Solar Photovoltaic Installation Cost Reduction through Building Integrated Photovoltaics in Ghana.

Abstract

The growth and use of photovoltaic (PV) cannot be disputed as the world craves for cleaner energy options. Energy demands also keep on rising and buildings alone contribute about 40% of energy use in the world. This means that even if the world shifts completely to cleaner energy options, buildings will still demand more energy and therefore sustainable energy sources for buildings should be encouraged. Again, the initial setup cost of fossil fuel energy is lower than renewable energy. To make renewable energy attractive, cheaper setup cost should be achieved and this can be done by a cost offset through building element replacement by PV. This means the use of Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) is of high potential for financial offset than Building Applied Photovoltaic (BAPV). Quantitative data was gathered on roofing sheets cost and solar integration into roof cost. The average cost of roofing sheets for an area of 24m2 roof spaces is $2,160.00 and the cost of integrating a solar PV on that same space is $9,600.00. The cost of constructing the space with roofing sheets is used to offset the cost of installing the solar PV to reduce it to $7,440.00. Autodesk Ecotect software was used to know the energy generated from roof integration of solar and this is 16,512kWh. This energy generated is converted to monetary value of $3,302.00 per year. The breakeven time after offset reduction is approximately 2 years 6 months due to monetary returns on the solar PV.