BOM
Flagstaff Solar Energy
Proposal 1 Report
The Solar Ranchers Ahmad Alotaibi‐ System Design Alverae Laughter‐ System Design
Haitham Almohammedsaleh‐ Site Assessment Matthew Schraan‐ Site Assessment
Client: David Willy
March 11, 2016
Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………….…………………................2
Section 1:
ProblemStatement………………………………………………....……………………………2‐3
Section 2: QFD
Development………....……………………………………………………………………….3‐5
Section 3:Literature
Review………………....…………………………………………………………………………..6
Section 4: Problem
Decomposition…………………………………………………………………………………6‐7
Section 5: Concept
Generation………………………………………………………………………………………7‐9
Section 6: Concept
Selection………………………………………………………………..…………………….9‐12
Conclusion………………………………………………………………...……………………12
Appendices………………………………………………………………….………………..13‐18
References……………………………………………………………………….………..….19‐20
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Introduction The city of Flagstaff, Arizona is a small city located in the largest contiguous Ponderosa pine forest in the world. Along with this, the city prides itself to be the first dark city and to be environmentally friendly. However, the city still uses nonrenewable energy as its major energy provider. This type of energy production is beneficial because the fossil fuels are relatively simple to obtain and the process is relatively quick. Nonrenewable energy uses fossil fuels, such as natural gas, and releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The greenhouse gases that are released cause global warming and the fossil fuels will soon run out. Instead of using these harmful and nonrenewable sources of energy, a more renewable source of energy should be taken into account. Solar power is one of the green energies produced by the renewable sources provided to us by Mother Nature. The light of the sun is used to create electricity to run homes, businesses, factories, and overall circle of life. It is imperative to understand that the solar energy is free and does not cost any detrimental consequences to the environment. At a high altitude of about 7000 feet as compared to sea level, Flagstaff and areas in its surroundings have immense potential to be used to produce solar energy. Since the sunlight is sharper, and since it is available for more than 300 days a year, the magnitude of energy production is estimated to be higher as compared to many other areas in Arizona. In order to provide the energy produced by solar power to Flagstaff, the solar power plant should be within 50 miles of Flagstaff. It should also be located close to an existing electrical substation and grid lines because otherwise the upfront cost would increase in the form of laying down a power line to connect to the grid network. The power plant has a goal electricity production level of at least 250,000 megawatthours per year and should also be cost competitive with the local utility provider, Arizona Public Service (APS). Some stakeholders of the power plant would be the groups that take part in the design and construction of the power plant, as well as anyone that will be affected by the outcome of the power plant. The groups that would take part in the design and construction include owners of the land, manufacturers of the components of the solar power system, government institutions that will grant permits for the construction, and investment companies that will finance the project. The stakeholders that would be affected by the outcome of the power plant include customers of the power, APS,and citizens of Flagstaff and Northern Arizona area. Section 1: Problem Statement In order to define the problem statement for the project, the following process was used. This process uses the needs statement from the client and problem definition to create a well defined problem statement. Within the problem definition the goal statement, objectives, and constraints are all considered in order to formulate the problem statement. Needs Statement The needs statement is provided by the client and generally describes what needs to be done. This is the most basic form of the problem statement and is built on through the problem definition process. The need statement provided by the client is,“I need to provide clean power to Northern Arizona.”
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This need is in order to create a clean energy source for Northern Arizona. The clients and stakeholders for our project are Professor Willy, Northern Arizona citizens, APS, landowners, the solar panel manufacturer, the construction workers, etc. Problem Definition
1. Goal Statement This is what the team hopes to accomplish by the end of the project and is very similar to the needs statement. Multiple goal statements were created by the team and one was selected by the client. The goal statement that the client selected is,”To create a source of clean power for Northern Arizona.”
2. Objectives The objectives go more in depth on the goal of the team and break up the main goal into smaller goals.
Objective Basis for Measurement Criteria Units
Be a clean power source.
The energy should be produced by the renewable sources of power such as solar, wind, or water.
Power is generated by a renewable energy source.
source of energy
Be cost competitive with local utility companies
The cost of power generated will be similar to the cost of power produced by local utility companies.
