IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 24, NO.

2, JUNE 2009 511

Techno-Economic Optimum Sizing of a Stand-Alone
Solar Photovoltaic System
Mohan Kolhe
AbstractThe techno-economic optimumsizing of a stand-alone
photovoltaic (PV) system is a basic requirement for its prolifera-
tion. One of the primary concerns in designing a stand-alone PV
system is the determination of an optimum relationship between
the PV array and storage battery capacity to supply the required
energy at a specied energy load fraction. In this paper, a complete
analytical methodology has been presented for that. The solar ra-
diation utilizability concept and the monthly average daily PV
array efciency have been used to estimate the performance of a
stand-alone PV system and hence for the designing. The techno-
economic optimization of a PV system has been done by using
levelized energy cost computation based on the total number of
battery replacements (brps) through battery life-cycle model by
using the solar radiation utilizability concept over the life period
of the system. It has been found that energy load fractions as well
as the number of brps have a signicant impact on the selection of
optimum sizing of a stand-alone PV system.
Index TermsSolar energy, solar photovoltaic (PV) system,
stand-alone renewable energy system, techno-economics.
I. INTRODUCTION
T
HETRANSITIONto an environmentally benign economy
will reshape many features of todays society. In develop-
ing countries, where rural electrication is embryonic, the appli-
cations of photovoltaic (PV) systems are important. Extending
power lines from centralized sources to rural areas is often not
yet economical, and so, decentralized power sources, such as the
PV system, are a promising alternative. One of the primary con-
cerns in designing a stand-alone PV system is the determination
of an optimum relationship between PV array and storage bat-
tery capacity to supply the required energy at a specied energy
load fraction. The energy load fraction should be comparable
to conventional power plants for an optimized stand-alone PV
system [1][3]. A method for designing an optimum size of a
stand-alone PV system on the basis of yearly balance of energy
ow through battery has been given in [4]. In this method, the
energy load fraction level and economics of the PV system have
not been considered. A method has been given for estimating
the monthly average system performance for constant load with
a specied battery capacity in [5].
A simple method for the selection of system size based on a
given probability of system outage due to meteorological vari-
ations has given in [6], but it proposes only one system size
without considering economic analysis. The PVFORM model
has been presented in [7], which performs detailed PV system
Manuscript received July 26, 2006; revised December 24, 2007. Current ver-
sion published May 19, 2009. Paper no. TEC-00372-2006.
The author is with the Electronic Engineering and Physics Division, Univer-
sity of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN, U.K. (e-mail: m.l.kolhe@dundee.ac.uk).
Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TEC.2008.2001455
simulation and calculates deterministically the energy ow into
the system for each hour during the whole period of analysis, by
using the historical data of hourly solar radiation and ambient
temperature. Although this model provides an adequate solution
to the system sizing problem, still it features some signicant
disadvantages, i.e., not easily acquirable system parameter val-
ues and need of long-termhourly meteorological data, which are
not available for most of the locations worldwide. The method
given in [8] is based on the comparison between the monthly
average daily PV system output for an array of a given size and
the average daily load.
The sizing nomogram, which gives the PV array size and
battery capacity as a function of the horizontal solar radiation
and the long-termloss-of-load probability, has been given in [9].
A method for the design and performance of a stand-alone PV
system with xed battery storage capacity for constant load
by characterizing the irradiance in time series and maximum
surplus is given in [10]. A method to determine an optimum
size of the stand-alone PV system on the basis of life-cycle
cost (LCC), and surplus and decit of energy ow has been
presented in [11]. An approach of rst optimizing the tilt angle
and PV array size and then determining the minimum battery
capacity for an optimized array that would meet the requirement
of energy demand has been used in [12].
In the Siemenss PV system sizing program, the PV capacity
has been determined based on the worst month solar radiation
whereas battery capacity on the number of days of autonomy
without considering the predened reliability in the system de-
sign [13], [14]. PV simulation and sizing programme PVDIM
Ver 0.5 [15] has used results of simulation to characterize ef-
fects of different PVarray and battery size combinations on load
coverage rate and state-of-charge (SOC). The sizing has been
done to maximize the average SOC for a given load coverage
rate. It has not used the direct relationship between the PV array
and battery capacity and also ignored the effect of battery re-
placements (brps) on system optimization. Another analytical
method for the determination of the optimal size of the stand-
alone PV system has been proposed in [16], which is based
on a predetermined energy load fraction, and an assumption of
this method is that all energy produced by the PV array passes
through the battery and does not take into account the effect of
number of brps in system design.
In most of the published methods of analysis [4][21], a direct
relationship between the PV array and battery storage capacity
has not been given. The battery storage capacity in most of the
cases is determined for the purpose of accommodating decits
encountered in the winter months plus a safety factor that is
added to include a specied number of no-sun days of battery
0885-8969/$25.00 2009 IEEE
512 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 24, NO. 2, JUNE 2009
storage to assure an absolutely reliable power supply, but it
is uneconomical. In a stand-alone PV system, it is difcult to
determine the optimum size, due to use of batteries as the sole
backup source, which inuences immensely the reliability of the
whole PV system [3]. The sizing of a stand-alone PV system
depends upon the performance and the best balance between
cost and energy availability. The difculties of these methods
have led to the development of a simplied method to select an
optimum size, though with a differing degree of success.
In many of the methods [4][24], the number of brps
through battery life-cycle model over the life period of system
have not been considered for the techno-economic optimization
of a stand-alone PV system. The battery life is mainly governed
by the daily charging and discharging cycle [24]. The battery
SOC information is needed to predict the uncovered energy
load fraction of the PV system [3], [13], [24][28]. The solar
radiation utilizability is a very useful design tool for the PV
system [29][31]. The PV array output that is in excess of
daytime load will be available to charge the battery and which
can be found out by using the utilizability concept, and hence,
it governs the system performance. But in most of the methods,
it is assumed that all the energy produced by the PV system
passes through the battery.
The main objective of a design procedure for a given load and
location is to generate a curve of the normalized PVarray versus
the storage battery capacity at a predened uncovered energy
load fraction. In this paper, a complete analytical methodology
has been presented to obtain an optimum relationship between
the PV array and battery capacity to supply the energy at a
specied energy load fraction. The solar radiation utilizability
concept and the monthly average daily PV array efciency have
been used to estimate the performance of a stand-alone PV
system. The energy available to charge the battery in excess of
daytime load has been determined by using the solar radiation
utilizability concept. It increases the accuracy of calculation
of the system performance and hence helps in determining the
battery lifetime as it does not use the assumption that all energy
produced by the PV array passes through the battery, as has
been assumed in most of the methods. The techno-economic
optimization of the PV system has been done by using levelized
energy cost (LEC) computation based on the total number of
brps through the battery life-cycle model by using the solar
radiation utilizability concept over the life period of the system.
The proper selection of the tilt angle of the PV array should be
done to maximize the PV array output and hence to minimize
the PV array and battery capacity. The meteorological data, PV
array parameters, battery parameters, load prole, etc., are the
systems stimuli that inuence the performance of the whole
system. Mathematical models for each subsystem are described
in the following sections.
II. SOLAR RADIATION ON TILTED PV ARRAY
Generally, the long-termpublished data of solar radiation and
other meteorological parameters are available as daily average
values on horizontal surface for a limited number of meteorolog-
ical stations. The main input parameter for the design of the PV
system is the solar radiation on a tilted PV array. Daily solar ra-
diation on a tilted array has three components: 1) direct solar ra-
diation (H
bm
); 2) diffuse solar radiation (H
dm
); and 3) ground-
reected part of global solar radiation (H
gm
= H
bm
+ H
dm
).
The monthly average daily solar radiation (H
T m
) on a tilted PV
array (at angle ) is given by
H
T m
= H
bm
R
bm
+ H
dm
R
d
+ H
gm
R
r
(1)
where R
bm
, R
d
, and R
r
are explained in the Appendix. The in-
stantaneous values of solar radiation are required for determin-
ing the solar cell temperature and the efciency of the PV sys-
tem. The instantaneous solar radiations can be obtained by using
daily solar radiations. The instantaneous direct solar radiation on
a horizontal surface is given by [(A4) and (A5) in the Appendix]
(I
b
)
mi
+ (I
d
)
mi
H
gm
=

