A Feasibility Study of an On-grid Solar Home System in
Bangladesh
Sanjida Moury, R. Ahshan
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland
E-mail: Sanjida.moury@mun.ca
Abstract: Electricity demand is now the basic need for the
current civilization in every moment. Especially for the
developing countries such as Bangladesh has the energy
crisis and is one of the challenging issues to progress the
country future. Shortage of electric power generation causes
a significant amount of load shading everyday. Lack of fossil
fuel reservation is a global issue. In addition, fossil fuel
based power generation is not also environment friendly.
Considering all these barriers, a renewable on-grid power
generation system can be a better option for Bangladesh.
This paper presents the feasibility study of an on-grid solar
power generation system for a typical house in Bangladesh.
The load demand of a house in Dhaka city is taken as a case
to perform this study. The proposed solar home system is
simulated in HOMER and the detail analysis, system
description and results are presented in this paper.
1. Introduction
Energy is one of the main concerns for the growing future
of any nation. Energy is by far the largest merchandise in
the world and an enormous amount of energy is extracted,
distributed, converted and consumed in our global society
daily. The global energy demand is continuously
increasing. Today’s global energy production is highly, in
fact 83% [1] dependent on fossil fuel resources such as
oil, gas and coal. These resources are limited and their use
results global warming due to emission of greenhouse
gases like carbon dioxide. Interest in renewable energy
has depended on the perceived risks of using fossil fuels.
To provide a sustainable power production in future and
at the same time be concern about global warming, there
is a growing demand for energy from renewable resources
such as wind, solar, geothermal and ocean.
The sun is the source of the life on our planet Earth
and, directly or indirectly, is the fuel for most renewable
systems. Photovoltaic and solar thermal systems, as well
as solar thermal power stations, convert solar irradiation
directly into useable energy. Each square meter of the
sun's surface emits a radiant power of 63.1 MW, which
means that just a fifth of a square kilometer of the sun's
surface emits an amount of energy equal to the global
primary energy demand on earth. Only a small part of this
energy reaches the earth's surface. This resource can be
used to meet the global energy demand.
2. Present Energy Scenario in
Bangladesh
At present the power demand in Bangladesh is about
5500MW, whereas the generation ranges only 3200-
4000MW. The generation capacity is 4300MW. . But peak
demand is estimated to exceed 5,000 MW [2]. As a result
of power shortage causes excessive load shading.
Bangladesh relies heavily on fossil fuels for its energy
especially on gas resources. But the present proven
reserve would be depleted by 2015 [3]. Coal is still the
major fuel for power generation. Bangladesh has
sufficient high quality coal resources. But the coal mining
is not started. Exploration and development of natural gas
resource has almost reduced to zero. Also the exploration
of coal continues to remain uncertain. The shortage of
power can be met by renewable energy which is abundant
in nature.
In Bangladesh the development of renewable energy
is insufficient. The one and only hydro power plant is in
Karnaphuly can generate 230MW [4]. The coastal areas
and the north-eastern regions contain areas with high
wind, and small-scale wind energy conversion system
could be built only on that area [5]. Grameen Sakti (GS)
is working on solar home system. But GS’s solar program
mainly targets those areas, which have no access to
conventional electricity and a little chance of getting
connected to the grid within 5 to 10 years [6].
In this paper the feasibility study of an on-grid solar
home system for Bangladesh is performed. An
optimization tool called Hybrid Optimization Model for
Electric Renewable (HOMER version 2.67 beta)
developed by National Renewable Energy laboratory
(NREL), is used to size the proposed system.
3. An on-grid Solar Home System
Solar electric systems, which are also called photovoltaic
or PV systems, are reliable and pollution-free. They make
use of a renewable source of energy—the sun.
Photovoltaic (PV) systems convert sunlight directly to
electricity. They work any time the sun is shining, but
more electricity is produced when the sunlight is more
intense and strikes the PV modules directly.
The basic building block of PV technology is the solar
“cell.” Multiple PV cells are connected to form a PV
“module,” the smallest PV component sold commercially.
A PV system connected or “tied” to the utility grid (fig.1) March 280 31
has these components:
April 380 30
a) One or more PV modules, which are connected to
an inverter. May 365 31
b) The converter, which converts the system's direct- June 350 30
current (DC) electricity to alternating current (AC)
and vice versa. July 360 31
c) Batteries (optional) to provide energy storage or August 330 31
backup power in case of a power interruption or
outage on the grid. September 300 30
October 300 31
November 270 30
December 260 31
Total 3675 366
An ordinary house in Dhaka, may consume around
12kWh/d with a peak demand of nearly 1.1403kW.
Meeting such a load by only solar energy source is not
practical. A set of energy consumption data for a typical
grid-connected house in Dhaka’s was collected. For a
typical day energy consumption is higher in the evening
hours (Fig. 2). On the other hand, summer months
Fig. 1 Typical residential grid-connected PV system especially the month of April the power consumption is
highest.

