Reliability Evaluation and Cost Analysis for Optimized Large Scale Solar PV System

Photovoltaic (PV) solar system has developed significantly from an independent to a large scale on-grid energy system. The energy output performance is affected by the system's reliability, which depends on its various internal components and configurations. This study aims to determine the optimum number of series modules, parallel strings, central inverters and combiner boxes of a 1-MW large scale solar (LSS) system. Also, this paper evaluates the system's reliability for different inverters configurations based on three solar PV systems i) fixed-tilt angle, ii) one-axis tracker and iii) two-axis tracker PV systems. The system's reliability is evaluated by using Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). Furthermore, this paper performs cost analysis of the LSS system in terms of Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE). The results showed that, single/dual axis PV system is preferred against fixed-tilt angle system as it gives lower LCOE. However, single/dual axis PV system reduces the system's reliability especially when more central inverters are used for the PV system.