Impact assessment of the technical regulation on the sizing of PV module arrays for a grid-connected PV power system in an academic complex

This paper assesses the performance and feasibility of various sizes of PV module arrays for a grid-connected PV power system applied to a university complex, considering local electrical regulation as a design criterion. The main desire is to underscore the critical role of adhering to local regulation in the sizing of renewable energy systems in buildings. According to the regulation, the annual electricity consumption of the academic complex is utilized as a design criterion for choosing the appropriate sizes of PV modules arrays. Given this, several sizes of PV module arrays are proposed, with the maximum size of these arrays being limited to the maximum area of the complex’s rooftops. HOMER Pro software was the tool used for the simulations. The results indicated that the rooftops have a physical potential for installing 350 kWp of PV modules. However, with the adoption of the regulation, the maximum allowed size for renewable electricity generation for the complex was reduced to approximately 75 kWp, which is equivalent to 385 m<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup>. Based on this, the feasible PV module arrays were 25 kWp, 50 kWp, and 75 kWp, which could generate approximately 32,576 kWh/year, 65,152 kWh/year, and 97,729 kWh/year, respectively. The study also considered the economic analysis of the feasible PV systems, which have the primary evaluation variable, the Net Present Cost. In addition, the utility bill payment reductions for the 25 kWp, 50 kWp, and 75 kWp systems were 24.9%, 48.7%, and 71.9%, respectively.