ABSTRACT

The ever increasing energy demands and the demand for cleaner energy has led to an oncreased interest in developing renewable energy technologies. This concern was due to inadequate supply of electrical energy especially in developing country like Nigeria.renewable energy technologies have proven to be an economically feasible and environmental friendly alternative sources of energy.In this project, a 5kVA standalone solar PV system was designed to supply an electrical load for a residential consumer in Benin city, Nigeria. Sizing each components used in the standalone PV system capable of powering all electrical appliances in comsumer’s residence in Benin city based on Watt-hour demand were presented. The cost of all system components are included and the total cost is estimated. In addition, the economic feasibility of investing in the standalone PV system was presented by comparing the cost of using investing in the proposed standalone PV system with the cost of using electricity for the same load demand from the utility. From the results, the standalone solar PV system required a 12.864kW PV array capacity of 52 modules, 28 (12V, 200Ah) batteries, 5KVA, 48V inverter and 4(60A), 24V charge controllers to supply the electrical load estimated. Another important conclusion is that the system is economically feasible to invest in since the payback period is 1 year with a return on investment of 72%.