CostBenefit comparative analysis
Dollars per Megawatt hour
Be environmental The installation, operation, and destruction of the power plant should be ecofriendly.
Life Cycle Assessment
LCAPercent age
3. Constraints The constraints can be binary, equality, onesided, or twosided and must be
quantifiable. This is a list of constraints that the project must abide by. a. Must generate at least 250,000 megawatt hours per year. b. Must be within 50 miles of Flagstaff, AZ. c. Must be cost competitive with local utility companies by costing equal or less than the $/kWh of APS.
Section 2: QFD Development In this section, the process for creating a simple QFD or Quality Function Deployment is done. The subsections customer requirements, benchmarking, and engineering requirements are all used for information in the QFD. Customer Requirements The requirements can be found below with a short description of each. 1. Cost: The least monetary value of the product. Cheap and inexpensive materials needed for the project. 2. Durability: The strength and overall of the longevity of the product.
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3. Environmentally clean: The project does not contribute to hazardous pollution or physical waste 4. Easy to use: The product does not require a lot of upkeep or maintenance. A product that can be operated without complications. 5. Easily manufactured: A simple reproduction of the product that can be produce over and over. Also be readily available. 6. Innovative: The product that is the uptodate program for the product that is manufactured. The product has built in software that is needed for the latest data and energy efficient model. Benchmarking Included in the benchmarking section is a list of 23 similar solar power plants and a short description of each. 1. Agua Caliente Solar Project This photovoltaic power plant is located on 2,400 acres in the Arizona desert west of Gila Bend, AZ and uses Series 3 thin film panels that are placed at a fixed angle. The power plant can generate 290 MW that goes to the grid. This is equivalent to 626.2 GWh of power yearly, which is 626,200 MWh [1]. 2. California Valley Solar Ranch This power plant located in San Luis Obispo County, California, generates 250 MW. The generated power is equivalent to 550 GWh or 550,000 MWh annually and is connected to the grid. This plant has an area of 1,966 acres and uses SunPower Tracker technology, as well as 88,000 crystalline photovoltaic panels [2]. 3. Arlington Valley Solar Energy II The AVSE II project is located west of Phoenix on 1,160 acres of land. The power plant produces 127 MW or 273,750 MWh of energy annually. The plant consists of 600,000 PV panels that are mounted on singleaxis trackers. The benchmarks above are all current solar power plants that are similar to the power plant that is needed by the client. These can be used to help in the decisions for solar panels, land area, and other components of solar power plants [3]. Engineering Requirements Engineering requirements for the project are listed below with a description of each. 1. LandUse requirements: (Acres) In developing a largescale deployment of solar energy, it is necessary to maximize the landuse competitiveness. Analysis of the data collected from the site can help in evaluating utilityscale in order to assure the competitiveness of the project. The principle is that the greater the amount of insolation, the more electricity obtained from the solar cell module. Another important requirement in terms of construction is that the land is as flat as possible and has roads of around 5m in width. 2. LargeScale Power Plant: (MWh) Given the nature of the project, it should be able to produce the highest magnitude of power as compared to its capacity. Since solar power plants can produce energy depending upon the sunlight, and since Flagstaff being at a higher altitude is a better option, we need to reassure that the site is conducive to our target of electricity generation. 3. CostCompetitive: ($/MWh) From an engineering perspective, it is necessary for the project to be costcompetitive. This means that the production cost should be less or equal to the cost of
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electricity produced by fossil fuels. This will depend on the design, equipment cost, and the maintenance cost. Our target is to develop a design that produces a high capacity, is costattractive, and is close to existing grid facilities. Transmission of electricity from a large solar power plant requires transmission lines with interconnecting capabilities be located nearby. A closer facility means less upfront expenditure 4. Design(N/A): An engineering layout is required so as to aid the engineers in the process of selecting the best technology to use in developing the power plant. It is from the design that the approximation of the cost of developing the power plant can be calculated so as to look for finances at an early date hence preventing the probability of financial inefficiency 5. Site survey(KWh/m^2/yr) A site survey is a crucial engineering requirement so as to establish the of the projected viability. It should include roof survey, electrical site survey, and solar energy performance modeling. Roof survey should be conducted at the beginning of the projects so as to determine the exact coordinates of all rooftops obstructions. Secondly, the electric site survey should be performed to lay the groundwork for interconnection. Lastly, solar energy performance modeling should be conducted to determine the viability of the project upon its completion. Simple QFD Found below is a simple QFD for the project that uses the information given above.
