Life cycle assessment and economic viability of residential photovoltaic systems in Pakistan: a pathway to sustainable energy

Due to rising prices of electricity, Photovoltaic systems are widely acceptable among the Pakistani community. In Pakistan, on-grid photovoltaic systems are widely used in urban areas and industrial applications where grid access is readily available. In contrast, off-grid systems are primarily deployed in remote rural regions lacking reliable access to the national grid. In this study, a detailed technical analysis has been conducted to determine the overall energy requirement for a residential building. From the detailed analysis, it is found that 10.89 MWh/year is required and to fulfill this energy requirement, 9.95 kW PV system is required by considering the approximately 25 % energy loss due to the different factors including temperature derating, inverter loss, soil loss and others. The economic analysis of the proposed system has also been conducted to determine the economic feasibility. The project has shown the positive value of Net Present Value (NPV) of $6595.13, favorable Simple payback of 3.32 years, and a low levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of 0.01 $/kWh. The project has also shown the positive impacts on the environment as it is able to reduce the 8.91 tons of CO2 yearly. The future prospects of the project have also been discussed.