Optimizing rooftop solar PV systems in urban regions considering economic and environmental aspects

• Author / Creator

  Narjabadifam, Nima

• In recent years, utilization of photovoltaic (PV) solar systems in built-up regions have received more attention due to global warming issues and the significance of sustainable development. The rooftops of buildings are considered highly suitable for installing PV modules to harvest solar energy and thus mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As a result, the use of electricity generated by rooftop PV systems, which either could meet the full or partial electricity demand of buildings or act as a distributed energy resource, is expected to contribute significantly to the sustainable development of communities. In this context, the economic and environmental perspectives of the stakeholders towards roof-installed PV systems can be critical in expanding their use, and there is a need to develop a framework for optimizing rooftop solar PV systems in urban regions considering economic and environmental aspects.
  This thesis develops a search space optimization method to find the optimum layout of PV panels on roofs of buildings in urban regions, considering complicated roof shapes extracted using an advanced computer vision method. Mutual shading of PV arrays and shading impacts of objects around PV systems on the annual output and installation of PVs on roofs are also investigated. Furthermore, the optimization algorithm provides a framework to simultaneously evaluate stakeholders' economic and environmental attitudes on PV modules arrangement on roofs. Payback time (PBT) and CO2 emission savings are economical and environmental criteria. Three buildings with cold climate conditions on the North Campus of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, are investigated as case studies.
  The results show the significance of stakeholders' economic and environmental perspectives on PV modules arrangement on roofs. Compared to a complete economic vision, having an environmental concern significantly enhances annual PV system output and CO2 emission savings with almost the same payback time. Furthermore, the complex shapes of roofs are also influential in choosing optimum parameters of PV systems, such as tilt angle, azimuth angle, and distances between arrays. Shading results also emphasize that not considering the shading impacts of objects around PV systems can overestimate remarkably the yearly output of PV systems. Finally, with current electricity prices and incentives considered in this study, the results show that the rooftop-installed PV projects may currently not be viable. However, applying incentives could make those projects feasible in the future.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Rooftop solar PV systems
  • Optimizing
  • Photovoltaics
  • Urban regions

• Graduation date

  Fall 2022

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-cb5q-fn57

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Library with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.