24
(a + b cos
mi
)

cos
mi
cos
sm
sin
sm

sm
cos
sm
(2)
where subscript m represents month and i represents hour
(time). The hourly diffuse solar radiation (I
d
)
mi
at an hour
angle
mi
can be expressed in terms of H
dm
by [29]
(I
d
)
mi
=

24
H
dm
_
cos
mi
cos
sm
sin
sm

sm
cos
sm
_
. (3)
The total solar radiation (I
g
)
mi
on the horizontal surface
is (I
g
)
mi
= (I
b
)
mi
+ (I
d
)
mi
. The instantaneous solar radiation
(I
T
)
mi
on a tilted PV array is given by
(I
T
)
mi
= (I
b
)
mi
(R
b
)
mi
+ (I
d
)
mi
R
d
+ (I
g
)
mi
R
r
(4)
where the tilt factor (R
b
)
mi
is for direct radiation (see the
Appendix).
To nd the PV array output, the daily average PV array ef-
ciency is required and it should yield the same energy output as
the summation of the hourly outputs.
III. DAILY AVERAGE PV ARRAY EFFICIENCY
The average daily PV array output (E
pv
)
m
for a month (m)
from PV array area (A) is given by
(E
pv
)
m
= A

()
mi
(I
T
)
mi
(5)
where ()
mi
is the efciency of the PV array (for hour i in
month m). The solar cell efciency as a function of the cell
temperature (T
c
)
mi
at hour i is given by
()
mi
=
r
[1 B((T
c
)
mi
T
r
)] (6)
where
r
is the reference efciency of the solar cell at reference
solar radiation and reference cell temperature (T
r
) and B is the
temperature coefcient of the solar cell. So, the daily PV array
output is
(E
pv
)
m
=
r
A
_

