PV-ON: An online/bilingual PV sizing tool for grid-connected system, case studies in Egypt

Photovoltaic (PV) grid-connected systems have shown a booming trend as a sustainable, green and low cost alternative for providing energy all over the world. Accordingly, PV sizing tools have been promoted to evaluate the expected performance and feasibility of the PV system at a given location. Various commercial as well as free/open-source PV sizing tool are currently available; however, most of them consider a single prospective, either technical or economic, without considering the location-based parameters such as the electrical tariffs. The aim of this article is to develop an online free PV pre-sizing tool for grid-connected system integrated with tariffs and electricity bills. The proposed tool can be accessed over the internet using multi-platforms (online), without any charges or subscription (free) and it generates a preliminary techno-economic solution showed in an online interface and downloadable PDF report (pre-sizing). Seeking for validation, various 24 case studies have been conducted over four different cities in Egypt, where a commercial tool has been utilized as a bench mark. An overall mismatching error various in the range of 1% to 6% has been recorded, showing the full appropriately of the developed tool. Finally, a level of satisfaction questionnaire has been operated among various user segments, where acceptable outcomes have been observed.