Abstract:
For my E90 project, I synthesized a robust model that may be used to evaluate both the optimal performance of residential solar PV systems and the effect of different policies regarding solar energy within different cities in the United States. Essentially, the model takes in manufacturer specifications for solar panel modules and inverters, financial parameters, tax information, electricity rates from local utilities, TMY2 data, and baseline electric load for the average household to simulate the lifetime performance of the PV system using the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) System Advisor Model (SAM) modules in conjunction with the BORG Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm (MOEA) to provide accurate, optimized estimates of the total system cost, its net present value, and the amount of electric load met by the system as solar fraction.