(I
T
)
mi
B

((T
c
)
mi
(T
a
)
mi
)
(I
T
)
mi
B

(T
a
)
mi
(T
m
)
m
)(I
T
)
mi
B

(T
m
)
m
T
r
)(I
T
)
mi
_
. (7)
KOLHE: TECHNO-ECONOMIC OPTIMUM SIZING OF A STAND-ALONE SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM 513
Here, the hourly ambient temperature (T
a
)
mi
and mean
monthly ambient temperature (T
m
)
m
for a month (m) have
been added and subtracted. Daily average PV array output can
also be written by using the monthly daily average PV array
efciency (
e
)
m
as (E
pv
)
m
= (
e
)
m
A

(I
T
)
mi
and it should
yield the same energy output as the summation of hourly out-
puts. The PV array monthly average daily efciency (
e
)
m
can
be expressed as
(
e
)
m
=
r
[1 B((T
c
)
m
(T
a
)
m
) B((T
a
)
m
(T
m
)
m
) B((T
m
)
m
T
r
)] (8)
where (T
c
)
m
is the daily average cell temperature, (T
a
)
m
is the
average ambient temperature, and (T
m
)
m
is the monthly mean
temperature. They can be written by using (7) as
((T
c
)
m
(T
a
)
m
)

(I
T
)
mi
=

(T
c
)
mi
(T
a
)
mi
)(I
T
)
mi
((T
a
)
m
(T
m
)
m
)

(I
T
)
mi
=

(T
a
)
mi
(T
m
)
m
)(I
T
)
mi
.
(9)
The (T
c
)
m
(T
a
)
m
represents the daily average difference
between the cell and ambient temperature for a month (m). The
(T
c
)
mi
(T
a
)
mi
is the difference between the cell and ambient
temperature at the ith hour. By considering the energy balance
on a solar cell, the incident energy is equal to electrical output
plus energy losses for per unit of cell area and is given by
(I
T
)
mi
= ()
m
i
((I
T
)
mi
+ U
L
(T
c
)
mi
(T
a
)
mi
) (10)
where U
L
is the thermal loss coefcient per unit of array area,
is the solar absorbance of the array, and is the solar trans-
mittance of the PV array cover. Generally ()
mi
. By
obtaining (T
c
)
mi
(T
a
)
mi
) from (9) and using it in (10)
U
L
((T
c
)
m
(T
a
)
m
)

(I
T
)
2
mi

(I
T
)
mi
. (11)
To nd the cell temperature, it is necessary to determine U
L
.
Based on the energy balance, it can be shown that U
L
and
are related to nominal operating cell temperature (NOCT) via
U
L

=
I
T ,NOCT
NOCT T
a,NOCT
(12)
where I
T ,NOCT
is the incident solar radiation and T
a,NOCT
is
the ambient temperature during the NOCT test. The U
L
/ is
available through NOCTtest data. Equation (11) helps in nding
the average daily cell temperature. Equation (9) gives (T
a
)
m

(T
m
)
m
= {

(T
a
)
mi
(I
T
)
mi
/

(I
T
)
mi
} T
m
, which is a
measure of the difference between average temperature of a
day and the mean monthly temperature and its value is around 3

C [20]. By using (T
c
)
m
(T
a
)
m
and (T
a
)
m
(T
m
)
m
in (8),
the daily average PVarray efciency (
e
)
m
for a month is given
by
(
e
)
m
=
r
_
1B
_

U
L
_
(I
T
)
2
mi

(I
T
)
mi
_
+(T
m
)
m
+3T
r
__
(13)
and the daily average cell temperature (T
c
)
m
can be given by
(T
c
)
m
=

U
L
_
(I
T
)
2
mi

(I
i
)
mi
_
+ (T
m
)
m
+ 3 T
r
. (14)
The average daily PV array output for a month is (E
pv
)
m
=
AH
T m
(
e
)
m

d
, where
d
is degradation factor of the PV
array. The annual average daily output from the PV ar-
ray E
pv
of per unit of array area is given by E
pv
=
(1/12)

12
m=1
H
T m
(
e
)
m

d
.
The optimization of PV array tilt angle is essential to maxi-
mize the PV array output, and hence, to minimize the PV array
and battery capacities. Generally, the PV array tilt is kept at
latitude, but the PV array tilt should be changed to maximize
the PV array output.
A. Load Energy Requirement
The load prole (annual variation) determines the optimum
size of the stand-alone PV system. The energy output from
the PV array should be able to fulll the load demand. For
a load, the required daily output from the PV array (E
pl
)
m
should be equal to (E
pl
)
m
= (L
dm
+ L
nm
/
b
)/(
w

