Solar PV Implementation in Industrial Buildings: Economic Study

Solar PV has seen exponential growth in the past few years among other renewable energy sources owing to major cost reduction and simpler implementation as rooftop installation. Based on the global trends., among all the end use categories industrial sector consumes the highest amount of energy. To achieve sustainable development., it is necessary to reform this sector. The combination of rooftop solar PV and industrial infrastructure seems to be a promising option. Industrial buildings have large roof areas., low shading effect., and at substantial power consumption make it best suitable for solar PV. In this work., a case study implementation of solar PV in midsize factory located in UAE is carried out. Five different scenarios are considered from which three are focused on technicalities (tracking., non-tracking., and storage) and two on the business finance (100% debt vs. 50% debt). Payback through electricity rate compensation is studied. It is seen that the best scenario in terms of technical configuration is a system with solar tracking and as far as financing the scenario with 50% debt.