All through the course of this study work, the use of solar PV was adopted to meet the electricity consumption of fur farms and a food factory in Kaustinen, Finland. This is because the aim of this study was to develop a calculation model to determine the feasibility and profitability of using solar PV for self-use purposes. To achieve the aim of this study, a sensitivity analysis was carried out to dimension various sizes of solar PV to determine which system size was viable with and without battery for self-use purpose. This was carried out for both the current and the future scenarios for all the fur farms except for the food factory which consists of a scenario.
This study further went ahead to determine the feasibility of considering the total electricity consumption of all the fur farms including food factory as a community electricity consumption and it will be discussed further in the next subsection. Furthermore, the research also proceeded into developing a calculation model to determine the income savings profitability of solar PV energy for all the cases as discussed in this study.
6.1. Review of Research Aim and Questions
With respects to the aim of the research discussed in subsection 1.2 and analysis of the results obtained from the calculation model as discussed in chapter 3 to chapter 5, it can be concluded the main cause for embarking on this study has been achieved.
Three main criteria were used to dimension the solar PV to determine which system size was exact and sensitive for the fur farms and the food factory. The three dimensioning criteria of solar PV was classified into annual zero energy production, with and without the use of battery.
It was ensured that each of the criteria was introduced into the calculation model separately to achieve a comprehensive result for all scenarios.
Also, the possibility of using solar PV to cover the future electricity demand was analyzed by incorporating the electric vehicle and cooling system into the current electricity consumption except for the food factory case study. Afterwards, the current electricity consumption which excludes electric vehicle and cooling system was added together for all the fur farms including the food factory to make the current community consumption. Similarly, the future electricity consumption which included current electricity, EV and cooling system was added together in the same manner for all the fur farms and the food factory to implement the future community
consumption. All this was to verify the feasibility of using solar PV to meet the electricity consumption as an energy community for both the current and future scenarios.
Furthermore, the solar PV system was dimensioned for various capacity with electricity consumption to give a deep insight on the estimated income savings in which each of the system size is expected to yield on an annual basis. The results obtained showed that the income saving earned from selling to grid varies with respects to the solar PV sizes analyzed.
To conclude, the developed calculation model has been designed in such a way that makes it easy for anyone to work on for easy modification in the future.
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