Abstract:
Residences in Thailand become increasingly interested in home solar power systems, installation of which is a rather hazardous process that had resulted in fires, and loss of lives in various countries, in addition to risks unique to electrical fires. This study examined the cost-effectiveness of installing Rapid shutdown devices and a 5 kWp 1 Phase micro-inverter in the center region by simulating installation of the electricity generating system in three scenarios: conventional solar rooftop installation; solar rooftop installation with Rapid shutdown system, and addition of a microinverter. Then, a survey was done on the house price (excluding properties), land price, roof price, system price, area of the house to calculate the average price. Following collection of preliminary data, power generation of each system was then compared on the PVSyst program. During the 25-year project span, the generated energy for each system was 160,380, 165,481 and 168,961 kWh, respectively. the NPVs were 55,434.83, 42,531.10, and -44,171.64 correspondingly. The corresponding internal rates of return (IRR) were 17.96%, 16.46%, and 10.67%. The payback period was 5.27, 5.79, and 8.52 years. Price per unit Lifetime electricity costs (LCOE) were 1.53, 1.61, and 2.03 baht per unit. Three fire simulations were done: Fire damaging the roof power generation; Total loss of roof; and total loss of the entire house. As the number of solar panel fires in Thailand increased every year, specialists were asked about generally used standards, EIT standards, and Electricity Authority regulations. The most common fire risk factors are connecting device (MC4) and the installation area's ambient temperature. the results revealed that Case 1 was the most appealing investment, followed by Cases 2 and 3 respectively. However, Cases 3 and 2 had higher system and property safety than Case 1.