4. A Case Study
Since the performance of a renewable energy system
is highly dependant on the environmental conditions, a
site specific analysis is required to investigate the
associated cost, component size and overall economics. In
this paper, a feasibility study is done for a house in Dhaka
city of Bangladesh. Solar irradiation data is taken for the
location 23.59N–90.35E for investigation. Analysis with
HOMER requires information on resources, economic Fig. 2 Seasonal load data for a year
constraints, and control methods. It also requires inputs
on component types, their numbers, costs, efficiency,
longevity, etc. Sensitivity analysis could be done with 4.2 Solar Energy Resources
variables having a range of values instead of a specific
number. This allows one to ascertain the effects of change
in a certain parameter on the overall system.
4.1 Electrical Load
The first major undertaking within the confines of this
study was the collection and analysis of energy
consumption data for a typical residential home in Dhaka.
This data was needed to get numerical values on the
amount of energy consumption in a typical residential
home. Data is collected from the monthly electric bill
from January, 2008 to December, 2008.
Fig. 3 Average daily radiation and clearness
Table-1
HOMER introduces the clearness index and average
Month Energy Number of daily radiation from the latitude information of the site
Consumed days under investigation (Fig. 3). Sensitivity analysis is done
(KWh/ month) with three values around the mean, which are: 4.0, 4.5,
and 5.0 kW h/m2/d.
January 230 31
February 250 29
 4.3 Photovoltaic Array by introducing various alternatives. HOMER eliminates
all infeasible combinations and ranks the feasible systems
The installation cost of PV arrays may vary from $6.00 to
according to increasing net present cost. It also allows a
$10.00/W [7]. A 1 kW solar energy system’s installation
number of parameters to be displayed against the
and replacement costs are taken as $5000 and $3000,
sensitivity variables for identifying an optimal system
respectively. Three different sizes are considered, which
type.
are 2.5, 3 and 3.5 kW. The lifetime of the PV arrays are
taken as 20 years and no tracking system is included in
the PV system.
4.4 Battery
The batteries are provided backup power in case of power
interruption or outage on the grid at night or in a cloudy
day. Commercially available models, such as Surrette
Battery Engineering’s Surrettee-6CS25P models (6 V,
1156 Ah, 9645 kWh) are considered in the scheme. Cost
of one battery is $1250 with a replacement cost of $1100.
The battery stack may contain a number of batteries (0, 2,
Fig. 5 Sensitivity results from HOMER
3, 4, 10 or 20).
4.5 Power Converter A total of nine sensitivity cases (solar radiation (3),
A power electronic converter is needed to maintain flow and scaled annual average (3)) were tested with each of
of energy between the ac and dc components. For a 1 kW the system. In nine cases, the simulation is performed for
system the installation and replacement costs are taken as a total combination of 180 systems. For the scaled annual
$800 and $750, respectively. Three different sizes of average load 8kwh/d and solar radiation 5kwh/m2/d, the
converter (3.0, 4.0, 5.0 and 6.0 kW) are taken in the most economically feasible systems are found and shown
model. Lifetime of a unit is considered to be 15 years in fig. 5.
with an efficiency of 90%. 5.2 Optimized Results
4.6 Economics and Constrains In HOMER, the optimization results could be categorized
Considering the project lifetime to be 20 years, the annual for a particular set of sensitivity parameters. The
real interest rate is taken as 8%. Since operations and economically feasible system obtained from the
maintenance costs are given in the individual optimized simulation result is shown in fig. 6.
components, a nominal value ($100) is taken for this
term. Maximum annual capacity shortage is 1% and
operating reserve, as percentage of hourly load is 10%.
For renewable output, this reserve is 67% for solar
energy.

