Dynamic Modeling of Grid Connected Photovoltaic Systems and Their Techno-Economic Assessment under Different Scenarios in Residential Sector of Several Large Cities of Iran

This research aims to model and study the techno-economic aspects of grid-connected distributed photovoltaic systems for use in the residential sector in several large cities of Iran including Esfahan, Bandar Abbas, Tehran, Tabriz, Shiraz, and Yazd. The dynamic modelling is performed using hourly metrological data and hourly electricity demand of households. The impacts of pricing policies and governmental incentives on economy of photovoltaic systems have been studied under six different scenarios. The results show that electricity production of a one kilowatt system with fixed angles is in the range of 1437-1536 kWh from which only 44.1-49.4% can be sold to the electricity grid by applying net metering policy. Using 1-axis and 2-axes solar tracker the electricity production and sold electricity to the grid are increased by 26.8-44.4% and 35.6-62.8%, respectively. Guaranteed purchase of excess electricity cannot make the use of photovoltaic systems economically viable. Besides, by applying the incentive policies in supplying initial costs of investment and increase of electricity tariffs, it is possible to reduce the payback period to about 6 years except for Bandar Abbas. The results show that according to the climate conditions, appropriate and specific incentive policies should be adopted by the government in each region.