Technical and Economic Aspects of Gridconnected Solar Photovoltaics in Brazil - Implementing Environmental and Resource Management - page 46

subsidy), constituting hybrid systems. The potential for using PV can be esti-
mated in tens to hundreds of MWp in the Amazon region alone, whereas the
wind resource distribution there is one of the worst in the country.
• Installing grid-connected PV system in urban areas. Commercial regions with
high midday air conditioning loads have normally a demand curve in good syn-
chronism with the solar irradiance. This is the typical picture of most capital
cities in Brazil, thus adding a small amount of PV can have a peak-shaving ef-
fect and assist in reducing load requirements for the electricity feeders.
6.3 Case Study: Roof-mounted Grid-connected PV
System for a Sports Hall in South Brazil
The building for which the system is to be dimensioned is a sports hall with a
playing ground of 54 x 33 meters and a height of 10 meters. Integrated to the same
structure, but divided by an internal wall, the facility would count with a service
area of 13 x 33 meters (also 10 meters high). The described building is a virtual
one, proposed for some of the currently unused areas of the district of Florianópo-
lis called Pantanal, close to the university campus of the Universidade Federal de
Santa Catarina (district Trindade). As the building is not yet in existence, the elec-
tricity supply needed was estimated using simulation software; the chosen applica-
tion was the “EnergyPlus version 2.0” software, offered free of charge by the
United States Department of Energy (DOE 2007).
6.3.1 Initial Data
After introducing all the data required by EnergyPlus in terms of geometry, mate-
rials, electrical and heat load features, and use schedules, the run of the simulation
for an entire year delivered the following results for the monthly electricity con-
sumption.
In our case we establish the target to adjust the dimensioning of the PV system
to just cover the overall annual consumption, even if there are months when the
generation is inferior to the consumption. Therefore we will adopt, as the refer-
ence level, the average daily consumption, which is obtained as the average of the
average daily consumption of each month. From Table 6.1 this value is E = 91.1
kWh/day. The second basic input needed to determine the photovoltaic power to
be installed is the solar irradiation in the area where the building is situated. In or-
der to do that, the software “Radiasol” was used, developed by the Solar Energy
Laboratory of the UFRGS, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS
2001). This application can provide for each target location an estimate of the av-
erage incident solar hours (1 solar hour = radiation of 1000 W/m 2 during 1 hour)
in every month. Once the location is selected in the initial screen, the application
opens a new screen offering the possibility to change the variables of tilt angle and
azimuth angle (both set 0º as default).