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Section 3: Literature Review
The team research of the project had been reviewing and using a designs over the following sections: the system design and site assessment. In these two groups there are sub sections to each of the review materials. The system design was divided into three categories the PV panels, where the cost of each panel and material types were researched, inverters were researched to have the and racking system each was research based on cost analysis and the performance of the design. The overall design that was assessed in the System Advisor Model (SAM), which is the main component for the system design. The site assessment was broken into 3 subcategory; the location, landowner and landscape. The research of the space needed for the system. The sites that are proposed are evaluated the type of landscape, the distances from the closest substation and who also may own the land. Information for the parcels had been information from the Coconino land office, which consist of parcel information. The cost and landownership is analyzed from this information that is used in the proposed land. The group literature review of the information is covered in the detailed section of the problem decomposition, concept generation and concept selection. Section 4: Problem Decomposition The problem decomposition of designing a solar photovoltaic power plant uses the function decomposition approach. By using this approach, the smaller functional components of design for a solar PV power plant are defined. The decomposition diagram created by the team can be found below.
In this diagram, the main physical components of a solar PV power plant design are site assessment, resource assessment, and system design. The resource assessment component can be directly related to the site assessment and for the purpose of this project, the resource assessment will be part of the site assessment. The system design component can be broken up into smaller physical components of the solar power system, but the site assessment will not be broken up into smaller components. The site assessment block consists of a location, the current land use now, landowner, nearby archeological sites, cost of the land, and the solar resource assessment of the location. This block may also discuss distances to current electrical substations.
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The system design block can be broken up into the smaller physical components of the PV panels, inverters, and racking system. Section 5: Concept Generation The concept generation consists of multiple toplevel concepts and multiple subtask related concepts. From the problem definition above, the toplevel concepts are site assessment, solar resource assessment, and system design. For the purpose of this lab, the concept generation will focus on the toplevel concepts of site assessment and the subtask related concepts of the system design. This is because the solar resource assessment can be considered part of the site assessment and concepts for the subtasks of the site assessment cannot be defined. The top level concepts for the system design will all consist of PV panels, inverters, and racking system. There could be a large amount of combinations for this so the subtask system design concepts will be discussed only. System Design: PV Panel: There are three different types of PV panels: monocrystalline, polycrystalline, and thin film. The monocrystalline panel is made of the highest grade silicon. As shown in Figure 4, the panels are the dark silicon sheet. The efficiency rate of the panels is about 1520%[4]. The manufacturing process is complicated thus making the cost a little higher than the other technologies. Less space is needed for this type of panels. The polycrystalline panels are made from cells cut from blocks of melted and recrystallized silicon. The crystallized cuts of the wafers can be seen in figure 5. These are cut into thin wafers and then assembled into PV panels. The efficiency is about 1316% [4]. The purity of the silicon is less than in monocrystalline panels, so the efficiency is less. The manufacturing cost is cheaper than the monocrystalline manufacturing cost, but more panels are needed to attain the amount of energy required to fulfill the energy output. The thin film PV panels are made from thin films of photovoltaic materials (fiigure 6) as listed: amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, copper indium gallium selenide and organic photovoltaic cells. These panels have an efficiency between 713%, and production modules operate at about 9% [5]. In these module types more space is needed and the life of the system is shorter. The overall PV ratings is low of these particular panels. [4] Inverters: There are four different types of inverters, which are micro inverters, string inverters, power optimizer inverters, and central inverters. Figures of the three types of inverters and how they connect into the system can be found in appendix A, Figures 79. For micro and power production inverters, their costs are going down and they allow users to monitor the power production of each individual panel. As a commercial project, string and central inverters are most used among the solar power system users. Also, they are often the most cost effective
