Technical and economic feasibility of solar powered air conditioners in Brunei Darussalam

• Main Authors: Alhakmi, E, Khalil, Ashraf, Abdul Hamid, Zanidi, Peng, Ang Swee, Uddin, M. R., Jaafar, Saifulbahri, Mohammed, I., Khan, Sheroz, Yaacob, Mashkuri
• Format: Article
• Language: English; English
• Published: Mattingley Publishing 2019
• Subjects: TK3001 Distribution or transmission of electric power. The electric power circuit
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/82306/1/82306_Technical%20and%20economic%20feasibility.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/82306/2/82306_Technical%20and%20economic%20feasibility_SCOPUS.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/82306/; http://testmagzine.biz/index.php/testmagzine/article/view/801/722

On daily basis, a huge amount of fossil fuel is being burnt which results in a substantial amount of greenhouse gasses being released into the atmosphere. Air conditioners are becoming more common and are a major strain on energy demands especially in tropical climate countries like Brunei Darussalam. The photovoltaic electricity is a clean and sustainable. In this paper, we present a techno-economic feasibility study for solar powered air conditioning system in Brunei Darussalam. Four alternatives are investigated, 1) the PV system supplies 50% of the loads, 2) the PV system supplies 75% of the loads, 3) the PV system supplies 100% of the loads, and finally 4) the PV system supplies 125% of the loads. Where in the last two case the excess electricity is sold to the grid. With 0.3$ feed-in tariff. The best alternative is the grid-connected PV system with 125% capacity factor which was chosen due to its short payback time period as well as high profit rate over the lifetime of the project.