Life Cycle Assessment of CdTe Photovoltaic System

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an extremely useful tool to assess the environmental impacts of a solar photovoltaic system throughout its entire life. This tool can help in making sustainable decisions. A solar PV system does not have any operational emissions as it is free from fossil fuel use during its operation. However, considerable amount of energy is used to manufacture and transport the components (e.g. PV panels, batteries, charge regulator, inverter, supporting structure, etc.) of the PV system. This study aims to perform a comprehensive and independent life cycle assessment of a 3.6 kWp solar photovoltaic system in Bangladesh. The primary energy consumption, resulting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (CH4, N2O, and CO2), and energy payback time (EPBT) were evaluated over the entire life cycle of the photovoltaic system. The batteries and the PV modules are the most GHG intensive components of the system. About 31.90% of the total energy is consumed to manufacture the poly-crystalline PV modules. The total life cycle energy use and resulting GHG emissions were found to be 76.27 MWhth and 0.17 kg-CO2eq/kWh, respectively. This study suggests that 5.34 years will be required to generate the equivalent amount of energy which is consumed over the entire life of the PV system considered. A sensitivity analysis was also carried out to see the impact of various input parameters on the life cycle result. The other popular electricity generation systems such as gas generator, diesel generator, wind, and Bangladeshi grid were compared with the PV system. The result shows that electricity generation by solar PV system is much more environmentally friendly than the fossil fuel-based electricity generation. ©2019. CBIORE-IJRED. All rights reserved

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Thermodynamic and life cycle assessment of flat-plate collector, photovoltaic system and photovoltaic thermal collector

International Journal of Exergy ◽

10.1504/ijex.2012.049745 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 229 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Murat Ozturk ◽

Nuri Ozek ◽

Hece Batur ◽

Murat Koc

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Flat Plate ◽

Photovoltaic System ◽

Flat Plate Collector

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Life cycle assessment for a grid-connected multi-crystalline silicon photovoltaic system of 3 kWp: A Case Study for Mexico

Journal of Cleaner Production ◽

10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128314 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 128314

Author(s):

E. Santoyo-Castelazo ◽

K. Solano-Olivares ◽

E. Martínez ◽

E.O. García ◽

E. Santoyo

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Crystalline Silicon ◽

Photovoltaic System

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Life-cycle assessment of residential-scale grid-connected photovoltaic system in Malaysia based on monocrystalline silicon modules

International Journal of Power Electronics and Drive Systems (IJPEDS) ◽

10.11591/ijpeds.v11.i2.pp677-684 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 677

Author(s):

Atiqah Hamizah Mohd Nordin ◽

Shahril Irwan Sulaiman ◽

Sulaiman Shaari ◽

Rijalul Fahmi Mustapa

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Energy Demand ◽

Monocrystalline Silicon ◽

Photovoltaic System ◽

System Capacity ◽

Solar Irradiation ◽

Cumulative Energy ◽

Pv Systems ◽

Scale Grid

Even though PV systems have been promoted as a green form of electrification, such systems are still contributing to environmental impacts after considering life-cycle impact during material extraction, manufacturing processes of its components, installation, operation, and maintenance. This paper presents a life-cycle assessment to quantify the environmental impact of residential-scale grid-connected PV systems in Malaysia using monocrystalline silicon PV module. LCA had been carried out by using OpenLCA 1.8 software, Ecoinvent 3.5 database, and impact assessment method of IMPACT2002+ and CED. The influence of varying system capacity from 3 to 12 kWp, system lifetime of 21, 25 and 30 years, and solar irradiation of 1560.8, 1651.8, & 1935.5 kWh/m2/yr, were investigated. The results revealed that the greenhouse gas emissions rate, cumulative energy demand, and energy payback time of residential-scale grid-connected PV systems in Malaysia ranged from 37.97 to 67.26 g CO2-eq/kWh, 4387.10 to 4699.99 MJ/m2, and 6.37 to 7.90 years, respectively. This study also evaluated indicators of energy return on investment. The overall finding implies that the installation of residential-scale grid-connected PV systems in Malaysia offers significant potential for GHG emissions reduction in the country.

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