Abstract:
To evaluate the feasibility of solar energy based Electric Vehicle Transportation System in Singapore, the state of the art Photovoltaic Systems have been reviewed in this report with a focus on solar cell technologies. Various solar cell technologies were evaluated based on characteristics such as efficiency, reliability and cost to identify a best working one under Singapore's hot and humid climate. Commercial CdTe modules were found to have the best efficiency to cost ratio, making them the best module choice in land-scarce and tropical Singapore. Based on the market price and characteristics of CdTe modules from manufacturer First Solar Ltd, two PV systems based on an apartment model and a private house model were evaluated. The cost of electricity from a relatively large scale grid-tied PV system is found to be at around US$0.173/kWh which is not market competitive with the utility electricity price of US$0.109/kWh in Singapore. But with enough capital funding and government incentives such as rebate or feed-in price tariff, PV electricity generation could become economically feasible. The small private house system is found not economical as a means of household electricity generation even with current status of government rebate. When carbon trading is considered, the current trading price has to be increased by around 7 times of the current value or 3 times of the predicted price at 2016 to offset the difference with the utility electricity price.
Description:
Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 150-156).