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inverters available in the U.S.[6]. Our team selected two central inverters and one string inverter as our top three choices which are: 1Solectria SGI750XTM380 which is a central inverter that costs $104,125 per unit with a 97.919% efficiency and a capacity of 759000 Wac 2SMA America SC900CPUS which is a central inverter that costs $ 105,781.94 per unit with a 98.328% efficiency and a capacity of 942000 Wac 3Solectria Renewables PVI7600 TL 208 xx which is a string inverter that costs $ 2,030.40 per unit with a 97.289% efficiency and a capacity of 6600 Wac Racking System: The racking system consists of parts for the tilt of the PV panel. The racking system provides tracks that adjust the angle of the PV panels according to the position of the sun. Based on the research of the different racking systems each is described: The fixed tilt is an array that is tilted to the azimuth angle [4]. This system is the lowest in cost. The single axis tracking simply means that the tilt can move in one rotation vertical or horizontal with a slow moving tilt to give the longest amount of sun exposure from north to south/ east to west [4]. The two axis tracking allows the array to be pointed normal to the Sun in order to maximize the irradiance hitting the array [4]. This provides the highest in irradiance of the sun by using two axes in combining the certain amount of tilt. Site Assessment: The concepts generated for the site assessment component can be found below. A figure of all three sites in relation to Flagstaff, as well as close up figures of the sites can be found in appendix A, Figures 13. Grey Mountain Site 35°49'16.2"N 111°25'40.4"W This site is located about 50 miles north of Flagstaff by car. It is located just east of U.S. Highway 89 and is less than a mile from a substation. The landscape is relatively flat and consists of small shrubbery. The climate of the area is high desert and the area receives a small amount of annual precipitation, is windy, and is sunny. Based on a map provided by NREL that shows the solar resource of Arizona, this site would receive 7.08.0 kWh/m2/day. This map also shows that the nearby substation is connected with 735999 kV transmission lines [7]. From the Coconino County GIS map, the land is found to be owned by the Navajo Nation [8]. Twin Arrows Site 35°10'49.3"N 111°17'38.7"W This site is located about 20 miles east of Flagstaff by car. The location is just north of U.S. Interstate 40 and is within a mile of a substation. The landscape is relatively flat and consists of mostly grassland with some small trees and shrubs. The area receives a small amount of annual precipitation, can be windy, and is sunny. Based on a map provided by NREL that shows the
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solar resource of Arizona, this site would receive 7.07.5 kWh/m2/day. The NREL map also shows that the nearby substation is connected with 500734 kV transmission lines [7]. From the Coconino County GIS map, the land is found to be currently Coconino National Forest land [8]. Angell Site 35°13'56.3"N 111°21'37.2"W This site is located about 20 miles east of Flagstaff by car. The location is about 2 miles north of U.S. Interstate 40 and is within 5 miles of a substation. The landscape is relatively flat and consists of mostly grassland with some small trees and shrubs. The area receives a small amount of annual precipitation, can be windy, and is mostly sunny. Based on a map provided by NREL that shows the solar resource of Arizona, this site would receive 7.07.5 kWh/m2/day. The NREL map also shows that the nearby substation is connected with 500734 kV transmission lines [7]. From the Coconino County GIS map, the land is found to be currently Coconino National Forest land [8].
Section 6: Concept Selection Using the concepts generated from the components found in the problem decomposition, a concept can be selected by using a decision matrix. One decision matrix will be used for the selection of each component. Site Assessment Decision Matrix: In the site decision matrix, the weights given correspond to the importance of the criteria. Solar resource is given the highest weight because it is the basis for how much power can be produced at a certain site. The distance to Flagstaff and a substation are weighted the same because these criteria are objectives for the project. The landscape of the location has the least weight because it is only beneficial for an easy design.
