Technical and economic assessments of grid-connected photovoltaic power plants: Iran case study

In this paper, the behavior of the main parts of a grid-connected PV system has been investigated based on theoretical and field studies in Iran. In order to anticipate the output power from the PV plant, a computer code is validated by experimental data and a good agreement has been observed. In addition, the validated model is applied in order to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of a 10 MWp grid-connected PV power plant and as well as profit expectations of investments in different cities, using recently updated policies in Iran. The capacity factor (CF) of the modeled PV power plants ranged from a lower value of 12% in Ramsar to a maximum value of 23.13% in Kerman. The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) varied from 19.92 c$/kWh in the south-eastern part of Iran to 38.38 c$/kWh in northern part. However, the lowest value of LCOE may only reach the grid parity for high selling prices of electricity. The present work also includes an economic sensitivity analysis on major economic parameters in order to analyze the response of the simulation to different initial settings. This analysis is directed towards investors in PV power plants in Iran or other regions. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.