Design Of An Off Grid Photovoltaic System: A Case Study Of Government Technical College, Wudil, Kano State

Off-grid (stand-alone) photovoltaic (PV) systems have become widely adopted as reliable option of electrical energy generation. In this paper, the electrical energy demand (load) of the Government Technical College (GTC), Wudil Kano was estimated based on watt-hour energy demands. The estimated load is 48.787 kWh/ day. An off grid PV system was designed based on the estimated load. Based on the equipment selected for the design, 72 PV modules, 20 batteries, a voltage regulators and an inverter will be required to supply the electrical energy demand of the college. The proposed off-grid PV system requires copper wires of cross-sectional areas 1.22 mm2, 32 mm2and 3 mm2 for its installation. The cost estimate of the system is relatively high when compared to that of fossil fuel generator used by the college. The payback period of the system is estimated to be 2.8 years, which is obviously much shorter than the lifespan of the selected PV modules which is 30 years.