ABSTRACT
The essence of this work was to reduce energy cost from the conventional methods (BEDC and Generators) of electricity supply, and to improve reliability and efficiency of power supply with the use of Photo-voltaic (PV) systems at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital Shopping Complex (Abbatior). The aim of this project was to design a photovoltaic system for critical loads in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital Shopping Complex (Abbatior) and implement its prototype.
A load analysis was carried out where the critical loads were identified as loads in continuous operation for 24hours period. A load audit was conducted to determine the total energy demand by these critical loads in the network. The loads recorded were used in the design of the photovoltaic system and its prototype based on existing theories. The main and prototype photovoltaic system were designed by sizing of the essential components such as the photovoltaic panels, batteries, inverters, circuit breakers and cables. The parameters recorded from their required electrical measuring equipment were the ambient temperature, open circuit DC voltage of the solar panels and battery, the charging current from the solar panel, the open circuit inverter voltage, the on-load DC battery voltage and current, the ampere-hour reading from the battery, on-load AC voltage and current. A comparative analysis between the running life cycle cost of photovoltaic system design and the conventional method ( Generator) of supply was examined mathematically and graphically for 2 years. The test results from the prototype PV system design were tabulated and analyzed graphically.
From the comparative analysis, the Net Present Value for the installation and running cost of the design of the PV system designed was ₦6,394,500 for 2years life cycle, as against the 36kVA diesel generators which was calculated to be ₦8,982,786 for 2 years. Furthermore, the graphical representation of the incremental costs spreading over the 2 years was depicted and thus, revealed a clear idea of how much savings was to be made by University of Benin Teaching Hospital Shopping Complex (Abbatior) comparing the initial installation cost and low maintenance cost of the Pv system to the diesel generator. Consequently, the illustrations showed a huge significance in the efficiency of the photovoltaic system.
