Semester

Summer

Date of Graduation

2020

Document Type

Problem/Project Report

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Not Listed

Committee Chair

Hailin Li

Committee Member

Roger Chen

Committee Member

Jignesh Solanki

Abstract

This project explores the techno-economic feasibility of installing a photovoltaic (PV) system to power electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in West Virginia. A case study of a parking garage charging station is considered. The PV system performance and economic feasibility are assessed for two different system configurations and two financial scenarios. Two system variations one including PV only and another with on-site storage battery are modelled using the System Advisor Model (SAM) developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Initial technical specifications of the PV system, battery system and EV chargers were selected as a reference case. Through parametric simulation, the variation of PV system size with battery capacity shows trade-offs between achieving maximum self-consumption and sufficiency and profitability of the system. Furthermore, cost sensitivity and two financing scenarios including direct ownership of the system and a Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) were investigated. The impact of net-metering and trading renewable energy credits on the return of investment is also discussed. Based on the data derived in this research, the following conclusions can be derived: (1) The PV-EV charging station is economically not feasible compared to grid-EV charging system when the environmental benefit is not accounted for; (2) when electricity produced by PV is converted to gasoline on a vehicle mileage operation basis, the PV-EV scenario is feasible when the price of gasoline is $2.35/gallon or higher without accounting for the environment benefit and differences in vehicle cost; (3) PV system is feasible if the green energy is sold to a high-tech company with the market price of $100/MWh considered; (4) PV system is feasible if the system is owned by a third-party and the PPA price is less than 7 cents/kWh.

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