Abstract

The Andean South is one of the poorest regions of Peru. Only 44% of the rural inhabitants of this area have electricity. This paper describes an investigation into the technical and financial feasibility of stand-alone photovoltaic systems in this region. The feasibility study was undertaken for a typical village of Andean South. The village of Churrubamba Alta in the province of Andahuaylas, departamento de Apurimac (department of Apurimac) was selected. The TRNSYS software tool was used for performance analysis and identifying the optimal size of the system. The feasibility study showed that the best option is a 13.7 kW PV array and 180 kWh battery bank for the daily supply of 42.2 kWh electricity to 62 households and a community centre. The financial analysis demonstrated a net present value of US$186 918, internal rate of return of 28%, payback period of 4.3 years and levelised cost of electricity of US$0.30 per kWh_e.

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