Evaluating the Technical and Economic Feasibility of Rooftop Solar PV Integration in a Ghanaian Academic Setting

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-970-4_25How to use a DOI?

Keywords

rooftop solar PV; grid-connected; Ghana; techno-economic analysis; levelized cost; payback

Abstract

Grid electricity costs and tariff volatility place heavy pressure on large campuses in Ghana. This study develops and evaluates a 1.3 MW (DC) grid-connected rooftop photovoltaic (PV) design for a public university and quantifies technical yield and financial performance using HelioScope simulations with Meteonorm 8 weather inputs. The system uses 3,147 Trina 400 W modules and 42 three-phase string inverters deployed across multiple rooftops. Simulated energy to grid is 1.68 GWh per year at a performance ratio near 0.75. Using a base Special Load Tariff (SLT) of GHS 0.705/kWh under the PURC framework, first-year gross savings are about GHS 1.19 million. With a capital cost of GHS 7.3 million, 1.5% annual O&M, 0.5% module degradation, a 10% inverter replacement in year 12, 5% tariff escalation, and an 8% discount rate, the simple payback is 6 years, IRR is ~18.8%, and NPV over 25 years is ~GHS 10.2 million. Sensitivity results show positive value under lower tariff growth and higher costs, with payback between 5–8 years across tested cases. Using Ghana’s national inventory factor of ~ 0.40 kg CO₂/kWh, annual avoided emissions are ~0.67 kt CO₂. The findings provide a replicable approach with finance metrics aligned to the simulated output and current tariffs.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Peter Nyanor
AU  - Emmanuel Obuba Owusu
AU  - Amevi Acakpovi
AU  - Sydney L. Abbey
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/31
TI  - Evaluating the Technical and Economic Feasibility of Rooftop Solar PV Integration in a Ghanaian Academic Setting
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering, Science, and Urban Sustainability (ICESUS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 396
EP  - 416
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-970-4_25
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-970-4_25
ID  - Nyanor2025
ER  -