Components Sizing of PV system components includes the number and size of array, sizing and choice of inverter, wiring and switching system. PV array sizing: The sizing of PV array depends on the power requirement of the load and the available solar energy. The power requirement of the load (PR) was computed using the pump hours and measured using the kilowatt hour meters. The available solar energy (Hd) is taken from the data of the grid-connected PV-plant in the city owned by CEPALCO. The required rated array power (PR) is given by the formula [4]:

The values of the y-axis of Figure 1 are minutes, the length of time the pump runs in one hour. The graph shows that the highest requirement is between 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m., with the pump running for 60 minutes, or 1 hour.

70 60 50 Monday 40 Tuesday 30 20 10 0 Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Figure 1: Graph of Pump hours showing peak usage is between 12:00 Noon to 1:00 p.m.

A watt-hour meter was also used to measure the energy consumed by the pump for 1 month, between December 15, 2010 to January 25, 2011. Figure 2 shows the pump consumes an average of around 30 kilowatt-hours for 1 month.

PR = EP

I STC H d pinv (1 p )(1 c )

(1)

P = R [1 P (Tc Tr )]

(2)

NOCT 20 Tc Ta = (219 + 832 K t ) 800 H Kt = D HO

(3) (4)

Where EP (30kwh/day) is the power demand,

I STC is the irradiance at standard

condition equal to 1kw/m2, H d is the monthly average daily solar radiation on the horizontal surface equal to 4.05 kwh/m2/day, p is the array efficiency equal to 92.3%, R is the PV module efficiency of 13.3%, P is the module temperature coefficient of -0.485, Tc is related to Ta , Tr is the reference temperature of 25 degrees C, K t is the clearness index, H O is the monthly average daily solar radiation on the horizontal surface, inv is the inverter efficiency equal to 85%, p is the dirt and dust losses equal to 10%, c is the wire and electrical component losses equal to 2%.

modules in series would give the system voltage of 9x34.5 =310.5 DC volts and a current of 6x5= 30A DC. The PV System would be mounted on the roof at an inclination of 8.4 degrees due south, corresponding to the latitude of Cagayan de Oro City, on portion of the roof above the machine room, which has an area 84.3 square meters for the array. The front side of ICT is oriented 8 degrees south-east, adjusted to an inclination of 8.4 degrees due south which makes it almost directly under the path of the sun. Below is a perspective of the ICT building with a raised portion on the rooftop as the proposed location for mounting the PV modules:

PR =

(30kwh / day )(1kw / m 2 ) (4.05kwh / m 2 / day )(0.923)(0.90)(0.98)

Figure 3: Perspective view of the ICT building Sizing the inverter: The nominal system power is 56x170 = 9520 watts, which is the product of the number of modules multiplied by the power of each module. The array current is equal to current per module times the number of modules in parallel or 5x6 = 30 amperes. The inverter would be AURORA Photovoltaic Inverter model PVI-10.0-OUTD. This is a 10KW, 220VAC, 3 Phase inverter [6]. Magnetic Contactors or solid state relays of the same rating with the inverter should be used to switch the pump to or from the PV system or to or from the utility

= 9099 Watts The number of Modules (No) is given by

NO =

PR 9099 = = 54 modules PSTC 170

Each module occupies an area of 1.3 square meters and the whole the array occupies 73 square meters. The PV modules to be used are SHARP NE-170UC1 [5]

Table 2: PV module SHARP NE-170UC1 characteristics

Brand SHARP Technology Poly-si MaxPower I V Temp NOCT Eff Area/ price (Pstc) (A) (V) coeff. (deg C) (r) module (Php) 170 W 5 35.4 -0.485 47.5 13.3 1.3 23,600

The array configuration is dependent on commercially available solar inverters. The modules would be connected nine modules in series and six modules in parallel. The nine

2.3. Economic Comparison This is a comparison between the cost of electricity from the utility in comparison with the electricity generated from the PV system to pump water. This is done by comparing their present value for 25 years, the life-span of the PV system

The present value of all the monthly energy savings, less its operation and maintenance expenses, of the pump when using solar energy is brought to the present time and compared to the present value of the entire project cost using the formula
(1 + i ) n 1 P = A n i (1 + i )

net present value (NPV) is negative, which means that at present it is still too expensive to apply PV system for pumping applications for the ICT building. 4. References:
[1] The Cost Of Installed Solar Photovoltaic Systems Drops Significantly Over The Last Decade, http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2009/02/090219152130.htm [2] C.D. Gozon, Buy Back Power on Grid Connected Residential PV Undergrad Thesis, MUST, 2011 [3] R.D. Galua, Proposed Four Storey School Building Infrastructure Planning and Development Office, Mindanao University of Science and Technology [4] Clean Energy Project Analysis: Basics of Solar Energy, www.retscreen.net [5] http://www.ecodirect.com/Sharp-NE170UC1-170-Watt-Solar-Panel-p/sharpne-170uc1.html [6] Power-one, 10kW Aurora inverter, http://www.solacity.com

where: P= Present Value A= Annuity i= rate (10%) n= number of years (25) The results are shown in Table 3 and Table 4. In this study, U.S. dollar to peso conversion rate is 45. Table 3: Balance of system Cost [2]
Component Inverter contactors Mountings(per watt) Wirings, etc(per watt) Labor(per watt) Permits(per watt) BOS Cost Module Cost TOTAL COST Unit price USD 4,780.00 140.0 1.00 0.75 0.75 0.25 472.0 Cost Php 430,200.00 12,600.00 450,000.00 337,500.00 337,500.00 112,500.00 1,680,300.00 1,146,960.00 2,827,260.00

Table 4: Graph of the economic comparison of utility versus PV generated energy

Economic Comparison Annual Utility Cost (AUC) Present Val of AUC (i=10%) Total Project Cost NPV 109,500.00 1,186,400.30 2,827,260.00 (1,640,859.70)

(negative)

3. Results and Conclusion Although PV technologies are available and their prices going down, but up until today, based on the economic evaluation, the