Grey Mountain Site
Twin Arrows Site Angell Site
Criteria Weight(%) Score Weighted Score
Score Weighted Score
Score Weighted Score
Solar Resource 30 80 24 80 24 80 24
Distance to Flagstaff
25 80 20 85 21.25 85 21.25
Distance to a Substation
25 85 21.25 75 18.75 70 17.5
Landscape 20 95 19 90 18 90 18
Total 100 84.25 82 80.75
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From the site assessment decision matrix, the Grey Mountain site scored the most points. Since the sites are all near each other and the climates are all very similar, the solar resource score for each site is the same. The Twin Arrows site and Angell site are less than 30 miles from Flagstaff so their score for the distance from Flagstaff is more than that of the Grey Mountain site. All of the sites are located within 5 miles of a substation but the Grey Mountain site is close to a larger substation. The landscape for all of the sites is very similar, which is why the score is the same. System Decision Matrices: Analysis of the module, inverter and racking system were used in the SAM program to figure the total amount used in the AC
Using the following equation while and showed that we need to produce at least 5418 K.watts/h in order to reach the required amount of power. Module:
Aleo Solar S79U270
SolarWorld SW 285 MONO
MAGE Solar Powertec PLus 250/6ML
Criteria Weight (%)
Scor e
Weighted Score
Score Weighted Score
Score Weighted Score
Cost/ unit 35 82 28.7 85 29.75 90 31.5
Size [mm] 20 85 17 91 18.2 80 16
Temperature Coefficient
45 55 24.75 71 31.95 65 29.25
Total 100 70.45 79.9 76.75
The module which consists of high efficiency, low cost and has a low temperature coefficient which will be analyzed to get the highest outcome for our choice of PV panel. The cost of the unit was one of the highest weighted criteria to keep the overall cost of the system low. The size of the PV panels are weighted low, the difference in size was not a large issue. The PV panels work better if the panels can withstand high temperature,resulting in a longer life.
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Inverters:
Solectria SGI750XTM
SMA America
Solectria Renewable
Criteria Weight(% )
Score Weighted Score
Scor e
Weighte d Score
Score Weighted Score
Cost/Unit 40 92 36.8 80 32 76 30.4
Total Capacity/Unit
30 88 26.4 68 20.4 56 16.8
Maintenance 30 81 24.3 70 21 91 27.3
Total 100 87.5 73.4 74.5
The inverters that were selected based upon the criteria above in the table. The total of cost per unit which was weighted the highest of the decision matrix. Low cost per unit will result in an overall low cost of the system. The next criteria that both weighted the same was total capacity for a unit and overall maintenance which was looked at because each unit size would need proper maintenance. The least amount of maintenance needed per unit will keep the cost of the overall cost of the system down. Racking System:
Fixed 1 Axis 2Axis Azimuth Axis
Criteria Weight( %)
Scor e
Weight ed Score
Scor e
Weighte d Score
Scor e
Weighte d Score
Scor e
Weighted Score
Cost 50 90 45 80 40 80 40 50 25
Maintenan ce
50 100 50 95 47.5 77 38.5 60 30
Totl 100 95 87.5 78.5 55
The racking system is based of the maintenance and cost of each racking system. The racking system is selected by how much of the sun irradiance can be converted into electrical current. In Flagstaff area the calculated irradiance is estimated at 7.0 from the NREL figure [7]. Just the
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overall maintenance of the system from the installation and life of the power plant is considered for this criteria. Final Design From the decision matrices above, the final solar panel system design will be located at the Grey Mountain site and will include SolarWorld SW 285 MONO panels and Solectria SGI750XTM inverters with a fixed tilt. An image of the SolarWorld panel can be found in appendix A, Figure 13. From analyzing this design using the NREL SAM software, We found that the design will produce 1kw/h for $0.05. This rate is competitive with APS that sells it for $0.09 of the APS standard rate [9]. Further analysis of the components for the system will give us a design that we can conclude in the overall design of the project .In order to take this design further research will be done on the chosen location and the system design. After the research, the simulation of the system will be tested and analyzed for a calculated results.
Conclusion In conclusion, because the city of Flagstaff, Arizona prides itself on being environmentally friendly but gets the majority of its power from fossil fuels, it needs a source of power that is more environmentally friendly. Solar power is a natural and proven source that is friendly to the environment that is in need of help from humanity. This form of energy is reliable in ways that fossil fuels are and it comes without the harm of causing global warming.
The city of Flagstaff, like many other cities around the world have the ability of being able to produce solar energy. This city can eventually be a role model to other cities that have the resources Flagstaff has to help the environment.