T

vr

c
),
where
w
is the PV array wiring efciency,
b
is the average
energy efciency of the battery,
T
is the maximumpower point
tracking efciency,
vr
is the voltage regulator efciency,
c
is
the cabling efciency, L
dm
is the average daytime load, and L
nm
is the average nighttime load. Annual daily average energy E
pl
,
required by the load is given by
E
pl
=
1
12
12

m=1
(L
dm
+ L
nm
/
b
)

T

vr

c
. (15)
B. Requirement of PV Array Area
A minimum PV array area (A
min
) is based on the fact that
the PV array must be capable of covering load plus power con-
ditioning unit losses on a yearly basis. A
min
can be estimated
from a relation given by
A
min
= INT
_

12
1
(L
dm
+ L
nm
/
b
)/(
w

T

vr

c
)
A

12
1
H
T m
(
e
)
m

d
_
A
(16)
where A is the incremental step in array area, which depends
on the array conguration (e.g., it can be the area of an additional
module or subarray). The maximum PV array area (A
max
) can
be estimated as a multiple (say three times) of A
min
. For a given
value of PVarray area A, between A
min
and A
max
, it is possible
to compute the energy ow in a PV system. The average daily
energy output (E
a
)
m
from the PV array is
(E
a
)
m
= AH
T m
(
e
)
m

d
. (17)
In addition to this, the designer must estimate how much of
this energy can be provided directly to the load, which depends
on the load distribution. The energy, which is in excess of the
daytime load, will be available for battery charging and it can
be estimated by using the solar radiation utilizability concept.
514 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 24, NO. 2, JUNE 2009
IV. SOLAR RADIATION UTILIZABILITY
The solar radiation utilizability method is a very useful de-
sign tool for PV systems. The solar radiation utilizability () is
dened as a fraction of the total radiation incident on the array
that exceeds a specied intensity called critical level. The criti-
cal level (I
c
)
mi
is a radiation level at which the rate of electrical
energy production is just equal to the hourly load (L
d
)
mi
and is
given by
(I
c
)
mi
=
(L
d
)
mi
A(
e
)
m

T

vr

c
. (18)
The solar radiation utilizability ()
mi
is dened as

mi
=
(I
T
)
mi
(I
c
)
mi
(I
T
)
mi
. (19)
The average daily utilizability is dened as a fraction of the
monthly total solar radiation that is above a critical radiation
level. Hence, the daily solar radiation utilizability

m
is given
by

m
=
1
H
T m

(I
T
)
mi

mi
. (20)
The

m
is a fraction of the total daily radiation during a
month that is above a critical level H
cm
. The H
cm
on the tilted
PV array is that at which the energy supplied by the PV system
is equal to the daily average load (L
m
) for a month and is
given byH
cm
= L
m
/A
sm
, where
sm
is the overall system
efciency for a month [dened in (26)]. The condition H
cm

H
T m
implies an inadequate PV array size.
A. Daily Energy Available to Charge the Battery
The PV array output that is in excess of daytime load is avail-
able to charge the battery and it depends on the solar radiation
utilizability. The daily energy available to charge the battery
(E
b
)
m
in a month is
(E
b
)
m
= (E
pv
)
m

T

vr

m
. (21)
The utilizability concept helps to estimate the battery charg-
ing/discharging more realistically (i.e., SOC). The battery SOC
is needed to predict the battery lifetime and also the uncovered
energy load fraction, and hence, for the techno-economic anal-
ysis of the PV system. In this analysis, whenever the PV array
output is in excess of the load as well as the 100% battery ca-
pacity, then it has not been considered. In this paper, the main
emphasis has been given on nding out the optimum combina-
tions of the PV array and battery capacities. The battery SOC
can also be estimated on an hourly basis for the performance
analysis of a stand-alone PV system.
B. Daily Energy Available Directly to Load
The average daily energy that is available directly from the
PV array to the load is (E
d
)
m
, which is given as
(E
d
)
m
= (E
pv
)
m

T

vr

c
(1

m
). (22)
C. Energy Availability at the Battery
The energy balance at the battery depends on the energy
available to charge the battery and the load that is not able to
fulll directly from the PV array output. The battery energy
available at the end of day (B
dm
) is
(B
d
)
m
= (B
n
)
m
+ (E
b
)
m

(L
d
)
m
(E
d
)
m

b
(23)
where (L
d
)
m
is the daytime average load and (B
n
)
m
is the
energy available at the battery at the end of night and is given
by
(B
n
)
m
= (B
d
)
m

L
m
(L
d
)
m

c
. (24)
The battery SOC lies between two values, the maximum
(B
max
) and the minimum (B
min
), and the charging control
system takes care of that. The battery SOC can be estimated by
using the solar radiation utilizability. The battery SOC informa-
tion is needed to predict the energy load fraction level of a PV
system [28].
D. Daily Efciency of the PV System
The effective daily energy (E
l
)
m
available to the load from
the PV array is the sum of the energy directly reaching the load
and the fraction through battery storage corrected for battery
efciency [i.e., (E
l
)
m
= (E
d
)
m
+
b

vr
(E
b
)
m
].
By using the (E
pv
)
m
, (E
b
)
m
, and (E
d
)
m
, it becomes
(E
l
)
m
= AH
T m
(
e
)
m

