Tecno-economic analysis of PV module selection for residential BIPV with net metering implementation in Malaysia

Abstract

A building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system is composed of photovoltaic modules integrated into a building envelope, such as a roof. This system is one of most cost effective and practical applications for grid-connected photovoltaic system. Malaysia is located in the equatorial region and receives an average 1700 W/m <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> solar radiation. In Malaysia, the energy metering scheme was establish in November 2016 and will run until 2020 with 100 MW capacity per year to complement the feed in tariff mechanism established in 2011. This paper seeks to evaluate the optimum design of selected PV modules for lowest payback period. The 3.3 kW BIPV system on the rooftop of terrace house located at Penang, Malaysia with a longitude 100°30' East and latitude 6°45' North. The design is simulated using four types of PV modules through the PVsyst software to identify the total energy yield produced by the various modules. The life cycle cost (LCC), levelised cost of energy (LCOE) and payback period is calculated to identify the economic value of PV module selection. The study found that LCOE is between RM0.2400 to RM0.3186 per kWh, payback period of each PV module selection varies between 10.8 to 14.8 years and the annual saving is RM1180.75 to RM1294.75 with Net Energy Metering incentive.