Economic evaluation of a residential solar microgrid connected to the distribution system

This paper presents an analysis on the economic feasibility of a residential solar microgrid connected to the distribution system. Such an analysis is performed considering different values of tariff and investment. In order to define the feasibility region of the project the sensitivity of such results related to these variables was carefully analyzed. Many consumers have questioned whether the installation of a solar panel(s) in their homes would bring the economic benefits that are mentioned by both some organizations and many solar panel sellers. This article shows, through an example, the advantages and costs incurred during the acquisition of this equipment. The system under study does not consider energy storage elements or batteries which could become a disadvantage in terms of technical performance, though they may favor the acquisition cost. The use of energy storage elements can be important in the case of islanded systems or when the solar microgrid aims at reaching an atypically high technical reliability.