T

vr

c
(1

m
)
+AH
T m
(
e
)
m

T

vr

m
. (25)
The net input for a PV system is AH
T m
. The average daily
efciency
sm
of the entire PV system is

sm
=
(E
l
)
m
AH
T m
= (
e
)
m

T

vr

c
(1

m
+
b

m
).
(26)
V. ENERGY LOAD FRACTION COVERED BY THE PV SYSTEM
Energy load fraction depends on the PV array and battery
capacities for given values of array tilt, component efciencies,
and meteorological data. The energy load fraction (f) covered
by a stand-alone PV system tends to unity. Energy decit in a
system is the fraction of load demand, which cannot be met by
a stand-alone PV system [i.e., uncovered energy load fraction
u = (1 f)]. This index u has been dened as the long-term
monthly average fraction of load that is not supplied by a stand-
alone PV system [3], [9], [16], [19], [26], [28], [32]. To design
a stand-alone PV system, a specied uncovered energy load
fraction is an important parameter as analogous to conventional
systems. A decrease in the system energy supply due to sudden
changes in peak load due to weather patterns is not covered in
the system design.
A. Maximum Energy Load Fraction of the PV System
In a stand-alone PV system, all energy produced by the PV
array slightly reduced by system component efciencies can be
KOLHE: TECHNO-ECONOMIC OPTIMUM SIZING OF A STAND-ALONE SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM 515
transferred to the load [16]. The maximum energy load fraction
(f
m
)
m
(subscript m stands for a month) is given by
(f
m
)
m
=
(E
d
)
m
+ (E
b
)
m

c
)
L
m
. (27)
The (f
m
)
m
can be rearranged as
(f
m
)
m
=
AH
T m
(
e
)
m

T

vr

c
(1

m
+
b

m
)
L
m
. (28a)
By using (26), (f
m
)
m
can also be written as
(f
m
)
m
=
AH
T m

sm
L
m
. (28b)
The limit conditions for energy load fraction are as follows.
1) By considering a small-size system as compared to the
load requirement, all the energy produced by the PV array
can be transferred to the load, apart from the losses due to
inefciencies. It means (f
m
)
m
0, (f
m
)
m
= f.
2) By considering a large PV array capacity, the energy sup-
plied by the PV array would be able to satisfy the load
and to charge battery storage completely; therefore, the
entire load requirement is fullled if the battery capacity
is larger than the daily energy demand (f = 1).
The simplest curve satisfying these two limit conditions
is a hyperbola with straight lines (f
m
)
m
= f and f = 1 as
asymptotes:
((f
m
)
m
f)(1 f) = v. (29)
Thus, for given PV system parameters, (f
m
)
m
is determined
from (28) and the parameter v is expected to depend on speci-
ed values of f. The asymptotic intersection of previous limit
conditions is called the adherence level of the curve. The v can
be used to nd the battery storage capacity [v = (B
r
/L
m
)

,
(36)]. Generally, in a stand-alone PV system, the battery capac-
ity is more than two days. For a particular energy load fraction,
a combination of the PV array and battery capacity can be de-
termined. The use of this battery capacity is not critical, since
it gives only an indicative value to create a series of batteries
corresponding to the PV array capacities. By changing the PV
array area from A
min
to A
max
, a set of corresponding battery
capacities can be found out.
B. Combinations of PV Array and Battery Capacity at a
Specied Uncovered Energy Load Fraction
The main objective of a design procedure, for a given load and
location, is to develop a relationship between the PV array and
battery capacity at a specied uncovered energy load fraction.
The relationship between the PV array and battery capacity can
be developed by using the limit conditions of f, (f
m
)
m
, and
other parameters. Equation (29) can be written as
_
1
f
(f
m
)
m
_
=
v
(f
m
)
m
(1 f)
A
= A
f
(f
m
)
m
+ A
v
(f
m
)
m
(1 f)
A = f
_
L
m
H
T m

sm
_
+
v
(1 f)
_
L
m
H
T m

sm
_
A = f
_
L
m
H
T m

sm
_
+
(B
r
/L
m
)

(1 f)

