Energetic, economic environmental analysis for photovoltaic grid-connected systems under different climate conditions in Iraq

• Optimum site selection of installing PV power plant is assumed. • A energy-economic-environment feasibility analysis is used. • The metrological data from NREL measurements for 21 different sites is tested. • Feasibility of this study is based on yield factor, capacity factor and performance ratio. • Results display that PV system is feasible for all sites and Al-Rutba city is the best site. The present study numerically involves the feasibility analysis of environment, economic and energy of 1MWp photovoltaic (PV) system under Iraq climatic condition. The photovoltaic model is based on the monocrystal silicon solar panels with suitable inverters and other accessories. Real metrological data from NREL measurements for 21 different sites in Iraq are used to determine the best site for installing photovoltaic power plant. A sensitivity model is also developed to investigate the climate conditions e.g., Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI), ambient temperature, altitude, absolute air mass on the capacity factors, yield factors and cost of energy for different 21 sites. Results indicated that photovoltaic power plant can be installed in different locations in Iraq due to their 3-E performances although there are some variations in these performances due to the variation in the geographical nature and metrological data. The 3-E performances outcomes indicated that the avoided of CO 2 emission ranged between 2.17tCO2/ kWp and 2.55tCO2/ kWp, the levelized cost of energy ranged between 0.093USD and 0.079USD and the yield energy ranged between 1514kWh/kWp and 1745kWh/kWp, respectively. The findings display that the optimum performances are achieved in Al-Rutba city and the minimum performances are recorded in Erbil city. The other monthly energy performance ensure the yearly performance. There are similarities in the technical, economic and environment performance for some cities due to the similarities in the climatic conditions. The outcomes display that there is a direct relationship between global horizontal irradiance and technical and economic results. Other climate conditions have an effect on the results but these effects are low as compared to global horizontal irradiance. The rising in degradation rate, inflation rate and PV module price leads to rise in energy cost of plant, while the increase in the power of plant has no effect on energy cost. The conclusions display that all locations are workable for installing PV system, but Al-Rutba city is the best between them.