CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF SOLAR PV NET METERING SYSTEM-COLOMBO Background First of all, let us look at the global picture.

We have many alternative energy sources instead of fossil fuels. The decision of what type of energy source should be utilized in each case must be made on the basis of economic, environmental, and safety considerations. Because of the desirable environmental and safety aspects it is widely believed that solar energy should be utilized instead of other alternative energy forms because it can be provided sustainably without harming the environment. It is now generally believed in the world that renewable energy technologies can meet much of the growing demand at prices that are equal to or lower than those usually forecast for conventional energy. By the middle of the 21st century, renewable sources of energy could account for three fifths of the worlds electricity market and two fifths of the market for fuels used directly. Moreover, making a transition to a renewable energy-intensive economy would provide environmental and other benefits not measured in standard economic terms. It is envisaged that by 2050 global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions would be reduced to 75% of their 1985 levels, provided that energy efficiency and renewables are widely adopted. In addition, such benefits could be achieved at no additional cost, because renewable energy is expected to be competitive with conventional energy In Sri Lanka also, a wide prolonged discussion has been existed for at least a decade regarding renewables. Mini/micro hydros, solar PV systems and wind turbines have been in Sri Lanka for a certain period of time. However the possibility of large scale solar thermal power plants has not been considered. There are reasons for that. First is most of these technologies are not mature enough and not widely available. The second is that the associated capital cost and per unit energy cost is also higher. However current situation in the world compels us to include these technologies in to our future energy mix because of following reasons. The first is the uncertainty of oil prices. We experienced this in 2008 and suffered from the volatility a lot. The cost of oil increased to unprecedented levels in no time giving no space to breathe to economies like us. The second is as described above the cost of solar thermal technologies will continue to decrease and will be competitive with other conventional technologies in the near future like 2020. The second is energy security. It is said that world is regionalizing in to regions like Europe, China, United States etc. There may be geo-political cold wars among these countries or regions. If we can secure our energy supply with available resources as much as possible, our economy will not be susceptible to external factors to the extent we experienced in the past. Further we will be able to harvest the benefits programs such as carbon credit program while supporting the struggle against global warming.

Objective To study and develop a conceptual design of a solar PV type power plant in Colombo city area. Technology Solar PV is one of most popular solar power generation method. Photovoltaic Cells are using to generate the electricity with this method. Photovoltaic refers to a technology, which uses a device to produce a flow of electrons when exposed to light, resulting in the production of an electric current. Using this concept electricity could be produced from sunlight using solar photovoltaic modules. The sun is the basic energy source for all human activities be it fossil fuel or wind power the source of the energy existing is the sun. The light energy of the sun is converted to electricity by the solar modules and harnessed in to a readily useable form by the inverter system. Sri Lanka is at the equator therefore it makes it especially suitable for solar power applications, as it is also the most abundant energy source available among the Sri Lankas sources of renewable energy. Traditional solar cells are made from silicon, are usually flat-plate, and generally are the most efficient. Second-generation solar cells are called thin-film solar cells because they are made from amorphous silicon or non-silicon materials such as cadmium telluride. Thin film solar cells use layers of semiconductor materials only a few micrometers thick. Because of their flexibility, thin film solar cells can double as rooftop shingles and tiles, building facades, or the glazing for skylights. Third-generation solar cells are being made from variety of new materials besides silicon, including solar inks using conventional printing press technologies, solar dyes, and conductive plastics. Some new solar cells use plastic lenses or mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto a very small piece of high efficiency PV material. The PV material is more expensive, but because so little is needed, these systems are becoming cost effective for use by utilities and industry. However, because the lenses must be pointed at the sun, the use of concentrating collectors is limited to the sunniest parts of the country.

Conceptual Design This document has discussed the design aspect of 150kW capacity solar PV net metering system. The DNI ratio of the Colombo area has obtained with help of the department of Meteorology. According those data the conceptual design has done. In Colombo area the solar DNI = 4.1kWh/m2/day. Average Insolation=4.1/12 =0.3417kW/m2 In this document it is assumed that the area of a rooftop is 200m2 which is the normal rooftop size in Colombo area. With solar PV system to produce one kilowatt it required 8m2 areas. Solar availability of the Colombo area has noted as 70% per year. In the design it is not going to use a solar tracking system. In that case the cosine effect is applied to the system and the angle of the PV panel will be decided in the next step of the project and in this stage the profit of the angling the PV panels has neglected. Possible power of one panel Available power of a panel Efficiency of the PV panel Availability of Solar per year Reduction of the solar due to cosine effect Number of panels Daylight hours of a day Output of a panel Output of a panel per month Output of a panel per year Total output of the PV system =0.3417*200 =68.33kW =(1/8)*200 =25kW =25*100/68.33 =36.6% =70% =10% =6 =5h =25*5 =125kWh =125*30 =3750kWh =3750*12*0.7*0.9 =28350kWh =28350*6 =170100kWh

Economical Review The initial investment of this project will be a grant of ADB. The economical analysis has done base on USD. The discount rate has decided as 4%. Initial Investment =0.5 million USD Per panel cost of Solar PV panel = 62500 USD Per panel cost of Steal Structure = 5000USD Per panel cost of Installing cost = 2000USD Revenue for month = 15932.6USD Maintains charges = 477.98USD Building hiring cost = 3186.52USD Recovery of the loan = 13224.05USD Possible units can be installed =6 Discount Factor =4% Using normal pay back calculation the recovery period of the loan can be calculated as below. Recovery Period =500000/13224.05 =37.8Years According to the economical figure the total investment will be covered within 38 years and after that the government can invest that money in another project. Since the project is funded by ADB, the government of Sri Lanka is not liable for investing on the project, but they grant as a saving at the end of the recovery of the project.