Feasibility study of rooftop solar photovoltaic system for 33/11 kV primary substation at Al Suwairah

Abstract

This article presents an overview of the technical and financial feasibility analysis of integrating a photovoltaic (PV) source with the conventional power system to supply the auxiliary load at the Al Suwairah 33/11 kV primary substation (PSS) in Suhar, Sultanate of Oman. This study estimates the required electrical energy for the primary substation's auxiliary load. A method is implemented to utilize the available area in the primary substation for determining the solar photovoltaic system's capacity. PVSyst software is employed to determine the ideal system capacity. The proposed solar PV system's payback period and overall annual savings have been evaluated using a series of simulated analyses. The proposed PV can inject 172.5 MWh/year with an average performance ratio of 0.826. The economic evaluation by the photovoltaic system (PVSyst) considering the present auxiliary load at the Al Suwarah PSS has suggested a total payback period of 8.9 years which is quite feasible. The cost of power generated by the proposed system is 49.2% less than the cost of power supplied from the utility service provider.