LAUSR

Abstract Determining locations is important for researchers and policymakers involved in developing photovoltaic (PV) plants. Here, solar extended exergy accounting performance is proposed as a new systematic decision support framework for prioritizing PV sites from environmental, technical, financial, and social viewpoints. The space-time solar extended exergy accounting performance of a 500 kW grid-connected PV system is determined for different Iranian climates as an example to show how the proposed tool can enhance site selection for PV power systems. The simulations are carried out for all 12 months of the year using the actual climatic, technical, economic, environmental, and social databases. Results for January, April, July, and October, representing winter, spring, summer, and autumn, respectively, are discussed in detail. The outcomes of the proposed method are compared with those for total irradiance, solar irradiance exergy, power generation, and exergy efficiency. In addition, several space-time ‏maps are developed for facilitating comparison among PV installation priorities obtained using various criteria. The average monthly total irradiance and solar irradiance exergy in Iran respectively varies in the range 120–184 kWh/m2/month and 112–172 kW/m2/month, respectively. The average monthly power generation, exergy efficiency, and extended exergy accounting performance of the developed plant are respectively found to be in the range of 45.3–66.0 MWh/month, 13.6‒14.8%, and 9.46–10.5% for different Iranian climates. Overall, southeast, central, and northwest cities of Iran are shown to be promising candidates for solar PV power systems based on the extended exergy accounting approach. The outcomes show that the proposed tool can be much more helpful than conventional methods for ranking candidate locations for building PV plants. The proposed extended exergy accounting performance framework can be applied for other stand-alone and hybrid renewable energy systems for various environmental and climatic conditions.