Economic Evaluation of Energy Produced By a Bifacial Photovoltaic Array in the Era of Time-of-use Pricing

Authors

J. Johnson, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
W. Hurayb, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Yahia Baghzouz, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

6-11-2013

Publication Title

4th International Conference on Clean Electrical Power: Renewable Energy Resources Impact, ICCEP 2013, June 11, 2013 - June 13

First page number:

348

Last page number:

352

Abstract

Electric utility companies curb their system peak power demand through numerous Demand Response (DR) programs, such as the Time-Of-Use (TOU) rates where the cost of energy is typically much higher during the peak period and lower for the rest of the time relative to the standard flat rate. Meanwhile, a vertically installed West-facing bifacial PV array is expected to provide an advantage over a conventional South-facing orientation as it receives more sunlight during the period of high energy cost. This article evaluates the performance of a 1 kW bifacial PV array under different orientations while considering two energy rate options provided by the local power provider (a flat fixed rate and a TOU rate). Actual data collected during the 2011 and 2012 summer months, and numerical simulations using typical meteorological year data of the local region suggest that re-orienting the array to face west during the summer period does not result in any significant cost savings.

Keywords

Arrays; Electricity; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaic systems; Pricing; Silicon

Disciplines

Controls and Control Theory | Electrical and Computer Engineering | Electrical and Electronics | Electronic Devices and Semiconductor Manufacturing | Power and Energy | Signal Processing | Systems and Communications

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

Repository Citation

Johnson, J., Hurayb, W., Baghzouz, Y. (2013). Economic Evaluation of Energy Produced By a Bifacial Photovoltaic Array in the Era of Time-of-use Pricing. 4th International Conference on Clean Electrical Power: Renewable Energy Resources Impact, ICCEP 2013, June 11, 2013 - June 13 348-352.