_
L
m
H
T m

sm
_
. (30)
This equation gives a direct relationship between the PVarray
and battery capacity, which is extremely useful for determining
the PV array and battery capacity curve at a specied uncovered
energy load fraction, and hence, to obtain a techno-economic op-
timumcombination of the PVarray and battery capacity. Proper
selection of the PV array tilt angle is also important to minimize
the PV array and battery capacity. The techno-economic op-
timum sizing of a stand-alone PV system has to be done by
performing LEC computations for combinations of the PV ar-
ray and battery capacity at a specied uncovered energy load
fraction. The replacements of the battery over the system life-
time have been found out through the battery life-cycle model
by using the solar radiation utilizability. The solar radiation
utilizability function increases the accuracy of the system per-
formance, because it does not use the assumption that all the
energy produced by the PV array passes through the battery.
VI. TECHNO-ECONOMIC OPTIMUM COMBINATION
OF PV ARRAY AND BATTERY CAPACITY
An LEC analysis is needed to compare the ultimate delivered
cost of technologies with different a cost structure such as in
a stand-alone PV system [33]. The LEC analysis takes into
account the combined costs of initial capital investment, present
value of operation & maintenance (O&M) cost, the cost of
batteries due to their replacement cost over the system lifetime.
The battery lifetime is mainly governed by the daily depth of
discharge (DOD) and also the energy available to charge the
battery, which can be determined through the solar radiation
utilizability.
A. PV System Economics
The total LCC of a PV system consists of the initial capital
investment (C
0
), the net present value of O&M cost (OM
pv
),
and the net present value of all battery replacement costs (R
pv
)
over the life period (i.e., LCC = C
o
+ OM
pv
+ R
pv
). If the
rst-year O&M cost is OM
o
, then the net present value of all
O&M costs in a dynamic economic environment is
OM
pv
= OM
0
_
1 + e
0
d e
0
_

_
1
_
1 + e
0
1 + d
_
N
_
, if d = e
0
(31a)
OM
pv
= OM
0
N, if d = e
0
(31b)
where e
0
is the escalation/ination rate, d is the discount rate,
and N is the life period of the system. R
pv
is mainly a function
516 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 24, NO. 2, JUNE 2009
of number of brps over the system lifetime and is given by
Rpv
= Br Cb
brp

j=1
_
1 + e
0
1 + d
_
N j/(brp+1)
(32)
where B
r
is the rated battery capacity and C
b
is the battery
cost. The battery life in real operation is governed by the daily
DOD
d
and on specic battery characteristics, i.e., average life
N
A
(cycles) at a specied DOD
0
(usually DOD
0
= 0.8) and
battery coefcient B
c
, which for at-plate batteries lies in the
range 0.020.03 and for tubular batteries from 0.01 to 0.02 [34]
N
R
= 0.5N
A
exp [Bc
100 (DOD
d
DOD
0
)] (33)
where
DOD
d
=
1
12
12

m=1
_
Lm
(E
d
)
m
Br
_
= (1 SOC
d
)
where SOC
d
is the daily SOC, L
m
is the daily energy require-
ment of the load, and E
d
is the daily energy directly supplied
by the PV array to the load. The number of brps is computed as
brp = INT
_
N
NR
/365
_
. (34)
The LEC from a PV system is
LEC =
LCC CRF

12
m=1
Lm
Nd
(35)
where N
d
is the number of days in a month and the capital recov-
ery factor (CRF) is CRF = d/(1 (1 + d )
N
). The econom-
ical optimum combination of the PV array and battery capacity
has been determined for a minimum LEC or for the lowest LCC
of the system.
VII. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The previous developed methodology has been used for a lo-
cation of India, i.e., New Delhi. The solar radiation and other
meteorological parameters have been taken from the Solar Ra-
diation Data Handbook [35]. The various parameters that have
been used in this study are the PV module reference efciency

r
= 15%, reference solar cell temperature T
r
= 25

C, stan-
dard solar intensity = 1000 W/m
2
, = 0.004

C
1
, NOCT =
45

C,
d
= 0.9,
w
= 0.97,
T
= 0.95,
vr
= 0.99,
c
= 0.98,

B
= 0.80, DOD
0
= 0.80, d = 10%, e
0
= 7.5%, C
b
= Rs.
4000/kWh (Rs. is Indian currency), N
A
= 1200 cycles, and
B
c
= 0.02, N = 20 years. The total daily load demand, as-
sumed to be 53.5 kWh with a nighttime load of 46.5 kWh
(87% of the total load), remains the same throughout a year.
The tilt angle of the PV array has been adjusted for each month
to have the maximum output from the PV array, and hence, to
minimize the PV array and battery capacity. Using the meteoro-
logical data for NewDelhi, India [35] and the previous PVarray
parameters, the PV array output has been analyzed at different
tilt angles (from 5

to 55

), and it has been found that the tilt an-

gles have to be changed three times annually: 1) for May, June,
July, and August, the tilt angle should be 5

; 2) for November,
December, January, and February, it should be 50

; and 3) for
Fig. 1. Adherence level (v) as a function of battery storage capacity.
rest months, it should be 20

. It has been observed that the PV

array output is approximately 10% more for the month-wise tilt
as compared to the annually xed tilt (i.e., latitude tilt).
The analysis has been done for many pairs of (f
m
)
m
and f by
using the previous system parameters and for the month-wise
tilt angles of the PV array. Results show that the parameter v
with respect to normalized battery capacity (B
r
/L) is a best
curve t (see Fig. 1) and it is given by
v =
_
B
r
L
_

