Technical and economic feasibility study of a solar plant on a commercial surface in azogues, Ecuador

The submitted paper deals with the shopping mall project that will be supplied with solar power. The selected location was "La Playa Store" shopping center located in the city of Azogues, south of Ecuador. This type of building has at least two characteristics worth studying i) the available surface on the roof, ii) the characteristics of the energy demand curve. This evaluation process establishes the energy requirement of the installation; that is, the energy potential available depending on the surface of its roof, to design a solar plant according to international standards and local ARCONEL 003/18 regulations. The tools used for the involving simulation were the Lumion software, an IFC file created and imported into the Solarius Pv energy simulator, a software specialized in the design of photovoltaic systems. The designed photovoltaic system has a projected annual energy generation of 9,3695.26 kWh; an installed price per watt of $1.1 with viable results at the end of the fifth year of implementation with an IRR of 7.33% and NPV of $390.51. As this is a commercial facility, a constant and flat consumption throughout the day is expected, so implementing solar energy would reduce the actual power requirements by 32.63%.