[Urban PV]

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Product Information, Considerations, Economics, Individual Possibilities, National Benefits

 

Using the data from the sections on Module Inclination and Data Acquisition an assumption can now be made on the effectiveness of PV in an urban environment.

Irradiance values were acquired from the Data Acquisition page and were utilised for a PV module. The PV module used was:

PV technology has many applications in the UK, both for stand-alone systems and for integration onto buildings. PV has been used for many years in the UK in applications such as monitoring stations, radio repeater stations, telephone kiosks and street lighting to name just a few examples. In more recent years in the UK, PV has become more widely used in urban areas, where it can be integrated into new buildings or mounted onto existing buildings. This is a rapidly growing market in the UK and throughout Europe. PV technology is ideally suited to the urban environment, providing pollution and noise free electricity without using extra space. 

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Product Information 

A high efficiency mono crystalline silicon solar cell manufactured by bp solar was used for the calculations. Actual module - bp solar BP-585 

Module size            = 1.180 x 0.522               = 0.61596m2

Calculated efficiency (h)                                 = 12.18%

Cost                                                   = £352                  = £571.46 per m2

 (http://www.almac.co.uk/proven/FILES/Price00b.htm)

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 Considerations 

The choice of actual PV modules available is vast and so the data collected from above will be used, where the PV module is constructed from high efficiency mono-crystalline silicon. The installation of such a system requires specialist knowledge in installing such systems. (As you can imagine they are not wide spread in Scotland) Requiring specialists increases the cost of installation. The cost of installation should fall as these types of system become more widespread and not such a specialist application. 

As previously mentioned in the Beginners Section the efficiency of A PV module decreases as the temperature increases. The use of a hybrid cooling system where a fan system is used to suck the warm air from behind the array, increasing the efficiency, and then depositing the warm air as space heating within the building, reducing heating costs, will be used as the system to be priced here. 

The installation also depends upon the applications for the generated power. In the Integration Section some scenarios were described about the use of small-scale generation. Since the price received for generated electricity is very low compared to the price paid, at this moment, the Stand Alone AC System will be chosen as the installation type.

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Economics

BP Solar 585 mono-crystalline module:£352= £571.46per m2       

Storage Battery:£40   

Inverter:£100           

Cooling Fan:£10

Miscellaneous Equipment: £200

Installation:£500

Annual Maintenance:£500 for 4 visits a year + parts (if required) 

Assume 1 battery for every 2m2

Equipment cost will increase by 20% per m2

Installation cost will increase by £250 per m2

Inverter and cooling fan will treble in price every 10m2


 These calculations are to provide an approximation to the expected costs and performance from a PV system installed in a Scottish urban environment. Solar Century and PV-UK can provide more up to date prices as two of the main bodies in the UK concerned with the deployment of photovoltaics.

 The price of PV modules has fallen dramatically over the last 20 years, from around £15 per Wp in 1980 to current prices of around £3 per Wp. The cost of a complete PV system - including power conditioning equipment and installation - can vary very widely depending on the application and system type, and so generalisations on system costs are difficult to make.

PV is currently very expensive when compared to the price of say roof slates, however a more recent application of PV in the UK is its use as a building façade material. This use of PV on commercial buildings looks very favourable economically when compared to other building façade materials.

 For example, PV curtain walling (amorphous) can cost as little as £ 280/m2, whereas stone cladding might cost around £300/m2. Many new buildings use cladding materials, which cost £1000 per m2. In situation like these PV can provide an attractive façade at a lower cost and also provide clean electricity and free power for the building.

 Answers to more specific question can be found at;

 http://www.solarcentury.co.uk

http://www.pv-uk.org.uk

http://www.solartwin.com/solar_twin.htm

http://www.unlimited-power.co.uk/EDC_FAQ.html

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/srtscot/energy02.htm

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Individual Possibilities

 A typical domestic system of 2 kW in the UK would produce around a third of the annual demand of an average family household (taking the average demand to be around 10 kWh per day). However, calculating the system size depends on many factors, for example whether the system is grid connected, energy demand of the household etc. 

Typically one household would have a 2kW installation this would require a 10m2 PV array area. It is assumed that the PV modules are in a south facing direction. Modules facing any other direction will receive less power.

Taking the assumed figure from Data Acquisition = 110W/m2   

This would result in an electricity production of;  

i)                  = 0.11(kW) x 0.1218(h) x 8760 (hours) x 15(m2) = 1760.49 kWh 

Cost of electricity              = 6.7 p per kWh 

Saving per annum             = 1760.49 x 0.067

                                      = £117.95 per 15m2

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National Benefits

 Assuming that every household in Scotland had a 10m2 flat PV solar array, there are around 2,350,000 households in Scotland. So across Scotland this would be saving approximately. 

i)                  1173.7 kWh x 2,350,000 houses = 2,758,195,000 kWh/year 

The deployment of PV solar array’s could result in an annual reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in Scotland, every kWh of electricity produced from fossil fuels results in 0.97 kg of CO2 

ii)                0.97kg x 2,758,195,000 kWh/year = 2,675,449,150 kg/CO2    

 


3.7 % of Total Scottish CO2 Emissions - (3.7 % of 72,300,000,000 kg)

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