Economic and technical feasibility of a photovoltaic system in university building

Abstract

The use of renewable sources for electric power production can compensate the ever increasing energy demand in buildings. This article shows a study on the feasibility – both from the economic and technical point of view, of a photovoltaic system to be built on the premises of a university faculty. After a historical analysis on the building’s consumption – both on a yearly and monthly base, which highlights the need for an autonomous electric power production system, the difficult task of the technical optimization was undertaken with the aim of minimizing the impact or visual interference of the plant. A series of simulations allowed estimating the right compromise between producibility of the system and its visibility, in order to obtain the maximum yield and the smallest disturbance. Photorealistic renders also show the final configuration of the building equipped with the plant and its visibility from the surrounding characteristic observation points.