(36)
and the values of the coefcients = 1.2242 and = 3.8912
have been obtained through the curve t.
The main advantage of this curve t is to obtain a direct
relationship between the PV array area and battery capacity at
a specied uncovered energy load fraction. It helps to nd out
the normalized PV array and battery capacity curves at different
energy load fractions. The normalized PV array capacity has
been given as an array-to-load ratio (ALR = E
pv
/L
e
), where
L
e
is the effective annual average daily load at the PV array end
and is given by
L
e
=
1/12

12
m=1
[L
dm
+ (L
m
L
dm
)/
b
]

T

vr

c
. (37)
It has been found that the normalized PV array and battery
capacity curves have been well tted through geometrical re-
gression, i.e.,
B
r
L
= m
_
E
pv
L
e
_
n
(38)
where m and n are the regression coefcients and are different
for each uncovered energy load fraction (u) curve. The coef-
cient m has a clear physical interpretation and is equivalent to
the battery capacity necessary for a given u when ALR is unity.
The coefcient n represents the effect of persistence of solar
radiation. It has been observed that as n increases, the battery
size decreases. With the help of the previous methodology, it is
possible to obtain normalized PV array and battery capacity at
any specied energy load fraction.
The regression coefcients m and n of (38) are different
for each normalized PV array (i.e., ALR) and battery capacity
curve at a specied u. The regression analysis has been done at
different values of u and found that these coefcients are also
KOLHE: TECHNO-ECONOMIC OPTIMUM SIZING OF A STAND-ALONE SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM 517
Fig. 2. Battery capacity as a function of ALR for different u levels.
correlated through geometrical regression with u and they are
given by
m = A
1
(u)
B
1
n = A
2
(u)
B
2
(39)
where the correlation coefcients A
1
(=1.0351), B
1
(=0.3666)
and A
2
(= 0.1296), B
2
(= 0.2955) have been obtained through
curve tting. For a particular location, if one has to design a
stand-alone PV system at a desired u, then from the curves of m
versus u and n versus u, one can get a normalized PVarray versus
battery capacity curve at a particular u. Once this curve at a given
uncovered energy load fraction is known, then by doing the LEC
analysis, one can easily obtain an optimum sizing of a stand-
alone PV system. The curve tting coefcients are functions of
the uncovered energy load fraction and can be correlated with
some statistical solar radiation parameters. The storage capacity
in days and ALR allows one to draw conclusions for any case
of load.
The ALR and battery capacity (in days) curves have been
obtained at different uncovered energy load fractions (u) (i.e.,
0.005, 0.01, and 0.05) and they are given in Fig. 2. It has been
observed that for u = 0.005 and unity ALR, the required battery
capacity is seven days and when ALR > 3, it reduces to four
days. But for u = 0.05 and unity ALR, it is only three days
and when ALR > 3, it reduces to two days. The analysis of
these ALR versus battery capacity curves shows that there is
a variation of battery capacity between six and eight days at a
lower value of u (=0.005) for unity ALR. As the ALRincreases
(ALR > 3), the battery capacity reduces to three days. As the
u increases, there is no wide variation of the battery capacity
as compared to lower u. Therefore, the use of simple methods
of sizing without considering an energy load fraction level and
number of brps over the lifetime of the system can lead to a
nonoptimum system sizing causing a high installation cost. If
the uncovered energy load fraction changes, then there will be
a signicant change in the system sizing.
The variation of LEC as a function of the normalized PV
array capacity for three different PV array costs of Rs. 150, 200,
and 300 per watt peak have been given in Fig. 3 at a loss of load
probability (LOLP) 0.005. The variations of LEC as a function
of the normalized PV array capacity for three different u levels
have been given in Fig. 4. It has been observed that there is a
combination of the normalized PV array (i.e., ALR) and corre-
sponding battery capacity, which is economically optimum at a
Fig. 3. ALR versus LEC for different PV array cost at a xed u level.
Fig. 4. Effect of u on LEC as a function of ALR.
specied uncovered energy load fraction. The optimal combi-
nation of ALR is 1.335 and the battery capacity is six days at
a u level of 0.005. For a load that has been considered in this
paper, the PV array capacity is 130 m
2
and battery capacity is
400 kWh. In all months, the H
cm
H
T m
, which means that
the designed system is adequate. For lower values of ALR as
compared to optimum values, LEC is high. Due to the low value
of the PV array capacity, the energy available for battery charg-
ing is not enough. So, most of the time, there will be deeper
DODs and the battery life will be shortened, and hence, more
brps will be required during the lifetime of the system. The
detailed economic evaluations of a stand-alone PV system with
sensitivity analysis for different economic parameters have been
published in [33] and [36].
Also, the analysis has been done through HOMER of the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) by varying the
PV array and battery capacity as well as their costs to meet
a specied load demand. It has been found that the PV array
and battery capacities obtained from HOMER are 126 m
2
and
380 kWh, respectively, which are very close to the obtained
result. As compared to other programs, this methodology gives
a direct relationship between the PV array and battery capacity
at a specied uncovered energy load fraction. Also, it considers
the number of brps over the lifetime of the system by using the
solar radiation utilizability.
This methodology provides a basis for the selection of an
economically optimum sizing of the PV array and battery ca-
pacity at a desired uncovered energy load fraction level. Array
degradation, due to dirt accumulation, for example, can be easily
taken into account by rescaling the ordinate of these curves to
518 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 24, NO. 2, JUNE 2009
reect a percentage reduction in array output. A more difcult
factor is to access the effect of correlation in day-to-day solar
radiation patterns on the behavior of the system. It can be antic-
ipated that any appreciable change in weather will signicantly
alter the results.
VIII. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a complete analytical methodology has been
presented to obtain an optimum relationship between the PV
array and battery capacity to supply the energy at a specied
uncovered energy load fraction. The solar radiation utilizability
concept and the monthly average daily PV array efciency have
been used to estimate the performance of the PV system. By
using the solar radiation utilizability concept, the energy avail-
able for battery charging, in excess of daytime load, has been
determined. It helps to determine the battery lifetime because
it does not use the assumption that all the energy produced by
the PV array passes through the battery, as has been assumed
in most of the methods. A direct relationship between the PV
array and battery capacity at a desired energy load fraction level
has been obtained. The techno-economic optimization of the PV
system has been done by using the LEC computation based on
the total number of brps through the battery life-cycle model
by using the solar radiation utilizability concept over the life
period of the system and it has a signicant effect on optimum
combination. The generalized curve for the normalized PV ar-
ray and battery capacity has been obtained through regression
analysis of simulation results, so as to design a stand-alone PV
system at any specied energy load fraction. It has been found
that the curve tting coefcients are correlated by geometrical
regression with u. With the help of this method, it is possible to
obtain normalized PVarray and battery capacity at any specied
energy load fraction level and the benet of this procedure is to
reduce the information contained in meteorological parameters.
APPENDIX
Equation (1) gives the daily average solar radiation incident
on the tilted array (tilt angle ), where R
bm
is the tilt factor for
the daily direct solar radiation and is given by [29]
R
bm
=