Fig. 6 Optimized results from HOMER

The optimized result contains a PV panel of 2.5KW,

10 batteries for storage and a 3kW converter. The initial
capital cost is $28900. The power production from the PV
panel is 68% whereas only 32% is purchased from the
grid. The excess electricity and unmet load is zero. The
generated power by the PV is delivered to load is 53%
and 47% is for sell back to the grid.

Fig. 4 HOMER implementation of the on grid solar system

5. Results
5.1 Sensitivity Results
A feasible system is defined as a possible solution, which
is capable of meeting the load demand. To keep
provisions for finding suitable system type (combination Fig. 7 Monthly average electric production (PV and grid)
of technologies) and system configuration (size and
numbers of each component), the search space is widened
 6. Justification of Grid Connected Solar [3] “Bangladesh Energy Crisis: Soul Searching”, Energy
Bangladesh, June, 2009.
Home System
[4] Banglapedia (National encyclopaedia of Bangladesh)
The initial capital cost for the renewable system is very [5] M. J. Khan, M. T. Iqbal, S. Mahboob “A wind Map of
high. The project life time is 20 years. A part of the initial Bangladesh” Renewable energy 2003; 634-660
capital cost is possible to recover from the power sell [6] Grameen Sakti, URL: http://www.gshakti.org/
back to the grid. As 68% of the load demand is possible to [7] M. J. Khan, M. T. Iqbal, “Pre-feasibility study of stand-alone
meet by the PV generation, only 32% load demand needs hybrid energy systems for applications in Newfoundland”
to fulfil from the grid. Renewable energy 2004; 835-854
Other than the initial cost, there are some constrains of [8] HOMER V.2. National Renewable Energy Laboratory
solar systems. First, PV produces power intermittently (NREL), 617 Cole Boulevard, Golden, CO 80401-3393. URL:
because it works only when the sun is shining. This is not http://www.nrel.gov/homer/
a problem for PV systems connected to the utility grid, [9] Photovoltaic systems: a buyer’s guide. Natural Resources
because any additional electricity required is Canada, Renewable and Electrical Energy Division, 580 Booth
automatically delivered to the consumer by the utility. In Street, 17th Floor, Ottawa, Ont. K1A 0E4. ISBN 0-662-31120-5.
case of off-grid or stand-alone PV systems, batteries can
be purchased to store the excess energy for later use.
PV-generated electricity is usually more expensive
than conventional utility-supplied electricity. Therefore, if
the consumer lives near the existing power lines, a solar
rebate program and net metering can help to make PV
home system more affordable. The customer is billed for
the net electricity purchased from the utility over the
entire billing period that is, the difference between the
electricity coming from the power grid and the electricity
generated by the PV system. In more than 35 states,
customers who own PV systems can benefit from laws
and regulations that require “net” electric meter reading.
Finally, unlike the electricity purchased monthly from
a utility, PV power requires a high initial investment. Tax
incentives may include a sales tax exemption on the PV
system purchase, a property tax exemption, or state
personal income-tax credits, all of which provide an
economic benefit to consumers by lowering high capital
costs.
7. Conclusions
At present, the solar home systems are not cost-
competitive against conventional fossil fuel based grid
interfaced power sources because of the initial capital
cost. However, to fulfil the basic need for the consumer
and improvements in alternative energy technologies bear
good potential for widespread use of such systems. In this
paper, the feasibility study is done for a home in Dhaka
city. The proposed system feasibility may be a cost issue
in respect of Bangladesh; however, it is possible to
overcome by introducing some incentives offered by the
government and utility companies. It can also be
implemented in commercial building, telecommunication
sector and water pumping for irrigation.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank Dr. Tariq Iqbal
(Associate Professor, Memorial University of
Newfoundland) for his suggestions and help to prepare
this paper.
References
[1] International Energy Agency. Share of total primary energy
supply in 2003. Technical report, 2003
[2] Press release of The World Bank on October 30, 2008