Due to the fact that this will require certain engineering and construction projects, all of the environmental effects have been taken into consideration and will have positive results in all aspects. Additionally, all stakeholders are aware of the elements for creating the best outcome of this project. Finally, this is the perfect opportunity to make this move, especially since global warming is a serious global issue.
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Appendices
Appendix A.
Figure 1: All Sites [10]
Figure 2: Gray Mountain Site [10]
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Figure 3: Angell and Twin Arrows Site [10]
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Figure 4: NREL Resource Map[7]
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Figure 5: Monocrystalline Panel [13]
Figure 6: Polycrystalline [14]
Figure 7: Thin Film [15]
Figure 8: Microinverter [16]
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Figure 9: String Inverter [17]
Figure 10: Central Inverter [18]
Figure 11: Fixed Racking System [19]
Figure 12: Single Axis Racking System [19]
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Figure 13: Twoaxis Racking System [20]
Figure 14: SolarWorld Panel [21]
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References: [1]"Agua Caliente Solar Project | First Solar", Firstsolar.com, 2016. [Online]. Available: http://www.firstsolar.com/en/AboutUs/Projects/AguaCalienteSolarProject.aspx. [Accessed: 20 Feb 2016]. [2]"California Valley Solar Ranch", Californiavalleysolarranch.com, 2016. [Online]. Available: http://www.californiavalleysolarranch.com/. [Accessed: 20 Feb 2016]. [3]"Fluor EPC and operations and maintenance Services on solar project.", Fluor.com, 2016. [Online]. Available: http://www.fluor.com/projects/arlingtonvalleysolarpowerepcmaintenance. [Accessed: 20 Feb 2016]. [4] Nef.org.uk,. "Types Of Photovoltaic (PV) Cells National Energy Foundation". N.p., 2016. Web. 28 Feb. 2016. [5]A. Us and M. Maehlum, "Which Solar Panel Type is Best? Mono, Polycrystalline or Thin Film?", Energy Informative, 2012. [Online]. Available: http://energyinformative.org/bestsolarpanelmonocrystallinepolycrystallinethinfilm/. [Accessed: 26 Feb 2016]. [6] “String Inverters vs. Microinverters vs. Power Optimizers,” EnergySage. [Online]. Available at: https://www.energysage.com/solar/101/stringinvertersmicroinverterspoweroptimizers. [Accessed: 28Feb2016]. [7] Nrel.gov, "NREL: Concentrating Solar Power Research Concentrating Solar Power Resource Maps", 2014. [Online]. Available: http://www.nrel.gov/csp/maps.html. [Accessed: 25 Feb 2016]. [8] Coconino County GIS, "Coconino Parcel Viewer", 2016. [Online]. Available: https://gismaps.coconino.az.gov/parcelviewer/. [Accessed: 25 Feb 2016]. [9] Nef.org.uk,. "Types Of Photovoltaic (PV) Cells National Energy Foundation". N.p., 2016. Web. 28 Feb. 2016. [10]"ZeeMap", Zeemaps.com, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://zeemaps.com/map?group=1899830&add=1#. [Accessed: 10 Mar 2016]. [11] International Renewable Energy Agency, "RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES: COST ANALYSIS SERIES", Irena.org, United Arab Emirates, 2012.
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[12] Aps.com, "aps standard", 2016. [Online]. Available: https://www.aps.com/en/residential/accountservices/serviceplans/Pages/standard.aspx. [Accessed: 26 Feb 2016]. [13] made in china.com, Image of a monocrystalline PV Panel. 2016. [14] Civisolar.com, Polycrystalline solar panel. 2016. [15] www.renewableenergyhub.co.uk, Thin film image. 2016. [16] www.jigols.nl, Micro inverter picture. 2016. [17] cenergypower, inverter system. 2016. [18] http://www.schaltbaugmbh.com/en/Markets/Energy/Centralinverters/, central inverter. 2016. [19] Rbisolar, ground solar mounting system. 2016. [20] 2 Axis Rotating Tracking System. 2016. [21]http://eng.sfesolar.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/06/Huerto_500kW_SolarWorld_SW250.j pg, solar panel. 2016.
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