stm
sin
m
sin()+cos
m
sin
stm
cos()

sm
sin
m
sin +cos
m
sin
sm
cos
(A1)
where is the latitude of a location, and
stm
and
sm
are
sunrise or sunset hour angles on tilted and horizontal surfaces,
respectively

sm
= cos
1
(tan tan
m
)

stm
= cos
1
[tan( ) tan
m
] (A2)
and the declination angle
m
(in degrees) is given by
m
=
sin [(284 + j
d
) 360/365], where j
d
is the Julian day of a year.
R
d
and R
r
are tilt factors for diffuse and ground-reected (for
ground reectivity
1
) solar radiation, respectively, and given
by
R
d
=
1 + cos
2
R
r
=

1
(1 cos )
2
. (A3)
It is not sufcient to use daily average values of meteorolog-
ical parameters in the design of a stand-alone PV system. Here,
a procedure for estimating hourly solar radiation from the daily
solar radiation has been discussed. Statistical studies of the time
distribution of the total radiation on horizontal surfaces through
the day, using the monthly average data, have led to generalized
empirical relations of the hourly total to daily total radiation, as
a function of the day length and the corresponding hour angle

mi
[29]
(I
b
)
mi
+(I
d
)
mi
H
gm
=

24
(a+b cos
mi
)
cos
mi
cos
sm
sin
sm

sm
cos
sm
(A4)
where the coefcients a and b are given by
a = 0.409 + 0.5016 sin
_

sm


3
_
b = 0.6609 0.4767 sin
_

sm


3
_
.
(A5)
The total solar radiation (I
T
)
mi
on the tilted array is given by
(I
T
)
mi
= (I
b
)
mi
(R
b
)
mi
+ (I
d
)
mi
R
d
+ [(I
b
)
mi
+ (I
d
)
mi
] R
r
(A6)
where (R
b
)
mi
is the tilt factor for direct radiation, and is given
by
(R
b
)
mi
=
sin( ) sin
m
+ cos( ) cos
m
cos
mi
sin sin
m
+ cos cos
m
cos
mi
.
(A7)
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Mohan Kolhe received the Bachelors degree in elec-
trical engineering from MA College of Technology
Bhopal, Bhopal University, India, in 1989, and the
Masters and Doctorate degrees in energy engineer-
ing from the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi,
New Delhi, India, in 1991 and 2000, respectively.
He was engaged in research on integrated renew-
able energy systems based on energy storage as hy-
drogen at the Hydrogen Research Institute, Universit e
du Qu ebec ` a Trois-Rivi` eres (UQTR), QC, Canada.
He was the Research Director (Renewable Energy)
at the University of Jyv askyl a, Finland, where he developed the facilities for
renewable electrolytic hydrogen production, fuel cell powered small cars, and
courses for the masters programin renewable energy. In January 2007, he joined
the College of Art, Science and Engineering, University of Dundee, Dundee,
U.K., as a faculty in renewable energy. His current research interests include
solar energy, fuel cell technologies, integration of renewable energy systems,
and energy economics.