Evaluación del potencial energético solar para la generación fotovoltaica con conexión a la red en la Facultad de Ciencias de la Ingeniería de la Universidad Técnica Estatal de Quevedo.

Abstract

This research work presents the assessment of solar energy potential for grid-connected photovoltaic generation at the Facultad de Ciencias de la Ingeniería (FCI) of the Universidad Técnica Estatal de Quevedo (UTEQ). The research is exploratory, analytical, and field-based, for which meteorological variables such as irradiance and temperature, as well as the characteristics, components, and operation of photovoltaic systems, were collected. In addition, data recorded by the pyranometer located at the FCI was analyzed in conjunction with NREL data to estimate the incident irradiance on the roof area of the building, taking into account possible losses due to shading, orientation, and inclination of the panels due to the building's location and architecture. With this information, it was estimated that the building's daily electricity demand was 2600.66 kWh, considering the electric loads and their usage hours based on the academic and labor calendar. Regarding the estimation of the average annual irradiation on the inclined plane, 3.48 kWh/m2 was obtained, considering loss factors due to dirt and incidence angle. Finally, it was determined that the implementation of a photovoltaic system is technically feasible with a design consisting of 224 photovoltaic modules, achieving a generation power of 122.08 kWp with 4 parallelconnected 25 kW inverters. In terms of the financial aspect, the project is economically feasible as long as the cost per kWh is greater than $0.10831. In the most optimistic scenario (residential tariff cost of 0.6822 USD/kWh), a TIR of 89.92%, a VAN of $535,616.22 USD, a (B/C) ratio of 6.29, and an investment recovery period of 1 year, 3 months, and 5 days were obtained.